BREAKING AWAY

Top 10 reasons Oscar De La Hoya lost to Felix Trinidad:

1. He was robbed by the judges.

2. He suffered from flu.

3. He went into the fight with a bruised hand.

4. He went into the fight with a twisted ankle.

5. He was shaken up by a punch thrown after the bell at the end of the ninth round.

6. His arms felt heavy in the last three rounds.

7. He lost confidence.

8. He lost energy.

9. He foolishly thought he was so far ahead on points that he could run the last three rounds.

10. He listened to the advice of too many people on how to approach the fight.

“Our brains were washed by all the people around us,” said Robert Alcazar, De La Hoya’s trainer.

So why all this focus on a fight held nine months ago when De La Hoya is facing another megafight in three days? Why worry about Trinidad when De La Hoya will be facing Shane Mosley at Staples Center on Saturday in a welterweight title match?

Why not just let Trinidad go?

Because De La Hoya seems unwilling to do so, offering reason after reason in recent days why he lost his first professional fight after 32 victories. And if De La Hoya is still focused on the past, can he refocus Saturday on Mosley?

De La Hoya clearly was ahead after nine rounds against Trinidad last September at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Hotel, outboxing the unbeaten Puerto Rican, bloodying and bruising him while smoothly avoiding Trinidad’s own deadly arsenal of punches.

But in those final three rounds, De La Hoya chose to become a runner rather than a fighter, more concerned with staying out of harm’s way than connecting on punches.

The result was a majority decision for Trinidad.

De La Hoya labeled it a bad decision and campaigned for a rematch.

When negotiations broke down, De La Hoya announced he would instead polish up his tarnished Golden Boy image by taking on four opponents this year and knocking each of them out.

No more regrets. No more opportunities for the judges to render bad decisions. No more excuses.

But in recent weeks, De La Hoya has brought up all sorts of excuses for the loss to Trinidad, from the ankle to the hand to the flu to a lack of conditioning.

“It’s not an excuse,” De La Hoya said. “It’s just the truth. A lot of people want to hear the truth.”

But it’s not always easy to determine what the truth is with De La Hoya. Was he so badly injured that serious thought was given to postponing the Trinidad fight?

“No,” said promoter Bob Arum. “Those types of injuries are not that unusual. You never see a fighter enter the ring without some sort of minor injury.”

So the injuries were the reason he was out of shape?

Not necessarily.

“I blame myself,” De La Hoya said. “I was not training the way I should have. Being in so many big events, I was getting tired. I was getting bored. I was not feeling motivated anymore.”

Then it wasn’t a strategic move to stay away from Trinidad those final three rounds, as De La Hoya claimed after the fight?

Not necessarily.

“I didn’t have confidence to stay in there and bang,” De La Hoya now says. “I was thinking about how hard I was getting hit. It was a lack of confidence and a lack of conditioning. My legs felt good, but my arms were getting heavy.”

De La Hoya insists we’ve seen the last of such problems. “I am in the best shape of my life,” he said.

But he says that before every fight.

Reporters have learned to be wary of De La Hoya’s statements.

He once hired Jesus Rivero to train him because De La Hoya said he needed to develop more defensive skill, then fired Rivero when he became too much of a defensive fighter. He hired trainer Emanuel Steward to take control of his career, then fired Steward when it was felt Steward had too much control.

De La Hoya allowed Mike Hernandez to manage his business affairs and publicly questioned whether he needed Arum. Then he fired Hernandez and has become closer than ever with Arum.

None of this is to imply that De La Hoya is cruel or uncaring. Just the opposite. He is sometimes too nice, allowing himself to be pulled in this various directions.

Whom to hire? How to fight? Should he be a boxer or a puncher? De La Hoya listens to too many people and over-analyzes opponents.

“I wanted to please everybody over the years,” he said. “Now I have learned to do things for myself.”

His consummate skills should have been enough to please everybody. De La Hoya is a brilliant fighter, among the handful worthy of being considered the best in the world. His left hand is the most devastating in boxing, whether he is using it to jab or throw his trademark left hook. His speed is blinding. His footwork can be dazzling. His height and weight combine to give him the perfect body for a fighter.

If only he didn’t think so much, allowing analysis to turn into paralysis in the ring.

The result has been a series of fights that he made more difficult than necessary. Pernell Whitaker confused him. Ike Quartey froze him for several of the middle rounds of their fight. And Trinidad, for whatever the true reason, made him run.

And now, with another big fight staring him in the face, De La Hoya is still thinking too much.

“I always go to bed wondering what happened,” he said, referring to the Trinidad loss.

Enough already.

For De La Hoya to become all he can be, he must cut loose the past and cut loose in the ring.

And stop allowing his brain to be washed.

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The Facts

* Where: Staples Center

* When: Saturday

* Time: Undercard--5 p.m. Main event--8:30 p.m.

* Main event: Oscar De La Hoya (32-1, 26 KOs) vs. Shane Mosley (34-0, 32 KOs), 12 rounds for De La Hoya’s WBC welterweight title.

* Undercard: Erik Morales vs. Mike Juarez, featherweights; Diego Corrales vs. Justin Juuko, lightweights; Shannon Taylor vs. Miguel Angel Ruiz, welterweights.

* Tickets: $50-$900. Information: 213-480-3232

* Television: Pay-per-view only. No Radio