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Friday, September 19, 2003
Sayson: Golden disgrace
By Homer Sayson
Second overtime
CHICAGO – Nearly a week after the semi-classic Mosl ey-Dela Hoya II, Sugar Shane’s una-nimous decision win continues to drip with controversy. Dela Hoya followers still insist that the Golden Boy was robbed, and with Oscar himself leading the way, a vigil has been kept on what is falsely construed as a fistic tragedy.
Let me be clear here, if there was a holdup at the MGM Grand’s Garden Arena last Saturday, Shane Mosley was the victim. The legend from Pomona, California fought his heart out, won fair and square, only to be denied his just due.
Mosley started his career at 135 pounds, where he cleaned the lightweight division and established himself as pound-for-pound material. This past weekend, he climbed the ring at 154-pounds, and amazingly he brought with him the speed, power and agility most fighters cannot carry once they move up in weight.
Dela Hoya bragged about retiring if Mosley pummels him again, the way Sugar Shane did nearly three years and seven pounds ago. After manhandling Fernando Vargas on Sept. 9, 2002, Dela Hoya thought Mosley would be a sissy at 154.
Gosh, was Oscar wrong. Mosley was surprisingly quick and nimble. Chiseled like a body-builder, Mosley proved to be the stronger pug, hurting his foe downstairs while shrugging Dela Hoya’s punches as if they were pesky mosquito bites.
So what does Mosley get for proving to be a freak of nature?
More doubt and no respect. Now tell me, who got robbed on Sept. 13?
TRAGEDY. Right now, Oscar Dela Hoya is the emblem of boxing. And deservedly so. He is skilled and media-friendly, a multi-belted champion with the drawing power of Pope John Paul II.
As his sport’s ambassador, Oscar had the chance to accept defeat like a man, honor his foe after 12 hard-fought rounds. It was an opportunity where Dela Hoya could lead by example, prove to the rest of the boxing world that on some nights, even the best take their licks. It would have capped a career already defined by true greatness.
Disappointingly, Dela Hoya veered from the golden path.
That is the greatest tragedy in Mosley-Dela Hoya II.
If Oscar truly believed he was robbed, the best way to acquit himself is demand a rematch, another tiff which Mosley is too glad to give. But Dela Hoya clearly expressed that a third meeting is unlikely.
Scared? I don’t think so. That word does not exist is Oscar’s wide vocabulary.
By refusing to fight Mosley again, Dela Hoya is just being smart. Deep in his heart he knows that he just can’t find anything sour with Sugar Shane. After 11 years in the business. Dela Hoya had finally met his match, the Achilles to his heel, his waterloo.
Instead of recognizing that, and becoming even more human to his adoring public, Oscar is being arrogant and bitter.
How sad. How tragic.
(Questions are welcome at homsay@hotmail.com)
(September 19, 2003 issue)
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