Boxing The Word

Oscar De La Hoya defeated Steve Forbes tonight by unanimous decision, beginning his farewell tour with a solid showing in front of an overwhelmingly pro-De La Hoya Cinco de Mayo weekend crowd in Carson, California.

De La Hoya said before the fight that he would use his jab effectively, and that's exactly what he did. He was cautious early before turning more to power punches in the middle of the fight, and he opened a gash near Forbes' eye in the sixth round and controlled throughout.

Still, some will find it a bit disappointing that De La Hoya wasn't even more dominant. Forbes entered the ring having never been knocked down, but most people thought De La Hoya would drop him before the ninth round. That didn't happen; that the fight went 12 was a minor victory for Forbes.

De La Hoya improved his record to 39-5; Forbes dropped to 33-6. Up next for De La Hoya is a likely September rematch with Floyd Mayweather.

Bernard Hopkins lost his world light heavyweight title to Joe Calzaghe tonight in Las Vegas, with Calzaghe scoring a solid split decision victory and erasing any doubt that he's one of the elite boxers in the world.

The scores were 114-113 for Hopkins, 115-112 for Calzaghe and 116-111 for Calzaghe. Hopkins entered the fight as the world light heavyweight champion; Calzaghe was the super middleweight champion.

Calzaghe went down just a minute into the first round, but he seemed more surprised than hurt when he hit the canvas, and after that he was clearly the better fighter. Calzaghe controlled the tempo of the fight and set the tone, although Hopkins showed his typical superior defense.

The fight was not without controversy. Calzaghe landed two low blows, and the second, in the 10th round, caused Hopkins to take the full allotment of five minutes to recover, wincing in pain throughout, although he may have been engaging in some theatrics. Hopkins also had his share of questionable to cheap shots, although ref Joe Cortez never took a point away from either fighter.

Calzaghe improved his perfect record to 45-0. Hopkins falls to 48-5-1.

In a great rematch to their great 2004 fight, Manny Pacquaio beat Juan Manuel Marquez by split decision tonight in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao knocked Marquez down in the third round and appeared to have him in serious trouble, but Marquez showed guts and determination in recovering and putting Pacquiao into danger. Both fighters had cuts on their eyes; late in the fight Marquez had an ugly gash over his eye that looked serious enough that the fight could have been stopped, but the fight did go the distance. One judge scored the fight 115-112 for Marquez, one scored it 115-112 for Pacquiao and one scored it 114-113 for Pacquiao.

On my live blog scorecard, Marquez won 114-113.

They were fighting for Marquez's WBC super featherweight (130-pound) belt. More significantly, they were fighting for the status as the best boxer in the world among fighters lighter than Floyd Mayweather, who is generally recognized as the world's top pound-for-pound boxer. If Mayweather is the best fighter in the world, these two are the second and third best. They put on a great show, and both deserve to be called champions.

Previously on FanHouse:
Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez Live
Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez Live Undercard Blog: David Diaz and More
Video: Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez Look Solid at Weigh In
As Manny Pacquiao Fight Nears, Fans in Philippines on Edge
Freddie Roach: 'This Is the Most Focused I've Ever Seen Manny Pacquiao'
Manny Pacquiao's Trainer Freddie Roach Already Thinking About David Diaz

When Oscar De La Hoya purchased a piece of Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo last week, the news didn't get much attention because, well, the MLS never gets much attention.

But it pointed to one quietly simple fact about De La Hoya, a champion in six weight classes: As fine a boxer as he is, his savvy as businessman is on a whole other level. This is the smartest businessman in sports.

Many elite competitors understand that it's the athletes who do the work but the owners who make the money. But De La Hoya is the one who has used his business acumen to control the means of production after years being used by it.

While professional athletes in the 21st century make the kind of money that their predecessors (not to mention you and I) could only dream about, they do not run their own show. As noted economist Chris Rock explained, "Shaq is rich. The white man who signs his check is wealthy."

De La Hoya is wealthy: Next month this extraordinary pugilist will make millions on a boxing match without ever stepping into the ring.

World middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik beat Jermain Taylor in a tough, hard-fought unanimous decision tonight in their rematch of one of the best fights of 2007.

The fight lasted 12 rounds, making it the first time in Pavlik's career that he's gone that far, and although it didn't live up to their fight from last year, Pavlik and Taylor gave the fans more than their money's worth with 12 very good rounds of boxing.

The judges called it 117-111, 115-113 and 116-112 for Pavlik. On two of the three judges' scorecards, the fight was even through six rounds, but Pavlik dominated the second half of the fight -- one judge gave him every single round from 7 through 12.

Pavlik showed again tonight that he's one of the best fighters in the world in any weight class, but no one should take anything away from Taylor, who has now given Pavlik a run for his money twice. It's not clear who either fighter will take on next, but it will be hard to top this pair of fights they've had in the last six months.

Kimbo Slice, the Internet phenomenon who went from backyard brawler whose fights were on YouTube to mixed martial artist whose fights are on Showtime and pay-per-view, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and an interesting name came up as a potential future opponent:

When Kimmel asked, "Is Mike Tyson someone you would like to fight?" Slice said, "Yeah."

I think Tyson really is retired -- not just "retired" like so many fighters who aren't really finished -- but I must say, if he ever wanted to fight Slice, it would be one of the all-time greatest freak shows in the history of sport. And that means it would make everyone a lot of money.

As for the guy he's fighting next weekend, former UFC star Tank Abbott, Slice said, "I don't think nothing about Tank."

The conversation also got a little personal. Kimmel asked Slice if he conditions his beard, and Slice said, "I take care of it because it takes care of me." Kimmel told Slice, "It really is one of the shiniest, cleanest-looking beards I've ever seen."

And then it got really personal. Kimmel said to Slice, "Have you ever had a romantic relationship with a man? Be honest."

Slice replied, "No, man."

Hours after Sports Illustrated broke the news that boxer Shane Mosley was using steroids from BALCO, Mosley admitted it in an interview with ESPN.com -- but he said he didn't know what he was taking.

In an interview with ESPN.com Friday, the former three-division world champion said: "Unknowingly, yes, some of the substances they are talking about, were being used as part of the workouts. I didn't know what the hell it was," Mosley said from Big Bear, Calif., where he is training for a Nov. 10 fight with welterweight titleholder Miguel Cotto.

Mosley said he purchased the steroids from BALCO founder Victor Conte with a personal check, which, Mosley says, shows that he wasn't trying to hide anything. Mosley will fight Miguel Cotto on Nov. 10.

After the Michael Vick indictment, we can expect to see a lot of public service announcements in which athletes speak out against dog fighting and animal cruelty. Boxer Lamon Brewster is first up:


The NFL is desperate not to allow Vick to taint the entire league, and as a result, I can guarantee that we'll see a lot of NFL players making similar PSAs.