by David P. Greisman
There is no plateau, no stagnation. We either rise or decline, improve or decay. Whether one’s level is known dictates just where one goes – to drive toward a destination; to head into a dead-end and not return; or to delay, to stay in neutral until the gas tank hits empty.
It is an eventual truth for superstars, next big things and never-will-bes, reality from which no multimillionaire, no coddled prospect and no local-show regular is immune. To be an athlete is to compete. To fight is to face another man one-on-one. For nearly all, someone, someday, will be better.
Oscar De La Hoya reached that moment years ago. He finally realized it last week, when he retired at 36 years old, with 39 wins and 6 losses, a future entrant into the Hall of Fame who will be worthy of induction but who falls short of recognition as an all-time great. No matter. He was on top of the fight game, and he was long handsomely rewarded for being so.
“I thought it was only fair to my self,” De La Hoya told media members following his retirement. “I thought it was only fair to my fans that I make this decision. because it hurts me that I cannot compete at the highest level anymore. It kills me inside that every time I step inside the ring now, it’s not me. It’s not the person, the fighter, that people grew up watching.”
De La Hoya was undefeated in his first 31 fights. In his final 14 appearances he went 8-6, all six defeats coming against opponents seen as among the best in the sport: Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley (twice), Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
His final two wins came against hand-selected opponents: a knockout of Ricardo Mayorga, a decision over Steve Forbes. In-between those victories came the loss to Mayweather, a night De La Hoya said was the first sign he was nearing the latter stages of his career, the dead-end after a long journey.
“I felt that that was the beginning of me not having it anymore,” De La Hoya said. “At the time you don’t want to accept it. You want to continue to lie to yourself and say, ‘You know, maybe something went wrong.’ ”
Mayweather was considered the best boxer, pound-for-pound. There was no shame in defeat. Forbes, meanwhile, was a capable veteran but an undersized opponent with little power. De La Hoya cleaned up on the scorecards but wound up marked up – “Even though I won, I got hit like there’s no tomorrow,” De La Hoya said. “That obviously was a clear sign to me.”
And then in training camp for the Manny Pacquiao fight came more signs of his decline, more evidence of deterioration.
“I did start getting beat up during sparring, which in all of my boxing career … never happened,” he said. “I’ve never got beat up by sparring partners. And I was getting beat up by sparring partners in that training camp. But I didn’t want to accept it. I didn’t want to realize it. I was lying to myself.”
Stories of De La Hoya’s training camp woes leaked out. Pacquiao would be at least as fast as De La Hoya’s sparring partners. In December he exploited the same weaknesses, punishing De La Hoya, embarrassing him and giving him exactly the kind of stinging beating he needed.
“It actually made it much easier for me to decide that it’s over,” De La Hoya said. “I needed that perfect excuse. I was searching for that perfect exit strategy. How do I retire? How does it happen? What is it going to take? Because we athletes are very stubborn and we never know when enough is enough. And when I got beat by Pacquiao, it obviously makes it easier for me to say, ‘That’s it. You don’t have it anymore.’ ”
It is the same conclusion Arturo Gatti reached two years ago, when he was sent to the canvas for his second straight knockout loss. Against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2005 he had been on the receiving end of an extended, one-sided beating, a loss cementing that Gatti did not belong in the ring with a certain caliber of opponent. His final two defeats came against Carlos Baldomir and Alfonso Gomez, two fighters on much lower tiers than Mayweather, and those knockouts made it clear that Gatti needed to call it a career.
But for other fighters, such a conclusion is not as easily accepted.
Like Gatti, Roy Jones Jr. suffered two consecutive brutal knockouts, the first against Antonio Tarver, the second at the hands of Glen Johnson. Jones would follow those losses with another bout against Tarver, a decision defeat in which Jones seemed content to last the distance.
He would not retire, however. Instead, Jones has delayed such a decision. Four of his last five fights came against opponents who, even though Jones is no longer the transcendent talent he once was, didn’t exactly pose a threat to him. Against Prince Badi Ajamu, Anthony Hanshaw, an inactive past-his prime Felix Trinidad, and Omar Sheika, Jones was fighting for the sake of fighting. He is winning for as long as he could win and seems revitalized, enjoying himself like a retired basketball player taking part in high-level pickup games.
His loss last year to Joe Calzaghe could have signaled his end. Instead, Jones continues on, seeking another challenge, another test of where his level is.
Too often we write off boxers if they do not belong in the highest echelons, forgetting that the primary nature of the Sweet Science is to enjoy the story unfolding within the ring. Gatti packed arenas even though he was never the best in his division. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and John Duddy sell tickets because their fights are entertaining. They do not need to be hyped as anything but what they are. The fans still get their money’s worth.
And though they do not need to step up their competition, fighters like them eventually do. They have the drive, a strong urge to see, at some point, how they compare, whether they belong. For some, such knowledge can bring a harsh reality. For others it is an eventual truth that is easier to swallow.
De La Hoya can look back at his career and see that he belonged, that he packed arenas and often gave the fans what they wanted.
“I've had the opportunity to face many world champions, and a lot of them I won. Some I lost,” De La Hoya said. “But my satisfaction comes, my satisfaction is because at least I tried. I tried to accomplish the impossible, and not too many do that. And so if people want to remember me as an attraction, then I’m glad I gave a lot of people a lot of entertainment.”
The 10 Count
1. A quick correction: Former lightweight contender Jose Miguel Cotto is Miguel Cotto’s older brother, not his younger brother, as I erroneously noted in last week’s column. I regret the error – and not just because Evangelista Cotto threatened to throw a cement block at me.
