De La Hoya Earns Unanimous Decision Over Forbes
The following is from the Sports Ticker:
De la Hoya earns unanimous decision over Forbes
LOS ANGELES (TICKER) â€"Oscar De La Hoya did not look past Steve Forbes.
De La Hoya earned a dominant unanimous decision over Forbes on Saturday, winning decisively on the judges’ scorecards - 119-109, 119-109 and 120-108.
De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) is set to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. on September 20 in rematch of their first bout, which was won by Mayweather. De La Hoya has said he will retire at the end of the year after two more fights.
De La Hoya, 35, entered the bout with painful memories of looking beyond a fight. In 2004, he took on Germany’s Felix Sturm before a middleweight showdown with Bernard Hopkins and nearly lost, struggling for fitness and form to overcome the European and surprising many at ringside by escaping with a unanimous decision.
That was not the case on this night.
Forbes (33-6), who lost in the final of “The Contender” reality series, never seriously challenged or hurt De La Hoya during the bout.
But De La Hoya, who hand-picked Forbes because of his smaller size and lack of punching power, was looking for a much stronger showing.
“I was hoping I’d stop him or knock him out,” De La Hoya said. “I’m a little disappointed.”
Even so, in his first fight since losing a split decision to Mayweather, De La Hoya shook off the ring rust and took charge in the early rounds. Late in the second, De La Hoya unleashed a five-punch combination that backed up Forbes, causing a small trickle of blood to drip from his nose.
“It was an excellent fight and an honor to fight Oscar,” Forbes said. “I felt strong and it was great to be in there like that and have the opportunity to get in there and not go down. I hope by fighting him, I proved I am a top-level fighter.”
In the fourth round, Forbes tried to bounce back, throwing seven or eight punches early that mostly missed the target.
In the end, De La Hoya bloodied Forbes but failed to become the first fighter to knock him out.
“Stevie Forbes - that’s the way he fights,” De La Hoya said. “He’s never been knocked out and he’s a tough customer.
“I’m disappointed because, obviously, I worked hard in the gym. But that just shows you what kind of fighter Stevie Forbes is.”
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