Boxing

Softies are allowed... mugging is not

By Janne Romppainen

02.05 - It is not often that I have been less excited about a card that includes two top-10 pound-for-pounders than I am about the one that takes place on 3rd of May in Lag Vegas, Nevada. A card that sees Oscar De La Hoya and Erik Morales in the ring should be a real must-see for every fight fan. The problem this time is that we are only allowed to see them in the ring. Whether or not either is included to an event that could be called a real fight is a whole different story.

Oscar De la Hoya returns to the ring after eight-month layoff. In his last fight he fought his way to a great victory over Fernando Vargas via eleventh-round knockout. As the big rematch with Sugar Shane Mosley is coming, De la Hoya needs a soft fight under his belt to keep active. Enter the Mexican veteran of 85 fights, Yory Boy Campas. Campas is a plausible choice for an opponent in a business sense: he is somewhat familiar name among the fight fans, he is colourful, has a solid record of 80 victories with 68 knockouts against only five losses. The flip of the coin however reveals that Campas has been defeated by every real top fighter that he has faced. Guys such as Trinidad, Vargas and Carr have had easy time with him. In his last major fight he was forced to retire against Daniel Santos. Whether or not these achievements make him a credible opponent for De La Hoya I left for you to decide.

The outcome of the bout seems so obvious that the Campas team along with promoter Bob Arum have started using every way possible to raise some interest. So far the most ridiculous attempt was the “magic potion” that Campas took in front of the press. He told us that it was something that the Indians had drunk before winning their battles and that it gives you extra strength. Right. If it also renews your defensive technique, gives you twice our reflexes and makes you become younger by ten years then it might help him against The Golden Boy.

Campas is an exciting pressure fighter with a granite-like chin and good punch. However, he has never been a real one-punch knockout artist but he has rather worn his opponents out with his body attack so even a haymaker knockout victory for him is very unexpected. His major problem against the better fighters of the division is his defence, or more accurately the lack of it. If Fernando Vargas with a 14-fight experience was able to stop Campas’ attack without much problem then I can’t see how a matured De La Hoya would do much differently. I expect for De La Hoya’s jab to punish Campas, his right hand going in all the night and Campas connecting a couple of times to De la Hoya’s body without much success. Campas should be totally dominated before the end that will probably come sooner rather than later, probably in five rounds as Campas either is stopped on his foot or retires on his corner.

It is of course nice in a way that the older fighters that have given us many good fights get a good payday and one final chance, but still I’d rather see De La Hoya to take on some younger fellow even if he wasn’t so well-known. When the old warhorses such as Campas are in the ring with superstars there is a great possibility that the show turns ugly. Luckily Campas is known for retiring from fights quickly if he feels that he can’t win. I hope he does it this time before anything worse happens.

As for the other big bout of the evening, it seems like a classical mismatch between a man and a boy. Or actually this time it is a man against a Bobby Boy. Erik “El Terrible” Morales defences his WBC featherweight title against Fernando “Bobby Boy” Velardez. Velardez is a young gun at the age of 22. He made his breakthrough in the undercard of the show that was topped by the Barrera-Hamed mega-fight by dethroning Juan Carlos Ramirez in six rounds. He has followed up with some nice victories, the best of them being over Jesus Salud and Diego Morales. However, anybody who saw the Velardez-Morales fight knows how much credibility that victory has. Velardez was down four times in the fight but got a lucky break as Morales’ corner entered the ring accidentally during the ninth round and their fighter was disqualified. It seems to me that a disqualification would be about the only chance for Velardez to win an even better Morales.

Velardez is not a bad fighter. Actually he is far from it, being one of the better contenders of his division. He posses nice skills with some speed and power (His record of 24 victories, four losses and a draw with six opponents stooped does not tell the whole truth). It is highly unlikely that any of it is enough to really harm the rock-hard champion however. Morales has more reach, much more power and also a great punch resistance. Actually he seems to do everything a little or much better than the challenger. Velardez’ only slim chance might be to hope that Morales is not well-prepared and he looks somewhat uninterested as he did against Guty Espadas and that it would open him a chance to work out a points victory with greater activity. It is not going to happen however. Morales seems to be annoyed about the pre-fight antics of Velardez and he has promised to “teach him some respect”. Look for Morales to come out quick, to pound Velardez all the way before the finish which I expect to see in about seven rounds. This is more intriguing match-up than the main event but it won’t be a classic.

Soft touches are of course allowed once in a while and both De La Hoya and Morales have done enough to take them. This time however their fights seem so one-sided that there is a serious fear about their opponent’s health. I just hope that everything turns out fine and that soon we will see this two stars in a real fight action again.

Comments/questions: janneromppainen@hotmail.com

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