By T.K. Stewart

 

For the past few years, Oscar De La Hoya has been fighting with a slight tear of the rotator cuff in his left shoulder. De La Hoya made the injury publicly known at the post-fight press conference after he defeated Ricardo Mayorga in May 2006.

At the time, De La Hoya indicated that the injury was severe enough to limit his sparring and he claimed that after eight or nine rounds of training the left shoulder would go numb and render his arm virtually useless.

"It got to the point where after so many rounds of sparring I would feel a burning back there," Oscar said at the post fight press conference following his six-round blowout of Mayorga.

De La Hoya is what is known in boxing as a "converted southpaw" which simply means he is a left-handed person that fights in a right-handed stance. One of the keys to his success in the sport has been the fact that he leads with his power hand. He has a ramrod stiff left jab and a cannon for a left hook. Some critics have even called De La Hoya a "one-handed" fighter because of his over reliance on his left hand.

The HBO television network is currently airing a four-part series "De La Hoya-Pacquiao 24/7" which is a behind the scenes look at the training camps of both De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao ahead of their December 6th welterweight bout.

During the program, there have been several occasions where the left shoulder of De La Hoya appears as though it is still a problem for him and that it is receiving special treatment.

In one scene, De La Hoya is having his hands taped by cornerman Joe Chavez and Oscar is seen wearing a neoprene shoulder support. It is a device designed to give functional support to the shoulder and it helps to provide stabilization and mobility. The neoprene offers warmth therapy to the shoulder area and helps prevent re-injury of overused joints.

In a gym scene, De La Hoya's older brother, Joel, Jr. is seen vigorously massaging Oscar's left shoulder area. In another clip, when conditioning coach Rob Garcia is administering acupuncture therapy, the clavicle area of De La Hoya's left shoulder can be seen to be scraped and possibly bruised.

According to Wikipedia, a torn rotator cuff can lead to pain and restricted movement of a person's arm. It is frequently a "wear and tear" injury of the tendons and is commonly sustained by athletes whose sports involve making repetitive motions, such as baseball pitchers, quarterbacks, swimmers and boxers.

A torn rotator cuff can only be totally repaired with surgery and De La Hoya has not had surgery to repair the injury.

Trainer Freddie Roach, who was in De La Hoya's corner for his fight versus Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in 2007, has said, "I know why Oscar stopped using his left jab" against Mayweather, Jr.  Roach has also said that he will exploit that mystery when his protégé, Manny Pacquiao, faces Oscar on December 6th.

Roach refuses to say what he knows, but many within the industry are speculating that the slight tear in Oscar's left rotator cuff caused him to abandon the left jab against Mayweather.

Oscar was well ahead in the first half of the Mayweather fight according to my ringside scorecard and it was primarily due to the strength and effectiveness of his left jab. But for some reason (which Oscar has never explained) he suddenly stopped throwing the punch with frequency and lost the later rounds, as well as the split-decision.

On the night he beat Mayorga, Oscar told the assembled press at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, of which I was part, that:

"I will not have surgery on my rotator cuff. I'll try to let it heal on its own along with medication."

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