By Eric Thomas: In an excruciatingly dull fight, Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) won a boring one-sided 12-round unanimous decision over the much smaller Steve Forbes (33-6, 9 KOs) tonight at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, Nevada. The fight was wholly without any drama, as Forbes was, as expected, far too small and weak to present much of fight to the taller De La Hoya. The only thing unexpected about the fight was the fact that De La Hoya failed to tire out like he usually does in the second half of his fights. But, then again, Forbes, 31, did little in terms of applying any kind of pressure on De La Hoya, in a since letting De La Hoya fight at a snail’s pace which allowed him to fight without fading as is his custom.
In the final two rounds when it was obvious that Forbes, who was hopelessly behind at this time in the fight, wouldn’t be able to stop De La Hoya, it seemed to have the effect of making Oscar kind of cocky as he looked as if he were fighting a champion rather than an unranked smaller fighter who was fighting out of his weight class. For me, I had to stifle a laugh because it was rather pathetic, as if a joke was being played on people and only a few of them were in on it.
De La Hoya, 35, dominated the first round with ease, standing on the outside and hitting the much shorter Forbes from long range with jabs. Each time Forbes would come forward, De La Hoya would pump in a steady stream of jabs which would drive Forbes back. They say that the last thing that goes in an old fighter is his power. I agree with that, but right behind that is their jab, which even old fighters like De La Hoya are able to do with regularity without it tiring them out any. This is in effect was all De La Hoya needed to win the round – and the fight for that matter, for Forbes was just too small to get beyond the jab of De La Hoya and he didn’t have any of Shane Mosley’s quickness with which to get inside on De La Hoya and make him pay.
Forbes did next to nothing in the 2nd round as well, staying busy catching left-right shots to the head from De La Hoya and eating a steady diet of jabs. For his part, De La Hoya looked afraid, treating Forbes as if he were a knockout threat rather than a short ex-super featherweight champion. There was next to nothing coming back at De La Hoya and even when Forbes did eventually land a left hook, it wasn’t the kind of punch that troubles a fighter like De La Hoya.
De La Hoya began to get more confident in the third round, seeing that Forbes was little threat to his chin, and hence began to take the fight to him more with combinations. For his part, Forbes, a fighter that is usually quite active, was holding back on his punches, as if not wanting to hit De La Hoya for fear that he might upset him. It looked bad, like Forbes was just happy to be there and wasn’t into the fight mentally like he should be. Though I can’t blame him, he was giving up a lot of size and he looked like a little tree stump next to the tall, slender De La Hoya. It wasn’t just the height that was a problem for Forbes, it was his lack of reach. His arms were much shorter than De La Hoya’s, meaning that he’d have to close a six-eight inch gap each time he’d want to try and land his own shots. By the time he’d do this, De La Hoya would meet him with a hail of jabs to the head. Forbes, though looking somewhat like a small Joe Frazier, he had none of his gusto and determination to walk though fire and looked more content to play it safe.
Forbes landed a handful of punches in the fourth round, as he finally succeeded in getting close to De La Hoya. However, it was short-lived as De La Hoya once again turned the tables on him and hit him with a storm of punches to the head. Forbes was hit with a big body shot, which seemed to sap the strength out of his small body for a second. De La Hoya, playing it safe, failed to follow up, probably wanting to avoid tiring out like always.
De La Hoya continues to badly outland a defeated looking Forbes in the 5th round, making him look like a mini-punching bag. It was beginning to look disparate for Forbes, who was unable to get in more than a brief handful of punches in the prior four rounds of the fight. The 5th was no exception, as Forbes didn’t have the speed to make up for his short height and reach, and found himself eating more jabs and right hands from De La Hoya. Forbes’s face began to look bad by this time, having taken too many shots while trying to get within punching distance.
In the 6th and 7th round, De La Hoya began to use his jab much more often, a move it seems was spurred to help conserve energy in his 35 year-old body, which was showing signs of fatigue. Forbes wasn’t pressing the issue much, but still De La Hoya was looking too tired to let his hands go much beyond jabs. It’s too bad Forbes wasn’t a little taller, because De La Hoya looked like an easy mark for the taking by this time in the round. I can think of a half dozen light middleweight contenders, as James Kirkland and Sechew Powell, to name just a couple off the top of my head, that would have made mincemeat out of De La Hoya by this time in the fight. Unfortunately for Forbes, he could muster up but a few shots in the rounds.
In rounds eight and nine, Forbes continued to be foiled each time he would attempt to get inside on De La Hoya. With his main avenue of attack shut off, Forbes was finding it difficult finding a plan B to fall back on. Mostly an inside fighter due to his short arms, Forbes was like a fly with his wings plucked off on the outside, useless and incapable of doing anything other than standing in front of a tiring De La Hoya, taking punches. For his part, De La Hoya continued to mostly jab, flicking it out over and over again, conserving strength and looking too lazy to exert himself by opening up with combinations or right hands. By this time, the fight had become utterly predictable and excruciatingly boring. There wasn’t even a remote chance that Forbes would win a round, much less score a miracle knockout. A knockout is what he needed, but Forbes couldn’t punch his way out of a wet paper sack even under the best of circumstances against a fighter of his own size, but against a tall junior middleweight like De La Hoya, who was taking zero chances by fighting on the outside, Forbes had almost no options to fall back on.
In the 10th round, De La Hoya appeared to hurt Forbes briefly with a flurry of shots. However, not wanting to open up with more than a few punches at a time, the miserly De La Hoya held back with more of his arsenal which was needed if he had wanted to finish the things. Forbes later came back with some good shots in the round, but most of them came up short due to his limited reach. What he needed to do was to try and get inside and stay there, but that just wasn’t possible because he didn’t have the power to bull De La Hoya around the ring like a Hatton-type fighter would. As a result, Forbes continued taking considerable punishment in the round and looking defeated. For all practical purposes, the fight should have been stopped here because Forbes did little in the remaining two rounds to make the fight any closer.
In rounds 11 and 12, De La Hoya continues landing by far most of the punches as Forbes is limited to landing one shot at a time followed by more punishment from De La Hoya. It takes Forbes great effort to get in punching range, eating 5-6 shots as he comes inside, and when he gets there, all he can get in his one measly shot before De La Hoya shuts him down by either grabbing him or using movement to keep him from landing further. De La Hoya finally let his hands go in the 12th round, briefly letting it all go for a short period of time. It was nothing like the old De La Hoya, who would have fought all out like this from the opening bell, it was nice to see a small glimpse of what he used to be as a fighter. Forbes, of course, was no match for De La Hoya during the final three minutes of the fight, and took a lot of heavy shots to the head. However, Forbes showed a good chin and wasn’t hurt though all of this sustained action.
In the end, I would be hard pressed to give Forbes even one round of the fight. He was simply too small and was out-gunned by the larger, more offensively skilled De La Hoya. It was like matching an old Ferrari race car with 300,000 miles on it against an old VW Beetle. No matter how you looked at it, Forbes was never going to be able to match up with the talent and size of De La Hoya, because he never was in that class to begin with.