By Rick Reeno
***Correction - Oscar was leading on one scorecard 77-75 and BEHIND on the other two cards at the time of the knockout with scores of 79-73 and 78-74.***
The big issue before the fight was the fact that Oscar De La Hoya had cut his left hand in training, got 11 stiches in the hand and took what was said to be an illegal substance for the pain. HBO was grilling the Vegas bigwigs as to why the fight was going on when Oscar has an illegal substance in his blood. HBO was also grilling the Vegas bigwigs as to why two of the three Sturm-De La Hoya judges were picked to judge this fight, why there was not a top ref to referee this fight and the top Vegas doctor did not want to be involved with this fight. Then there was an issue with the wrapping of the hands, De La Hoya did not want the tape to go over the palm of his hand where he had the stiches from the cut. Hopkins came in to the fight weighing 169 pounds, Oscar would not allow HBO to weigh him in the dressing room.
Oscar switched up his game, he came out dictating the pace, putting pressure on Hopkins and by surprise, Hopkins barely did anything and Oscar gained the first round. The seconds round was more of the same and Oscar did a huge flurry at the end to win the round. For whatever reason, Hopkins is not imposing his size and trying to outbox De La Hoya and losing the battle. Oscar gets my nod for the third round as well. The fourth was very even as Oscar is doing the unthinkable, he is standing and trading with Hopkins, not taking any steps back and pressing the action. Oscar is even trading fouls with Hopkins when needed.
The fifth is the best round for Hopkins as he started shooting the jab real hard. Oscar landed two great bodyshots and tried to flurry at the end. Hopkins took the lead for the first time in round six and most likely won the round with plenty of jabs and using his strength. Hopkins started to come on in the seventh with his own speed but Oscar is keeping this fight close to the surprise of everyone. The eight round saw Hopkins land just about every power punch he seemed to throw as Oscar was now backing up much more and Hokins is coming on. Oscar with a left hook at the end but easy round for Hopkins.
Hopkins landed a huge left hook bodyshot in the ninth round and Oscar went down like a ton of bricks screaming in pain and the fight was over as he was not even trying to get up. Oscar never saw the bodyshot coming as the punch hit him right on the liver.
WBA/IBF featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez defeated IBF mandatory challenger Orlando Salido by way of a unanimous decision. The scores were 118-110, 117-111, and 117-111.
Kofi Jantuah started off the pay per view with a bang when he laid out Marco Antonio Rubio with a huge left hook in the first round to get a KO win in only 33 seconds.