De La Hoya Punishes El Matador
by Jason Collins

    Saturday night at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Oscar De La Hoya returned from his long layoff and dished out an old-fashioned behind-the-barn beating to his latest nemesis, Ricardo Mayorga. There was a sense that good won out over evil after the fight - especially since Mayorga's nasty behavior during the prefight promotional appearances made him the perfect villian, complete with a black hat.
De La Hoya Punishes El Matador

    Mayorga was hell-bent on carrying out his doomed mission. His trash-talking and crude verbal assaults on De La Hoya did not end at the final press conference before the fight. Mayorga was still running his mouth at De La Hoya all the way up to the prefight instructions. Mayorga taunted De La Hoya through Nady's final dispensation just before the start of the fight. Not surprisingly, the two fighters did not touch gloves before mixing it up. And ironically, only the opening bell of the fight would put an end to Mayorga's ranting. El Matador's final words only served to strenghten the resolve of his conqueror. Intent on dishing out well-deserved punishment, De La Hoya went right at Mayorga with combinations highlighted by powerful straight right hands. Only 55 seconds into the fight, Oscar deposited El Matador onto the canvas with a menacing overhand left. Mayorga managed to regain his senses to the point where he actually connected with a couple overhand rights. Still, De La Hoya's defense proved effective as he blocked Mayorga's clubbing punches. The Golden Boy used his gloves to deflect Mayorga's punches to the head and he used his elbows to protect himself from his opponent's body shots.

    De La Hoya did more of the same in round two, landing his jab routinely and jarring Mayorga with straight lefts and rights. In round three Mayorga missed most of the punches he threw until landing a solid uppercut which dazed the challenger. However, Mayorga was unable to capitalize on the damaging uppercut which would turn out to be his biggest moment of the fight. Having already tasted De La Hoya's firepower, El Matador was reluctant to attempt to finish off De La Hoya. Instead, he allowed De La Hoya to recover and eventually pelt Mayorga with a combination in the dying seconds of round three.

    De La Hoya continued to outpoint Mayorga as he controlled the fight, mainly with his jab. Mayorga came out aggressively for round six but it was all for not. De La Hoya quicky responded with an incredibly effective combination that forced Mayorga to take a knee. The soon-to-be-deposed champion used the count to recuperate, but it wasn't quite enough. After referee Nady permitted Mayorga to continue, De La Hoya unleashed an Aaron Pryor-like fury of punches on Mayorga that did not stop until Nady stepped in between the two to halt the fight.

     Lost in the prefight hype and the excitment of battle was the fact that De La Hoya captured the WBC Junior Middleweight title in his dramatic return to the ring. What boxing fans will remember is that Oscar De La Hoya made Ricardo Mayorga pay for each and every one of his sins - the disrespectful behavior before the fight and the rabbit punches during the fight. Although it sounds strange, De La Hoya delivered the beating with class, carrying out his retribution within the parameters of the sport. And he also made questions about his age (33) seemed silly. De La Hoya's hand speed was blistering and his accuracy was pinpoint. The layoff served him well and the Golden Boy demonstrated that he is on top of his game. It's safe to say that De La Hoya reasserted himself as boxing's main attraction. All eyes are on De La Hoya as fans wait for his next bout - which will undoubtedly be a megafight.