Definitely Not an Oscar Winning Performance

HBO is going to be showing the recent "Dream Match" boxing event, featuring Oscar DeLaHoya, in support of its coverage of the heavyweight title fight between champion Wladimir Klitschko and former champ Hasim Rahman. I won't be watching it.



You see, the DeLaHoya bout also features Manny Pacquiao, one of the top fighters in the sport, pound-for-pound, for the last decade or so. What the bout features is Pacquiao doing the pounding... and pounding... like a butcher pounds a cut of beef into a cubed steak. I did not watch the fight. I wasn't going to dish out my hard-earned money to see a fight that figured to be a mismatch. It was a mismatch, alright, and I figured the naturally bigger man, DeLaHoya, would be dictating the action and imposing his will. I was not the only one who thought this way. All of the experts were picking DeLaHoya.



But, "Pac Man" had other ideas about who would be taking the punishment. The fight was so one-sided in Pacquiao's favor that Oscar won only one round on one judge's scorecard. The other two judges had Pacquiao pitching a shutout, including a 10-8 round in round 7. For a round featuring no knockdowns to be scored 10-8, someone must have really gotten the crap beaten out of them. That someone was Oscar DeLaHoya.



In retrospect, the signs that DeLaHoya's skills had eroded and career path had declined were there. Coming into the Pacquiao fight, the "Golden Boy" had gone just 3-3 in his previous six bouts, fighting only 3 times in the previoius four years, since losing a challenge for Bernard Hopkins' world middleweight title in September of 2004. During that same time period, Pacquaio had fought 10 times, going 9-1 against strong competition that included three bouts with Erik Morales (one of them a loss that he avenged twice). For DeLaHoya to fight so infrequently in his mid-thirties is, in itself, a danger sign. Moreso, the declining quality of Oscar's results and his performances have been ignored because he remains the biggest money maker in the sport. If a big-name boxer wants to make the most money he can for a fight, he aims for Oscar DeLaHoya.

Honestly, I just don't get it with Oscar. I mean, he's handsome, smart, ambitious, wealthy, and still young, if you measure his 35 years against a lifetime. In boxing years, however, Oscar is at an advanced age. He is no longer fighting three or four times a year and is no longer keeping himself in prime boxing shape year-around. With his Golden Boy Productions being an unqualified success, DeLaHoya is calling the shots for most of the top fighters in the world. By promoting a few top boxing show per year, Oscar can make more money than most other fighters can inside the ring, with no risk to his health. Why did he need to even risk undertaking the grind of getting his body back in boxing shape, including getting down to the welterweight limit of 147 pounds? By all accounts, DeLaHoya has more money than he could ever spend. Did he really need another $22 million in the bank?

If you look back over boxing's history, there is a lesson to be learned that is surely universal to the sport (and to all sports): Know when to walk away. Don't be O.J. Simpson, no longer able to accelerate for the 49ers. Don't be Willie Mays, no longer able to adequately man center field for the Mets. Don't be Joe Louis versus Rocky Marciano. Don't be Roberto Duran versus Thomas Hearns. Don't be Sugar Ray Leonard versus Terry Norris (or, later, versus Hector Camacho). Don't be Muhammad Ali versus Larry Holmes and don't be Holmes versus Mike Tyson and don't be Tyson versus Lennox Lewis. It is a very difficult lesson for boxers to comprehend and assimilate. Marciano got it. Lewis got it. George Foreman, eventually, got it. I thought that Oscar DeLaHoya was smart enough to also get it. Instead, he got into the ring with a skilled, primed, and hungry champion in Pacquaio, who has always been something of an offensive boxing machine. And on that night, DeLaHoya got it, alright. He got taken into the woodshed and he got pounded!

He also got $22 million. But, he lost a lot more reputation-wise, if not health-wise. We can only hope we have seen the last of Oscar DeLaHoya, the prize fighter, in the ring. Because this was definitely not an Oscar winning performance. And, there is no glory in imitating a cubed steak.