With Oscar De La Hoya’s (38-5, 30 KOs) recent announcement of his intentions to fight on May 3rd, 2008, I thought this would be a good time to discuss whether or not De La Hoya should hang up the gloves. For me, I’m not precisely sure why he continues to fight, since he reportedly has a fortune of over a $100 million, and clearly doesn’t need the money. If he was still a successful fighter, I could understand why he would want to continue boxing. However, he’s lost three out of his last five fights, and realistically he should have lost a fourth fight to Felix Sturm.
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Lacy vs. Manfredo on December 8th
Former International Boxing Federation Super middleweight champion Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy (22-1, 17 Kos) returns to action on the undercard of Ricky Hatton vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. against Peter Manfredo Jr. (28-4, 13 Kos) on December 8th, at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada. Lacy, 30, has been out of action since tearing his left rotator cuff in a bout with Vitali Tsypko on December 2, 2006. The injury to Lacy’s left shoulder involved a full thickness tear of the tendon, including a partial tear of the muscle as well. What made the injury even worse, however, is that it involves the side in which Lacy throws his left hook – his most dangerous weapon, in other words. Without his powerful left hook, Lacy becomes for all practical purposes and average fighter.
At the time the time of the injury, there was questions as to whether Lacy’s shoulder would ever heal sufficient enough for him to be as effective as he was earlier in his career. Apparently, the word is that the shoulder is as good as new. However, that remains to be seen.
Will Miguel Cotto Hold Onto His Title For Long?
By Richard Rodriguez: As much as I enjoyed watching last Saturday’s fight between World Boxing Association welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (31-0, 25 KOs) and Shane Mosley, I couldn’t help wonder how much longer Cotto will be able to hold onto his title. Unlike the legions of Cotto sycophants, I see him as a remake of Arturo Gatti, except with good skin that tear easily. Cotto has taken a pounding in almost all of his bouts in the past couple of years and has been lucky not to have been knocked out in some of them. He’s really taken a ton of head shots in all of his most recent bouts, and I wonder how much longer he can continue on without losing to someone.
De La Hoya To Fight On May 3rd
At the press conference following the Shane Mosley vs. Miguel Cotto fight, Oscar De La Hoya stated that he plans on fighting next on May 3rd, against an unnamed opponent. However, when pushed on the subject, De La Hoya, 34, said that he hoped it would be Ricky Hatton, whom he’s had considerable interest in fighting for the past couple of months. No doubt, De La Hoya sees huge dollar signs, with a worldwide audience. However, unlike many boxing experts, who don’t give Hatton much of a chance at beating Mayweather, De La Hoya seems oblivious to what they’re saying, still thinking that Hatton will pull off the upset somehow.
Cotto – What’s Next? De La Hoya, Williams, Margarito or Hatton?
With the dust barely settled following World Boxing Association welterweight champion Miguel Cotto’s narrow decision over Shane Mosely on Sat6urday night at Madison Square Garden, the question in most people’s minds is who should Cotto fight next? As Cotto puts it, he’d be interested in fighting “all the top guys,” like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya. However, the chance of him actually fighting either of them is slim and none, unfortunately.
De La Hoya has strict marching orders from his Puerto Rican wife, telling him that he can’t find fighters from Puerto Rico, for which Cotto is from. It’s unclear whether that De La Hoya would go against his wife’s wishes, but unless I miss my guess, this is probably a convenient excuse for him not to have to face the embarrassment of losing badly, likely by knockout by the hard-punching Cotto. So, De La Hoya’s basically out of the picture, no matter how much Cotto might want to fight him.
David Haye: Can He Win a Championship In The Heavyweight Division?
Shortly after defeating World Boxing Association/World Boxing Council champion Jean-Marc Mormeck (33-4, 22 KOs) on Saturday night at the Palais des Sport Marcel Cerdan, in Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, France, British cruiserweight David Haye (20-1, 19 KOs) announced that he wouldn’t be defending the newly won titles, that he’d instead be moving up to the heavyweight division where he hoped to win a title in the near future. Given the 27 year-old Haye’s considerable power, it would seem that he would have an excellent chance at succeeding at his goal.
At 6’3″ 215 lbs, he certainly has the needed size to compete at a heavier weight, and he has stated that he will continue to add weight, enough possibly to come in at around 230+. From his standpoint, I suppose it’s a smart thing to do, as he’s clearly the best fighter in the cruiserweight division, although I’m sure World Boxing Organization cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli would have something to say about that. However, I’m not so certain that Haye will be even remotely successful at heavyweight. That’s not to say that he won’t have the power to compete, because I do feel that he has true heavyweight power.
Cotto Receives Gift Decision Over Mosley
World Boxing Association welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (31-0, 25 KOs) remained unbeaten last night, albeit from a questionable decision, defeating former lightweight and welterweight champion Shane Mosley by unanimous decision last night at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The final judges’ scores were 115-113, 115-113 and 116-113. However, it appeared that the 35 year-old Mosley had beaten Cotto.
At worst, it could have been ruled a draw, as Mosley won most of the 2nd half of the fight, including the championship rounds in which he had Cotto, the champion, running from him. That’s not to say that Cotto didn’t have his moments, because he surely did, particularly in the early rounds of the fight when he was able to land his right hand and left hook to the body with great effectiveness.
Mosely, though, won three of the first six rounds on my scorecard, and four of the last six rounds, hurting Cotto in both the 9th and 10th rounds with right hands. After the sixth round, Mosely began using more movement, choosing to stay on the outside and attack sporatically with flurries.
Froch Stops Reid
British super middleweight champion Carl Froch (22-0, 18 KOs) stopped Robin Reid (39-6-1, 27 KOs) in the 5th round last night Ice Arena in Nottingham, England, when Reid was unable to continue due to a shoulder injury. Reid was knocked down in the 3rd and the fifth rounds, and appeared to be down in the 2nd as well. However, the referee missed it and called it a push. Following the fifth round, the fight was stopped by Reid’s corner. Afterwards, the 36 year-old Reid announced his retirement from boxing.
Hopkins Calzaghe: Not Many Fans Interested In This Fight
Having now beaten Mikkel Kessler in the unification bout, super middleweight Joe Calzaghe has set his sights on Bernard Hopkins as his choice for the next defense of his super middleweight title. However, there are few fans or sportswriters that have been impressed with the choice, seeing the 43 year-old Hopkins as well past his prime and not a particular fighter that Calzaghe will get much notiriety for beating. Indeed, beating a fighter as old as Hopkins is almost a no-win situation for Calzaghe, as if he does beat him handily, he won’t get much credit because of Hopkins advanced age.
Mancini Kim: Remembering Their Tragic Bout
Former World Boxing Association lightweight champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini (29-5, 23 KOs) will be shown on ESPN next week (Tuesday, November 13th) to highlight the career of Mancini, which will contain information on his tragic championship bout with Deuk-Koo Kim, fought on November 13, 1982, a fight that ended with Kim dying in the hospital following their grueling bout. Kim, only 23, lapsed into a coma after being knocked out in the 14th round by two consecutive right hands by Mancini. If you ask most people about the bout, they wrongly assume that the 21 year-old Mancini had dominated Kim all fight long, and that perhaps the fight should have been stopped sooner. However, they would wrong.
Kim, in fact, was slightly ahead in the fight going into the 14th round, having dominated the first eight rounds of the fight. Kim landed the majority of the power shots going into the 14th round, and had an easy time landing his straight left hand to the wide open Mancini. The most troubling aspect going into the fight, however, was how could Kim be the number #1 challenger for Mancini when he hadn’t beaten any top tier fighters coming into the bout.