De La Hoya Retains WBC Title
This time Oscar De La Hoya made sure there would be no excuses.
De La Hoya beat and bloodied Julio Cesar Chavez once again Friday night
|
Chavez was bleeding from the mouth and nose and had cuts over both eyes, and had just taken a beating in the final minute of the eighth round when his corner signaled to referee Richard Steele that Chavez would fight no more.
It was the second time De La Hoya stopped Chavez, but this time took twice as long as when they met two years ago for the junior welterweight title and Chavez was stopped on cuts in the fourth round.
Chavez fought gallantly but took the brunt of De La Hoya's punches throughout the fight and was well behind on all three scorecards when his corner called the fight.
The fight was a brawl from the early rounds on, as De La Hoya pressed for the knockout he wanted to gain the respect he claims he didn't get from Chavez the first time they met.
"You did it. You did it," Chavez told De La Hoya as the two embraced after the fight, finally giving him the respect he wanted.
De La Hoya was in control the entire fight, but the 36-year-old Chavez fought like a much younger fighter as he tried to get inside the taller champion and trade punches.
De La Hoya wore down Chavez, and the exchanges between the fighters began getting more lopsided in the middle rounds.
"I think he's getting tired now," De La Hoya told his trainer, Gil Glancy, after the fifth round.
Chavez was successful at times, rocking De La Hoya with some lefts and rights, but he paid a terrible price. He was cut over the left eye in the second round and over the right eye in the seventh.
"I beat the old Chavez, the best Chavez anybody has seen in the last five years," De La Hoya said.
It was the eighth round that fnally proved the undoing for Chavez as De La Hoya came out strong, looking to stop the fabled Mexican fighter.
From the middle of the round on, the boxers went toe to toe as the sellout crowd stood, roaring its approval. Blood streamed down Chavez's face as he was rocked late in the round with a left hook, and De La Hoya moved in for the kill.
De La Hoya landed a flurry as the bell sounded,
 |
| Oscar De La Hoya, left, once again bloodied Julio Cesar Chavez. (AP) |
A few seconds later, Chavez sat on his stool as his corner called the fight to an end.
"It wasn't that he was strong. I just didn't have a smart game plan. That's why the fight seemed so tough," De La Hoya said.
The crowd was chanting "Chavez! Chavez!" even while the undercard was still going and it cheered wildly when he made his entrance into the ring. The noise from the sellout crowd of some 18,000 was even more deafening when De La Hoya climbed into the ring.
De La Hoya was an 8-1 favorite in the rematch in the heavier weight class.
Chavez hardly fought like an underdog, though, bringing glimpses of his past greatness into a fight that figures to be his last big-money event.
Punch stats showed De La Hoya threw 517 punches to 346 for Chavez and landed 254 to 162. But Chavez kept pressing forward and never backed off of exchanges in the middle of the ring as the fight turned into a brawl.
One judge had De La Hoya winning seven of the first eight rounds, while the other two had him winning six rounds.
"He was a tough warrior," De La Hoya said. "Anyone else who went against him would have done worse."
De La Hoya abandoned his jab early in the fight and was content to brawl with Chavez as the fight wore on.
Chavez, who weighed in at 144 1/2, had vowed to look like the old Chavez, and he did at times. But De La Hoya was simply too strong and too quick for a man 11 years his senior.
De La Hoya, 146 1/2, who defended his 147-pound title for the fifth time, moved to 29-0 with 24 knockouts while Chavez dropped to 101-3-2 in what figured to be the last big payday of his long career.
De La Hoya is already set to fight undefeated Ike Quartey on Nov. 21.
© 1998 SportsLine USA, Inc. All rights reserved