De La Hoya Goes to the Nose and Hernandez Quits After Six : Boxing: Former junior-lightweight champion decides it’s better to live to fight another day. De La Hoya wrenches his back.

Proving once again that his fists can break both bones and a fighting spirit, a nimble Oscar De La Hoya bobbed, weaved, then battered Genaro Hernandez until the grudge match ended Saturday night with a splash of blood and a wave of surrender.

Barely able to breathe, absorbing a night of punishment, and in extreme pain after a sixth-round De La Hoya left hook crushed his nose, Hernandez chose common sense over valor.

After telling his trainer and brother, Rudy, Hernandez walked to referee Richard Steele shortly after the sixth round ended and indicated he could no longer continue.

“It was decided in the ring,” De La Hoya said. “I broke his nose and he couldn’t take it.”

The sixth-round technical knockout, which was De La Hoya’s fourth defense of his World Boxing Organization lightweight title, was an anticlimactic end to years of bitter buildup between the two local fighters, and the announced crowd of 7,210 mostly booed the result.

Trembling with tears in the post-fight news conference, Hernandez asked boxing fans to forgive him for quitting, but explained that once his nose was broken, he had to think of his own safety.

“I feel bad I let down a lot of people, but I had to give up,” said Hernandez, who suffered his first defeat in 34 fights. “There’s been a lot of serious injuries in boxing lately, and I’ve got a daughter and a beautiful wife. I don’t need to end up like those other fighters.

“It’s better to say no mas than not to say another word.”

According to Hernandez’s physician, Adam Karns, Hernandez suffered a very long break of his nose, severely worsening a condition that had developed during sparring with Shane Mosley several weeks ago.

The 29-year-old Hernandez, who said he definitely was not retiring, was taken to Valley Hospital after the bout. Coincidentally, De La Hoya, complaining of back problems, also went to Valley after the fight. He is scheduled to fight Dec. 15, at Madison Square Garden in New York, probably against Tracy Harris Patterson.

“It’s such severe pain, no one could have continued,” Karns said. “No one.”

De La Hoya (19-0, 17 knockouts), for his part, said he wrenched his back before the second round, which limited his ability to display his developing style of twisting and ducking away from hard shots and turning back in to deliver hooks and uppercuts.

But even with a troublesome back, De La Hoya was, as Rudy Hernandez said, “awesome.”

Uncharacteristically, and decidedly opposite of his two-round devastation of Rafael Ruelas in his last fight, De La Hoya started the fight cautiously. The taller Hernandez dictated the pace through the early rounds, winging hard jabs and left hooks, but De La Hoya avoided almost every meaningful shot with quick body movement.

De La Hoya began to press the attack, gradually, by the third round, with brief but effective flurries to the face, and 30 seconds into the fourth landed a right uppercut to the chin that sent Hernandez bouncing a couple of steps backward.

“He was at his prime, and it was very difficult to get inside his defense,” said De La Hoya, who hopes his new style is better suited for his impending move up to 140 pounds to fight Julio Cesar Chavez next May. “But I started connecting with some good uppercuts and hooks.”

Then, came the first minute of the sixth, when, at the end of a three-punch combination, De La Hoya connected with a right, then a left hook, both directly on Hernandez’s nose.

“After that, every time he landed a punch there it hurt me so much,” said Hernandez, who fought and won several bouts throughout his career after breaking bones in his hands.

Through the rest of the sixth, Hernandez’s gasps for breath were audible at ringside, and blood seeped from his nose and sprayed from his mouth.

Through six rounds, the three judges had De La Hoya ahead, by four, four and two points.

“You’ve got to give Oscar all the credit,” Rudy Hernandez said. “He showed something he hadn’t before--he proved he can box and move.”

*

Boxing Notes

Minutes before the main event, a spectator fell from halfway up the north grandstands of the Caesars Palace outdoor arena and was taken to University Medical Center, where a Caesars spokesman said he was listed in critical condition.

In the last fight of the night, former super-middleweight champion James Toney, fighting at light-heavyweight, defeated Ernest Mateen when Mateen was disqualified in the fifth round for persistent fouls. The Nevada Athletic Commission is withholding Mateen’s purse of $15,000 pending an investigation into his behavior.

Earlier, World Boxing Organization junior-bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia won a nontitle fight in a unanimous decision over Jesse Miranda. Also, super-bantamweight Erik Morales won a fourth-round technical knockout over Alberto Martinez, and former champion Kevin Kelly fought to a majority-decision draw with Clarence Adams.