Chavez Defiant Despite Second Bloody Beating

The white jackets carried the message in green letters:

Revancha Definitiva

Si se Puede.

Seva a Poder.

Vanos A Ganar.

Ultimate revenge.

It can be.

It will be.

We’re going to win.

Hey, get a longer jacket. Add a line.

Cuando Puercos Vuelen.

When pigs fly.

Julio Cesar Chavez could have used all of the jackets Friday night and it wouldn’t have helped. Still, he stood defiant after dodging the towel thrown in by his cornermen after eight rounds of his fight against Oscar De La Hoya.

“I learned De La Hoya is a great fighter,” Chavez said.

Big deal. News flash. He had learned that more than two years ago, when he exited a Las Vegas ring with blood streaming down the left side of his face, opened in four rounds.

This time, the cut was on the right side of his mouth, and if it took twice as long to create, it was no less definite. Chavez is 101-3-2, and two of the losses have come against De La Hoya, who once idolized him but three times on Friday night had to be separated from him at the bell.

“I showed him I’m not finished,” Chavez said. “My cornermen quit, I didn’t quit. I am a man.”

He added, “There’s still a lot left in me,” but the words come from a 36-year-old who often fought Friday as he has always fought: taking four punches to land one. Occasionally, his punch was a good one. As often, though, he would load up a right hand, but by the time he could deliver it, De La Hoya had thrown a left, a right, a left, a right and had moved into another area code.

In the end, Chavez showed he had learned that he can beat neither De La Hoya nor Father Time, but perhaps something good came of that. Maybe both have knocked some sense into him.

“I want to do a fight at my own weight and then retire definitely,” he said, his weight being 140 pounds, 4 1/2 fewer than he carried going into Friday’s fight. “I think it definitely is a time to say goodbye to boxing.”

Earlier, Yory Boy Campas (72-2-62) said he would like to be part of De La Hoya’s future after he put enough right hands into Larry Barnes (44-3-17) in the third round to keep Barnes from starting the fourth. With that, Campas retained his IBF Junior Middleweight title.

In another championship bout, Antonio Diaz (22-2-18) retained his IBA Junior Welterweight title when he finished off Hector Quiroz of Mexico (25-3-1-21) by technical knockout at 1:05 of the 12th round.