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Forbes appeared to be missing with many of
his shots, while De La Hoya continued with
his combinations in round two, with Forbes
opting to box but having little success.
Oscar threw less body punches in the third,
but again threw more and landed more than
Forbes, whose defense, at least, appeared to
be improving.
Forbes showed more aggression in the first
minute of round four, backing De La Hoya
against the ropes, but Oscar came back to
impose his size on Forbes, who appeared
momentarily shaken towards the end of the
round. By round five both of Forbes’ eyes
were swollen from the barrage. Forbes again
had his successes with fast combinations in
the round, but with little power behind
them. Oscar backed Forbes into the corner
and unloaded more body punches, again
clearly winning him the round. ‘The Golden
Boy’ similarly won the sixth and seventh
rounds as Forbes began bleeding from the
right-eye.
De La Hoya continued to dominate in round
seven, although the pace of the action
dropped noticeably. Forbes became more
negative and Oscar put his man on the
back-foot. In the eighth De La Hoya dropped
his hands slightly which gave Forbes some
success, but not enough to win him the
round.
By the ninth it became clear that Forbes had
what it took to absorb Oscar’s power, but he
was backed into his corner again as De La
Hoya scored with multiple left-hooks, but
neglected to throw many rights. Oscar began
to look somewhat fatigued and dropped the
pace in round ten, although Forbes, neeeding
a knockout to win at this stage, showed
little urgency himself. Later in the round
Oscar staggered Forbes with another
combination which evoked enthusiasm from the
crowd.
The only round that may have been won by
Forbes was round eleven, where De La Hoya
looked tired and threw a lot less. Forbes
bame more aggressive and has De La Hoya
began backpedaling, somewhat characteristic
of some of his recent performances.
However, Oscar managed to hurt his man,
pinning him onto the ropes in the closing
seconds of the round, which was a close one.
Forbes continued his aggression in the
twelfth but Oscar took over the round with
his left hand. Both fighters exchanged in
the final seconds of the fight, but little
landed for either man. At the finish, it
went to the scorecards and judges Max DeLuca
and Marty Sammon scored it 119-109, while
Marcos Rosales saw it as 120-106, giving all
twelve rounds to Oscar De La Hoya in
rewarding him a unanimous decision.
After the fight Oscar acknowledged “I was
hoping I would stop him or knock him out,
but since he’s never been stopped or knocked
out I knew he would be a tough customer”. He
admitted “I’m a little disappointed because
I worked hard in the gym (and couldn’t knock
him out) but it goes to show you what kind
of fighter Stevie Forbes is”.
When asked about his much anticipated
rematch with Floyd Mayweather in September,
Oscar declared “I’ve always prided myself on
fighting the best and I wanna go after him
(Floyd) because I know I can beat him”. |
