Oscar aggro unrewarded
ByReuters
Published 07/05/2007 at 07:06 GMT
Oscar De La Hoya was not given enough credit by the judges for his aggression in Saturday's World Boxing Council super welterweight showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr., according to the fighter's trainer Freddie Roach.
BOXING 2007 Oscar de la Hoya
Image credit: EFE
Although "Golden Boy" De La Hoya lost his title on a split decision to Mayweather, Roach believes the popular Mexican-American did enough in the final round of a fluctuating contest to retain the crown.
"In the early rounds, Oscar pressed the issue and I felt that if we didn't push the issue, there would be no fight," Roach said after Mayweather won a tight verdict from two of the three judges at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.
"The close rounds I gave to Oscar because he was very aggressive. In ten and 11, he lost those big but then he came back and won 12 and I thought he did enough to win the fight."
The heavier De La Hoya was the aggressor for most of the fight, continually forcing the defence-minded Mayweather to back pedal, and was ahead on points after the first seven rounds.
Although his younger opponent then took control with his lighting speed and several telling combinations, De La Hoya won the 12th and final round after a furious flurry of close-range punches by both fighters.
"I told Oscar we needed that last round," Roach said. "A knockout? No. I didn't feel it was necessary at that point and I'm always very honest with my fighters.
"We definitely won the last round but what can you do?"
Roach and De la Hoya had worked hard on a pre-fight strategy to cramp the smaller Mayweather in the ring with a tight defence before peppering him with punches once in range.
The ploy worked like a dream for the first seven rounds in front of a capacity crowd of 16,200.
"I was very satisfied at that point," said Roach, who took over in De La Hoya's corner from Floyd Mayweather Sr. after the challenger's father had been trainer for the previous six years.
"Things were going well and then Oscar just got caught up in getting down there into the crouch, trying to go to him without the jab. That just wasn't effective.
"He just couldn't get going, Oscar said. I said: 'Oscar, just step on your toes a little bit and step up on those jabs. This guy is a sucker for the jab.' But it just wasn't there, he said.
"I said: 'Get back up on your toes. Why are you fighting this guy on his level? Are you trying to bring yourself down to his height?' That's why his jab wasn't effective in the later rounds."
The 34-year-old De La Hoya, arguably the biggest name in boxing despite being in the twilight of his career, connected with only 40 of 246 jabs thrown on the night.
For Roach, though, the bottom line at the MGM Grand arena was the superior aggression shown by his man.
"Mayweather said he would fight us but he just didn't," he said. "He made it a bit of a boring fight.
"He looked good in rounds ten and 11 when he put a few combinations together but he wasn't consistent with it.
"Overall, he just didn't win that many shots. This guy promised that he was going to fight us in a phone booth.
"It was a big damn phone booth, man!" Roach added, with a beaming smile.
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