De La Hoya Definitely a Cut Above

Worried about those New Jersey judges?

World Boxing Council welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya made sure it never came down to the scorecards, made sure there was no repeat of a controversial loss by George Foreman last month in this state by slashing open the eye of challenger Wilfredo Rivera in the second round of Saturday night’s title fight at the Atlantic City Convention Hall.

From then on it, was not a matter of if, but when.

Rivera, with blood streaming down the right side of his face for most of the remainder of the match, fought gamely, but ineffectively until ringside physician Howard Taylor finally stopped the fight at 2:08 of the eighth round before 11,271, improving De La Hoya’s unbeaten mark to 27-0 with 22 knockouts.

De La Hoya put Rivera down with a solid right hand in the fourth round.

“He was the strongest fighter I ever faced,” said De La Hoya. “However, I really felt strong in there. I felt like a champion.”

And looked like one.

De La Hoya was aggressive from the start, danced most of the fight, peppered Rivera with his trademark jab, scored often with a devastating left hook and wasn’t even fazed when Rivera occasionally switched to a southpaw style.

There have been questions in the last month about De La Hoya’s corner, over whether he might be distracted by the constant changing of trainers.

Gil Clancy, 75, was a new face in De La Hoya’s corner Saturday night, the third trainer the welterweight has had in 1997, all of them working with Roberto Alcazar, who has been there from the start.

But if Saturday night’s performance was any indication, De La Hoya could put author Tom Clancy in his corner and it wouldn’t make any difference.

De La Hoya began putting combinations together in the second round, a thundering left hook slicing open the skin above Rivera’s right eye.

When De La Hoya would make one of his charges, Rivera would point to his chest as if to say he had too much heart to be intimidated or discouraged.

But when the second round ended, Rivera looked toward his own corner with a shrug of his shoulders and an apologetic look on his face.

He knew that with only one good eye it would be impossible to hold off a De La Hoya, who was fighting at the top of his game.

“I couldn’t see out of my eye,” Rivera said after the fight, before leaving for a nearby hospital for treatment. “After that, I had to change my style. I couldn’t be as aggressive. I had to protect the cut.”

Although De La Hoya’s punches, especially his jab and his left hook, were solid and steady, he showed his maturity by allowing the steady punishment to take its toll rather than swinging for the knockout.

“When I went back to my corner,” said De La Hoya, referring to the end of the second round with Rivera was bleeding heavily from the cut, “they told me to take my time, to act like a champion.

“In the past, when I would see a fighter hurt, see blood, I would get out of control and try to hurt my opponent.

“But now I try to think up new tactics and make sure that I don’t get crazy. A fighter is at his most dangerous when he is hurt because he starts throwing punches from different angles. “

Finally, De La Hoya’s patience paid off.

In the eighth round, Taylor stepped forward, looked at the cut and signaled that Rivera had had enough.

“The cut was bad to begin with,” Taylor said. “And it got worse. I will give a fighter a little extra edge and a little extra time if it’s a championship fight.

“But [when he stopped the fight], I felt like he [Rivera] had taken enough. He has lost the ability to defend himself. The cut was down to the muscle, down to the bone.”

Rivera protested for an instant, then seemed to concede that the doctor was right.

He had won three rounds on the scorecards, two on Judge Sergio Silvi’s card and one on Judge John Riley’s card. The best Rivera could do on the card of the third judge, Richie Davies, was a draw in the sixth round.

Rivera, four years older than De La Hoya, drops to 27-3-1 with 18 knockouts. Both of Rivera’s previous losses came at the hands of Pernell Whitaker, who lost a close, controversial decision to De La Hoya last April.

Who did Rivera consider the superior fighter of the two?

“They are the same,” he said, “but they have different styles.”

De La Hoya wasn’t about to beat his own chest over this victory in this, his fifth fight of 1997.

Asked how he would rate his effort on a scale of one to 10, he gave himself, “a six or a seven.”

Said De La Hoya: “This was just another learning experience. I feel like I’m progressing in boxing. I hope this is another step toward my becoming a complete fighter.

“Maybe in three years, I will give a perfect performance. And maybe not. Maybe I’ll retire by then.”

De La Hoya has talked often about hanging up his gloves by the time he’s 27, of pursuing his other goals of becoming a actor or an architect, about devoting himself to his other athletic love--golf.

It sounds good. But as long as De La Hoya can put on performances like he did Saturday night at the end of a long, hectic and distraction-filled year, don’t look for him anywhere but the ring.