If Chavez Is Seeking a Rematch, De La Hoya Isn’t Backing Down

Saturday morning, as the dramatic end to this landmark bout began to recede into the past, Julio Cesar Chavez kept spinning, and Oscar De La Hoya kept grinning.

A defiant Chavez spent more than 30 minutes at a morning news conference in hard spin control mode, denying that he was using a previous cut as an excuse for losing a fourth-round technical knockout (because of a serious cut that needed five stitches late Friday night), and his World Boxing Council super-lightweight belt, to De La Hoya.

But Chavez said the only reason he lost was because of the gash that opened over his left eye--the same place he said he was cut during a workout almost a month ago--and repeatedly claimed that he never was hurt by De La Hoya’s punches.

This echoed most of what he said right after the fight, when he irritated De La Hoya by downplaying De La Hoya’s victory because of the circumstances and said he deserved a rematch.

“It shows that he’s a crybaby,” De La Hoya said with a huge smile early Saturday morning at his post-fight party, before heading out to hit the craps tables.

“I’m happy, because that means he can’t take losing. He has to come up with excuses for losing to me.

“I beat him in the ring, and if he wants a rematch, I’ll fight him any time, any place, anywhere. I’ll fight him in Mexico if he wants, and the next time it won’t last four rounds.”

Saturday, the 33-year-old Chavez, who denied that his nose was broken in the fight, said he wants a rematch, arguing that the early cut--his third major cut in his last eight fights--prevented him from having a chance.

He also said that he suffered an abrasion 26 days ago in Lake Tahoe during sparring, which doctors did not think was serious. Then, three days ago, he aggravated the injury when his 3-year-old son, Christian, bumped heads with him.

“You never saw that Oscar De La Hoya was superior to me,” Chavez said through a translator. “It was just the cut. What happened is that I was not able to see. I’m telling you the truth, it’s not an excuse.

“Simply, Oscar De La Hoya took advantage of the cut--his punches never really hurt me. Oscar De La Hoya is not the best fighter I’ve encountered. He was just lucky because of the little cut.”

Despite his recent run of troublesome fights--he also was cut badly last September against David Kamau and in his May 1994 rematch with Frankie Randall--Chavez said he wants to fight at least twice more.

“If De La Hoya had knocked me down, I would’ve retired last night,” Chavez said. “But he didn’t hurt me enough to knock me down.”

A rematch, though, is not on anybody else’s agenda, as of yet. De La Hoya, 23, has a fight scheduled for Sept. 14 back here at Caesars Palace, and he’d like it to be against International Boxing Federation 140-pound champion Kostya Tsyzu, known as one of the biggest hitters in the middle divisions.

Also, both Bob Arum, De La Hoya’s promoter, and Dino Duva, promoter for WBC welterweight champion Pernell Whitaker, said the sides were very close on finalizing a deal for a De La Hoya-Whitaker bout in March or April.

If there’s a Chavez rematch, Arum said, it would have to be after the Whitaker fight, and it would have to be at the 147-pound welterweight limit, which would be a huge disadvantage for Chavez, who already seemed overmatched by De La Hoya’s power. And even then, the prospect is iffy.

Chavez praised De La Hoya’s boxing ability--De La Hoya landed 50 jabs in the four rounds, according to punch statistic numbers--but pointedly predicted that Whitaker probably would beat De La Hoya.

Said Mike Hernandez, De La Hoya’s advisor: “Chavez is coming up with excuses. How come before the fight he said he was in the best shape of his life, no excuses, and then afterward he says he had been cut before? Oscar was too strong for him, so why doesn’t he just admit it?”