Oscar De La Hoya beats Stevie Forbes and looks old doing it
May 3, 2008 by William K. Wolfrum
Oscar De La Hoya cruised to a unanimous decision over Stevie Forbes in Los Angeles on Saturday night. For De La Hoya, that’s the good news. The bad news is this - if he steps in against anyone less limited than Forbes, he could be in big trouble.
Showing little more than aggression, a good work pace and a strong left jab, De La Hoya cruised past Forbes in a fight he should have won by knockout. Forbes, a former Contender titlist, is a decent enough fighter,but has very little power. Still, De La Hoya ended the fight with bruises under both eyes.
De La Hoya has been good for boxing, and will continue to be, both with his rematch with Floyd Mayweather, and with his Golden Boy Promotions. But his time as a top fighter is over. Mayweather has boasted he’ll stop De La Hoya next time around, and it’s likely he will.
De La Hoya deserves respect for his career. He’s by no means an all-time great, but anyone who has fought the level of fighters he has deserves respect. Nonetheless, against Forbes, De La Hoya looked, and fought like an older fighter. His power is negligible and he was accurate with only his jab.
-WKW
[...] Round 5: Wow. Pacquiao just spent three minutes battering De La Hoya, getting his attention a couple times with power shots. When De La Hoya fought Steve Forbes, I said DLH looked like an old fighter. He looks even older right now. Pacquiao [...]