It Could Play Into Mosley's Hands

By Randy Harvey

Sept. 16, 2002 12 AM PT

LAS VEGAS — Promoter Bob Arum had barely had time to wipe the sweat off his brow Saturday night after another close call for his boxing empire when he began talking about Oscar De La Hoya’s future, making Shane Mosley the second-happiest fighter inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

The happiest, of course, was De La Hoya, whose entourage partied well into the early-morning hours Sunday after his 11th-round technical knockout over Fernando Vargas not only established De La Hoya as the most marketable boxer today but restored a reputation tarnished by two losses, to Felix Trinidad Jr. and Mosley, in his last five fights.

In a remarkable concession, Arum, whose Top Rank remained on top in its post-Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard eras because of De La Hoya, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week that the young fighter out of East L.A. whom Arum signed off his gold-medal performance in 1992 hadn’t quite met expectations.

“With everything he’s done, it’s less than I imagined it would have been,” Arum said. “I felt when he came out of the Olympics, he had the capability to be among the one, two or three greatest fighters of all time. For various circumstances, I don’t think he’s achieved that, and time is running out for him to do it.”

Arum began to reassess Saturday night, declaring that the victory over Vargas would be known as De La Hoya’s “signature fight.”

“This was his best fight ever because he faced adversity, he rebounded from adversity, and he ended it without relying on the judges’ decision,” Arum said. “I can’t think of another win I would put in this category.”

It certainly was De La Hoya’s most emotional victory. As a result, he was hardly in the mood Saturday night for reflection. It was statement enough for him that he had beaten Vargas, who had challenged De La Hoya’s manhood, had even challenged whether he was worthy of his Mexican American heritage.

When De La Hoya knocked down Vargas in the 11th with a powerful left, De La Hoya did something he had never done before. He was so excited that he performed a little stutter-step dance. The Oscar Shuffle.

“It was very satisfying really to see him down,” De La Hoya said. “I know it sounds bad coming from me, but it felt pretty good.”

Mosley, who watched at ringside, felt almost as excited. You could tell by the smile on his face and the dollar signs spinning in his eyes.

He had by far the biggest payday of his career when he won a decision over De La Hoya in the summer of 2000 at Staples Center. A rematch seemed inevitable. Mosley offered one and then, in a rare and humiliating position for the winning fighter, practically begged for one.

But De La Hoya was amid what will be recalled as his blue period after losing for the second time in three fights and having a falling out with Arum. De La Hoya also had a left wrist injury that required surgery. His fight Saturday night was only his third since he lost to Mosley, his first in almost 15 months.

Now, however, De La Hoya said he is “hungrier than ever.” HBO officials, who said that his fight against Vargas, when all the numbers are in, will have generated the second-most pay-per-view buys for non-heavyweights, believe the public might be hungrier than ever for De La Hoya.

So the standard millions will be available when De La Hoya, who turns 30 in February, begins a so-called “exit strategy.” Those are Arum’s words for De La Hoya’s future in boxing, but they also could apply to the promoter’s because he has no fighters to sell to pay-per-view audiences other than De La Hoya. De La Hoya probably would have retired if he had lost to Vargas, and Arum probably would have followed soon after.

The strategy now, however, calls for De La Hoya to avenge losses to Trinidad and Mosley before moving up against Bernard Hopkins in an attempt to win a title in a sixth weight class.

If Trinidad doesn’t come out of retirement, and there is no indication that he will, Mosley is next for De La Hoya, probably on the Saturday before Cinco de Mayo.

It’s not only about the money for Mosley. Another reason he was smiling is because he’s confident of winning the rematch. He might not be able to beat Vernon Forrest, whose style confounds him, but Mosley said he didn’t see anything Saturday that made him believe he can’t still beat De La Hoya.

Lost in the euphoria over his dramatic victory was that De La Hoya was hit with more punches and more stinging punches than ever before. Although the conventional wisdom before the fight was that De La Hoya had a significant quickness advantage, Vargas still connected on 43% of his punches.

De La Hoya’s face was bloodied and bruised. His trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., laughed about that--it wasn’t his face--saying, “Beautiful bodies don’t win fights.”

But even Mayweather graded De La Hoya’s performance as no better than B-plus. Vargas clearly won the first, third and fifth rounds, and even after that, there was a sense that he was only one solid punch away from winning the fight.

But he suffered a gash under the right eye in the sixth round. It was revealed Sunday that doctors at the hospital after the fight had treated him for a partial orbital bone fracture. It did not impair his vision and is not expected to have any effect on career plans.

More damaging, Vargas lost form as his conditioning failed him.

His physical trainer quit immediately after the fight, claiming there had been dissension in the camp between him and the nutritionist. He claimed Vargas was not in shape to go the distance.

If he had been, who knows what might have happened? As it was, he was able to rally to win the ninth round.

Mosley isn’t as strong as Vargas, thus not the one-shot threat to De La Hoya, but Mosley is much quicker.

“If Oscar fights that same fight against me, I’ll win,” Mosley said.

De La Hoya didn’t want to think about it yet. He had a party to attend.

Randy Harvey can be reached at [email protected].