De La Hoya Lines Up Mayweather

By Arvin Nundloll

In front of 25,000 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Los Angeles, Oscar De La Hoya outpointed and outclassed the Contender challenger Steve Forbes to come within touching distance of a rematch of with arguably the pound for pound champion of the world, Floyd "Money" Mayweather.

Coming to fight from nearly a year out, De La Hoya chose Forbes as he has a similar style and approach like Floyd Mayweather Junior.

Tonight, unlike last year in Las Vegas, De La Hoya was able to beat a Mayweather.

With the training spat with Floyd Mayweather jnr, Forbes had to ditch Roger and hire Jeff Mayweather to work his corner and train him for this bout.

De La Hoya pressed on from the opening bell and was constantly jabbing and building into combos on the hapless Forbes. Forbes himself lacked any power in his punch and failed to stun or shock De La Hoya.

Throughout the fight, neither fighter looked like they were destined for the canvas as the fight went on. Forbes tried his attempt at toe to toe warfare and found himself getting picked off by a bigger and stronger De La Hoya, who was thought to have walked into the ring at 158lbs.

The first round saw Forbes coming out strong, looking to bring the fight to De La Hoya, attacking and letting both hands loose. This indicated that maybe De La Hoya could land himself in trouble if he became reckless.

This was not the case as form the second round, this was one way action from De La Hoya. Quiker to the punch and taking a more relaxed attitude to the fight, chosing the style and pace throughout.

After round six, boxing fans and writers alike knew this was destined to the scorecards, as De La Hoya failed to find the shots to shake Forbes.

To Steve Forbes credit, his footwork kept him upright and prevented him from feeling the full effect of De La Hoya's punches by stepping back. Forbes also showboated to the crowd, knowing deep down that this would be as far as he can go in comepting at this level. Forbes wanted to cherish every moment of that night and will now take a step back with his healthy paycheck from the fight.

I scored the fight as 120-108, as did the judges who scored 120-108, 119-109 and 119-109. De La Hoya was landing the more telling punches and dictating the pace of the fight, for which Forbes could not counter or use to his advantage.

One thing to learn from this match was that De La Hoya wanted to get some rounds under his belt and to sharpen his tools for when the time comes to take on Mayweather in September. De La Hoya may have taken this lightly, however he failed to excite the crowd or gather any momentum or reason for his rematch with Mayweather.

“The fight with Mayweather isn’t set, but I’ve always prided myself on beating the best, and I’m going to go after him because I know I can beat him. I was hoping to knock (Forbes) out or stop him, but knowing that he’s never been stopped or knocked out, I knew he would be a tough customer. I’m a little disappointed, because obviously I worked very hard in the gym. But I’m glad we fought Forbes, here in Los Angeles. I feel sharp. It accomplished my goal of feeling fresh and fighting two more big fights in September and December.”

De La Hoya will have to hit the gym with Floyd senior and work on his power, as Forbes who fights a similar defensive style to Mayweather junior, was never in danger even with the amount of punches he received from De La Hoya.

Total Punches Landed / Thrown

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
De La Hoya	22/66	29/68	22/63	20/68	16/63	22/69	19/71	17/57	21/62	27/80	16/66	22/77
	33%	43%	35%	29%	25%	32%	27%	30%	34%	34%	24%	29%
Forbes	15/75	14/64	12/70	21/67	12/57	14/60	14/54	12/73	7/54	9/69	11/68	11/65
	20%	22%	17%	31%	21%	23%	26%	16%	13%	13%	16%	17%

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
De La Hoya	10/39	14/28	14/37	10/37	7/31	14/34	8/31	10/35	9/29	13/37	10/41	8/27
	26%	50%	38%	27%	23%	41%	26%	29%	31%	35%	24%	30%
Forbes	4/41	5/39	4/45	8/34	7/35	8/38	8/42	7/47	3/34	2/34	7/41	6/40
	10%	13%	9%	24%	20%	21%	19%	15%	9%	6%	17%	15%

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
De La Hoya	12/27	15/40	8/26	10/31	9/32	8/35	11/40	7/22	12/33	14/43	6/25	14/50
	44%	38%	31%	32%	28%	23%	28%	32%	36%	33%	24%	28%
Forbes	11/34	9/25	8/25	13/33	5/22	6/22	6/12	5/26	4/20	7/35	4/27	5/25
	32%	36%	32%	39%	23%	27%	50%	19%	20%	20%	15%	20%