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Oscar: marked up

It was unclear why the fight was set for 12 rounds because there was no belt on the line. The fight was made at 150lbs so unless the governing bodies have made a 150lbs championship, I'm still puzzled as to why they were allowed to fight championship rounds.

Wayne McCullough
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Last weekend we got to see Oscar de la Hoya fight on free HBO in front of his hometown Los Angeles fans for the first time since 2000 when he fought Shane Mosley. The fight took place at the 27,000 seat arena at the Home Depot Soccer Stadium.

His opponent, Stevie Forbes was a former IBF junior-lightweight champion and was coming off a split decision win over Francisco Bojado last October. In stark contrast Oscar had 30 KO's on his record while Stevie only had nine, showing the risk he was taking in fighting him.

Forbes, a finalist on the reality show The Contender is a small guy compared to Oscar - who was at his lightest weight in about seven years - although both fighters won their world titles at 130 lb (9st 4lbs). He had never been put down as a pro so this fight was a good test for Oscar before his anticipated rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jnr set for September.

Forbes had nothing to lose going into this fight and most people thought it was a ridiculous match up. But I know Stevie and he is quick, throws a lot of shots and has a solid chin. What he lacks in power, he more than makes up for in every other way.

Oscar is coming off a loss to Mayweather Jnr in May 2007 but it would seem after Oscar loses a big fight he is able to come straight back on big time TV. Typically when a fighter loses he would be in a position to work his way back up. But in Oscar's case he promoters himself and has major TV behind him.

The fight between Stevie and Oscar started with Forbes landing some left hooks but Oscar, who was physically bigger, was landing jabs and rights at will. He was also landing solid uppercuts and left hooks. It looked like a highly paid sparring session.

Entertained

Forbes landed good body shots and entertained the crowd by doing some showboating and this was the best action all night. Oscar was landing shots on Forbes's face more consistently but it was Oscar's face that was getting marked up.

Forbes's right eye was cut in the sixth and Oscar began trying to target that area. Round by round, Oscar was landing shots but Forbes was showing a good chin.

It was unclear why the fight was set for 12 rounds because there was no belt on the line. The fight was made at 150lbs (10st 10) so unless the governing bodies have made a 150lb championship I'm still puzzled as to why they were allowed to fight championship rounds.

The commentators continually remarked about Oscar and how good he looked but I think they were trying to con the viewers into buying the Mayweather rematch - which is on PPV later this year - because what they were saying about Oscar was, in my opinion, wrong.

Forbes is a good little fighter but not in this weight class. He hung on to the finish giving his all. The fans booed the end of the fight reflecting what they saw. Oscar won by unanimous decision. The scores were 119-109, 119-109 and 120-108 all for Oscar.

Was this good for boxing? I don't think so. It was terrible.