28.04.06 – By David Douse: Two of the most formidable fighters of the last decade or so once more climb into the ring over the next few weeks to see if they can again put on display the fistic excellence which has so rightly given them their reputations among the greats. Oscar De La Hoya takes on the very dangerous but sometimes erratic Ricardo Mayorga, and Bernard Hopkins attempts to defeat age and a two division weight jump in his quest for the lightheavyweight title against the man presently regarded as the best in the division, Antonio Tarver.
Making predictions always leaves you open to looking pretty foolish when thay don’t work out but it is probably harder to predict the outcome of De La Hoya vs. Mayorga. They are of a similar vintage and each has possible advantages and disadvantages to be considered in the course of making a prediction as to the likely outcome. On balance I have to say that I favour Mayorga despite his undisciplined lifestyle outside the ring and his tendency to get knocked out occasionally.
Oscar’s last few outings have not done much to enhance his image as a professional fighter and the fleshy look he brought into the ring against both Sturm and Hopkins tends to reinforce the view that he might be more about big self promoted paydays than regaining the pinnacle.However, he is reported to be training extremely hard and the animosity he feels for Mayorga appears to be real, so perhaps he really can come into the ring well prepared, axious to do some damage, and possibly with some of the old fire in his belly which seems to have gone missing lately.
However if Mayorga’s preparation is not up to scratch because he believes that De La Hoya will be an easy fight then he will unquestionably suffer the consequences for underestimating a fighter of De La Hoya’s pedigree.
That said, I do not believe Mayorga will arrive either underdone or overconfident, despite the trash talk, and I feel that his view of himself as a full time professional fighter will be what prevails over what I see as Oscar’s view of himself as a former champion who is now primarily a businessman/media personality and who fights from time to time. In other words it’s all in the underlying attitude, and so I feel that De La Hoya’s use-by-date has probably come. I pick Mayorga to win by stoppage any time after round five or at least give De La Hoya a fairly solid beating over the distance.
Soon after, we will be able to see if the great Bernard Hopkins can do what history and logic mostly tell us can’t be done in his attempt to take the lightheavyweight mantle from Antonio Tarver. Sadly for Bernard I think he is himself due to take a real beating this time around from a younger, bigger, very hard hitting champion whom I could well see as fighting successfully at cruiserweight. I don’t overlook the fact that Hopkins himself is a big man for a middleweight but Tarver is every bit as big, comparatively speaking, for his own division and should be physically dominant in the fight.
Hopkins is undoubtedly motivated to gain the recognition he feels has been denied him, a driving force that I no longer see in De La Hoya, but it seems clear that he has bitten off too much this time. If Hopkins cannot suddenly start fighting in a much more aggressive style than we have been used to seeing [look how long he took to dispose of the much smaller De La Hoya, and the overcautious efforts against Jermain Taylor], to try to get Tarver on the retreat, then he will be doing nothing other than playing into Tarver’s hands by fighting so defensively. Tarver’s size, speed, and mobility would thus enable him to pick Hopkins off and set himself up for a comfortable points win or possible stoppage over Hopkins whom I suspect will really show his age when Tarver puts him under the sort of sustained pressure that an over respectful Jermain Taylor couldn’t.
Tarver’s relative youth and power, not to mention his considerable skills, leave me in little doubt that he will remain champion when it’s over. Father Time, in the form of Antonio Tarver, should persuade BHop that his own use-by date has fallen due.