2. Initial rumors were that Cotto, in the wake of his spat with his uncle Evangelista, would be trained by Miguel Diaz, who has worked with Cotto as a cutman and with other fighters as a trainer and/or cutman. Instead, Cotto named Joe Santiago as his uncle’s replacement. Santiago has worked in Cotto’s camp as a nutritionist.
Cotto should have little problem showing up in shape for his June welterweight title fight with Joshua Clottey. The question remains, though: What kind of help will Santiago be able to bring in the corner if Clottey gives Cotto trouble?
3. Boxers Behaving Badly, part one: Arturo Gatti spent a few nights behind bars last week after missing a court appearance in which he was to answer a charge of assaulting his now-former girlfriend, according to The Canadian Press.
Gatti was arrested last month. His arraignment was scheduled for April 7, but neither he nor his lawyer appeared in court that day. A warrant was issued for Gatti’s arrest, and so he was cuffed last Wednesday at a strip club in Montreal.
He was let out of jail Friday on $2,000 bail, ordered to stay away from drugs, alcohol, his former girlfriend and her son.
Gatti turned 37 on the day he was arrested. He retired in 2007 after a career full of action fights, a former 130- and 140-pound titlist with 40 wins, nine losses and 31 knockouts.
4. Boxers Behaving Badly, part two: Andreas Seran, a middleweight who splits his time between Australia and Indonesia, was one of three people arrested last week charged with taking part in a bar fight in Bali, Indonesia, that left a 22-year-old man dead, according to the Jakarta Globe.
Seran, listed as 20 years old in the article but as 29 on BoxRec.com, was, like the others who were arrested, working at the nightclub where the fight happened. The victim, a tourist from New Zealand, was apparently unable to get medical treatment after being beaten, and he died in his hotel room that night.
Police said charges will vary depending on the person’s involvement, “from committing a violent act in public to assault leading to death,” the newspaper reported.
Seran, 8-6-1 (6 knockouts), last fought in June 2008, losing via eighth-round knockout to Shannan Taylor.
5. Boxers Behaving Badly update, part one: Prosecutors dropped charges against a British Olympian who was arrested in November after a raid in which police seized what they said was more than £12,000 worth of what they believe was cocaine, according to The Northern Echo.
Bradley Saunders, 23, and his girlfriend were released later without being charged, and the junior-welterweight amateur proclaimed his innocence. Prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to charge someone with a crime.
Saunders won his preliminary bout in the Beijing Olympics, outpointing Samuel Kotey Neequaye of Ghana 4-2. He lost in the next round, however, coming up short, 11-7, against Alexis Vastine of France.
6. Boxers Behaving Badly update, part two: An undefeated Indiana fighter who was convicted 29 months ago on federal drug and conspiracy charges has now had his sentencing delayed at least a dozen times, according to The Northwest Indiana Times.
Charles Tanner, 28, was last mentioned in this space a year ago, when his sentencing for running a drug ring was delayed for the 11th time. Who would’ve though we’d be back in the same place 12 month later?
Tanner is facing up to life in prison after being found guilty in November 2006 on two counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and one count of intending to distribute more than 50 grams of cocaine. The case dawdled, at first because the attorney Tanner hired following his conviction was struggling with the appeal. This latest delay came because a judge needed more time to hear defense witnesses before sentencing Tanner.
Tanner’s hearing has been rescheduled for April 24.
Tanner’s biggest fight was a 2003 majority decision over George Blades on what was then ESPN2’s “Tuesday Night Fights.” He fought from super middleweight to heavyweight, compiling a 19-0 (11 knockouts) record that concluded in June 2004 with a technical knockout win against designated opponent Jason Curry.
7. From the Department of Seemingly Random Tidbits: Hud Mellencamp, son of singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, won a regional Golden Gloves championship last week, according to the Associated Press.
The 14-year-old boxes out of the Indianapolis Police Athletic League. He defeated fellow 132-pounder Cody Bennett by a 4-1 decision and will now go on to represent Indiana in the national Golden Gloves tournament, which will be held May 4 through May 10 in Salt Lake City.
8. The Not-So-Well-Traveled Man returns: This week I set out for Mashantucket, Conn., and the Foxwoods Resort Casino, where Saturday’s Showtime card featuring super-middleweight titlist Carl Froch against Jermain Taylor will take place.
My goal for the night: count how many times Allan Green looks at his feet during his undercard fight with Carlos De Leon Jr.
9. Politics and Pugilism: Five-and-a-half months after Joe Mesi came up short in his bid for a seat in New York’s state senate, the former heavyweight contender has landed a job in politics.
Mesi will run a new Senate majority office in Buffalo, a job with a $70,000 annual salary that will call on him to work as a liaison between the Senate majority leader and the community, according to The Buffalo News. Mesi will oversee a staff of up to 10 people.
Mesi, 35, was on the fast track to a title shot when he suffered two subdural hematomas, or bleeding on the brain, in a 2004 victory over Vassiliy Jirov. Mesi was forced to take a two-year layoff before returning. Between April 2006 and October 2007 he won all seven fights he appeared in, none against an opponent of note.
His record stands at 36-0, with 29 wins by way of knockout.
10. So, Mesi goes from boxing – an institution long full of shady characters willing to lie and stab people in the back in order to get ahead – to politics.
Seems like a lateral move to me…
David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at fightingwords1@gmail.com
