De La Hoya Gets Serious Victory : Boxing: He overwhelms Paez with second-round knockout. Toney stops Williams in the 12th.

With cold eyes and a malevolent left hand, Oscar De La Hoya sent Jorge Paez to the canvas Friday night and hammered down the little doubts that had crept into his young career.

After coming into the ring with a grimace replacing his traditional bouncy entrance, De La Hoya first dazed, then took out Paez before 8,011 at the MGM Grand. De La Hoya (14-0, 13 knockouts) ended the bout early in the second with two left-handed half-hooks that De La Hoya calls “45s”--because they come from a 45-degree angle.

Paez, by far the most experienced and successful fighter De La Hoya has met as a professional, hit the floor forehead first and did not come close to rising before referee Richard Steele counted him out, 39 seconds into the second round.

After suffering two first-round knockdowns in his last three fights against journeymen, De La Hoya said he knew he needed a dazzler. And he got it.

“You’re always going to have critics, and it seems like in boxing there are those that still don’t believe in me,” De La Hoya said. “But I feel very good about winning my second world title in just my 14th pro fight.”

De La Hoya, who moved up from junior-lightweight for this bout, won the vacant World Boxing Organization lightweight title (his second WBO championship, which is not considered a major title) with the victory.

“I just had to prove to people that I’m a good fighter,” De La Hoya said. “There were a bunch of people who were saying to me that Paez is too experienced for me, that I wasn’t ready.

“I think the Mexican fans were kind of confused about me, they didn’t know who to cheer. But you see when I knocked him out, they were cheering me.”

In the card’s main event, James Toney (44-0-2, 29 KOs) retained his International Boxing Federation super-middleweight belt--and prepped for a potential showdown with IBF middleweight champion Roy Jones in mid-November--in a blue-collar outing over Prince Charles Williams (36-6-2).

Williams, 32, pressed the attack the whole fight but ended it on his back with 15 seconds remaining in the 12th and final round after absorbing a furious Toney overhand right and referee Joe Cortez counting to 10.

But the revelation of the evening was De La Hoya’s ability to blow out Paez (53-7-4). Paez has always been better known for his ring antics than for his punching power and is well past his prime. But Paez is a savvy veteran and received a welcome equally warm as De La Hoya’s Friday.

“I don’t remember anything after getting knocked out,” said Paez, who complained of dizziness after the bout. “I don’t remember the second round at all. I was in good shape and wanted to fight, but De La Hoya was too strong and hit too hard.

“I’ve never been hit that hard by a punch before.”

De La Hoya was cautious in the first round--all too aware that his recklessness caused the two embarrassing first-round knockdowns.

“We didn’t know what he was going to do,” De La Hoya said. “Paez is such an unpredictable fighter.”

But in the second, things happened quickly.

“The first left knocked him kind of wobbly,” De La Hoya said. “But when I saw him still standing, I thought, ‘Wow, this guy’s ready, most guys would have gone done after that shot.’

“Right there, I decided I better go after him and end it, because he’s an experienced fighter.”

It began, as De La Hoya’s most devastating combinations usually do, with a sharp left that landed solidly on the chin and staggered Paez.

From there, De La Hoya threw two lefts and a right, stepped away for a moment, then caught Paez with the last left that ended it.

“This was a very important win for us, because of all that he has been making from boxing recently,” trainer Robert Alcazar said. “It’s a great result, a fight that will get people, hopefully, to see what’s here: He’s a true fighter.”

The plans now call for De La Hoya to go on a world tour of 10-round non-title fights--September in Mexico City, October in Japan, November in Africa. After that’s over, De La Hoya hopes to face IBF lightweight champion Rafael Ruelas, who fights in Hong Kong this October, sometime in early 1995.

“After this fight,” said De La Hoya’s father, Joel, “all we’ve got to say is: Who’s next?”

Next for Toney is Jones, who apparently will relinquish his middleweight crown to facilitate the way to Toney. Jones has balked at recent attempts to make the fight but has signed a deal to fight Toney in November on pay-per-view in either New York, New Orleans or Atlantic City.

“I was sick today,” Toney said. “I had the flu. I won’t be sick against Roy Jones.”