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Main >> Previous Updates >> September 2003 >> Article ID 1596
 Mosley takes away De La Hoya's titles | Type: Internet Article |
| | Mosley takes away De La Hoya's titles | Sep 14, 2003 | by Mark J. Terrill
Speed didn't necessarily kill Oscar De La Hoya, but it hurt real bad as Shane Mosley, using blazing-fast hands and a relentless body assault, scored a unanimous decision in a rematch last night before a sellout crowd of 16,268 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
With the victory, Mosley (39-2, 35 knockouts) took away De La Hoya's WBA and WBC super-welterweight titles and re-established himself as a pre-eminent force in the sport.
De La Hoya, who said he would retire if he lost to Mosley, must decide whether to do so. The 30-year-old didn't mention that vow after the loss.
De La Hoya did say he planned to hire lawyers tomorrow to investigate the decision.
"I'm not doing this because I'm a sore loser," De La Hoya said. "I'm doing this for the sport of boxing."
Marc Ratner, director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, said the result wasn't out of line.
"There's nothing to protest," Ratner said. "It was a judges' decision."
Mosley, 32, said, "I thought I won by one or two rounds. He gave me a lot of movement. I knew I hurt him. He never hurt me. I could have gone another 12 rounds.
"I felt I had such overwhelming power throughout the fight. De La Hoya is a great warrior. If he wants to fight me again, I'll do it again."
That seems unlikely.
It was the third time Mosley defeated De La Hoya (36-3, 29 KOs). He did it once at the amateur level and he scored a split decision in 2000 in Los Angeles. This time, Mosley won 115-113 on the scorecards of all three judges — Duane Ford, Stanley Christodoulou and Anek Hongtongkam.
De La Hoya thought otherwise.
"Obviously I thought I won the fight," he said. "I didn't think it was even close. I thought I won by at least three points."
Trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. said De La Hoya's corner never sensed its man was behind.
"We were never concerned," Mayweather said. "I told him to keep boxing."
Mosley won the last five rounds on two cards and the last four on a third.
There was big-fight electricity, usually reserved for heavyweight-championship fights, in the air. De La Hoya brought out the celebrities such as Tiger Woods, Magic Johnson and Christina Aguilera.
Several questions needed to be answered when these two fighters stepped into the ring:
Had De La Hoya's style changed significantly since the last time he and Mosley met? How much had Mosley's back-to-back losses to Vernon Forrest taken out of him? Could "Sugar" Shane send De La Hoya into retirement?
Mosley answered most of the questions about himself positively, even though it was not a classic match. He carried his speed with him up to 154 pounds.
Mosley wobbled De La Hoya with a big left hand midway through the first round.
De La Hoya tried to pick up the pace in the next couple of rounds.
An accidental head butt opened a cut along De La Hoya's right eye in the fourth and De La Hoya really picked up the tempo. The cut and the blood streaming down the side of his head seemed to give De La Hoya a sense of urgency.
Mosley pounded De La Hoya's body, blasting his ribs with an assortment of hooks in the eighth.
De La Hoya was winded from the 10th round to the end. His face was covered in welts and he was still bleeding.
The bout was on De La Hoya's financial terms: He was guaranteed $17 million, compared with $4.5 million for Mosley. Mosley will get an extra $500,000 for winning.
"It was a great feeling," Mosley said. "I would have been heartbroken to lose in the ring after losing in the negotiations outside of the ring." |
 Source: Seattle Times | |
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