Was it worth pushing the button on the remote to shell out fifty bucks on Saturday night for the Oscar De La Hoya-Ricardo Mayorga pay per view? Absolutely. Despite the fizzling undercard, the main event for the WBC junior middleweight belt was an excellent, high energy, brutal fight.
For the past month, Mayorga the crude, hardened street tough had been taunting the Golden Boy, calling him “my bitch” to everyone who’d listen. Oscar, coming off a 20 month layoff after being taken out by a monster body shot from Bernard Hopkins, had reason to fear Mayorga, a fast, hard core brawler with a good chin and an ugly mean streak.
But just 30 seconds into round one, the style match-up De La Hoya had been counting on became quickly apparent as his technical prowess, speed and Mayorga’s low right hand made him vulnerable to a left hook, Oscar’s best weapon. And bang — just 80 seconds into round one, a huge De La Hoya left hook landed right on Mayorga’s chin, producing one of those beautiful slo-mo replays where the perfect shot on the button stopped him cold and put him down in a heap. Good chin or not — no one could have remained standing after taking that shot. “Bitch my ass!” could be heard off camera from someone in the De La Hoya corner as Mayorga barely staggered off the canvass.
That was already the beginning of the end for Mayorga, despite the fact it took until the 6th round for Oscar to win on a TKO. De La Hoya simply beat him up — with no talk, no showboating. It was all business — and worth watching next weekend for free on HBO.