I’ll be the first to admit I thought Oscar De La Hoya’s days as a ‘pound-for-pound’ elitist were well gone, but his sensational display against Ricardo Mayorga in Las Vegas recently had me and the rest of the boxing world struggling to find the superlatives to do the ‘Golden Boy’ justice.
It also had me looking for a place for him on our latest list.
Given the fact that De La Hoya had not thrown a punch in anger in over 18 months and was seen by many (myself included) as a fighter on the slide, the way he took care of business against Mayorga was quite brilliant.
The trash-talking Nicaraguan had vowed to do everything from sleeping with De La Hoya’s wife to detaching his retina in the lead up to the fight, but in the event it was Oscar who let his fists do the talking.
And how they talked.
He produced one of his greatest ring performances, knocking Mayorga down with a perfectly timed left hook in the opening round generally dominating ‘El Matador’, who was becoming more and more subdued with every passing minute.
De La Hoya ended proceedings with a stunning flurry on the ropes that had Mayorga’s head bouncing around in the sixth, leaving the referee no option but to call it off.
This was De La Hoya at his imperious best, and the word is the Golden Boy is now looking for a ‘super-fight’ in September to bring down the curtain on a truly magnificent 14-year pro career.
Whether that ‘super-fight’ is against ‘pound-for-pound’ king Floyd Mayweather remains to be seen, but on that sort of showing you would have to give Oscar a fighting chance of beating the ‘Pretty Boy’.
While one modern great was rolling back the years this month, another was showing that he may not be the force of old.
I have written off Marco Antonio Barrera before of course and been forced to eat humble taco, yet his display against Rocky Juarez suggested he is a warrior on the wane.
Barrera was consistently beaten to the punch by his younger opponent, finished with a broken nose after eating too many left hooks and in truth was somewhat fortunate to come away with a split decision win.
The crisp counter-punching and trademark body shots were seldom in evidence as Barrera struggled to get a foothold against his Tex-Mex opponent, a man who had lost to the unheralded Humberto Soto just last year.
It may be that Juarez is better than we thought, but it’s more likely Father Time is finally catching up with the ‘Baby Faced Assassin’, a 66-fight veteran now who has been punching for pay since the tender age of 15.
Barrera slips a place then in our latest rankings, while De La Hoya makes a welcome return at number six.
The summer looks a golden one in terms of big fights involving ‘pound-for-pound’ fighters, with several top names in action.
Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright and Jermain Taylor of course duke it out for the undisputed middleweight title, while Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Tarver also clash in an intriguing light-heavyweight showdown.
Joe Calzaghe is out again on July 8, while Manny Pacquiao is set to fight Israel Vazquez.
In a few weeks while Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales also get it on for the third time.
A win for Castillo in June may well see another Mexican make the leap into the top 10, but May was all about Hispanic darling De La Hoya, who proved that while form is temporary, class really is permanent.
Sportinglife.com Pound-for-Pound World Top 10:
1 – Floyd Mayweather
2 – Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright
3 – Manny Pacquiao
4 – Joe Calzaghe
5 – Marco Antonio Barrera
6 – Oscar De La Hoya
7 – Jermain Taylor
8 – Antonio Margarito
9 – James Toney
10 – Ricky Hatton
Honourable mentions: Juan Manuel Marquez, Rafael Marquez, Antonio Tarver, Diego Corrales, Bernard Hopkins, Jose Luis Castillo and Lorenzo Parra.
