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Oscar
De La Hoya loses to Shane Mosely by split-decision.
Written by Nelson Ortiz,
www.latinosportslegends.com
June
16, 2000 -- After a successful fight against Derrel Coley in
February, Oscar De La Hoya was defeated by Sugar Shane Mosely in a fist-flying, action-packed fight at the Staples
Center in Los Angeles. De La Hoya loses his WBC Welterweight title
once again and ruins his New Year's resolution for 2000 of "four
fight, four knockouts".
 Shane
Mosley (35-0 32 KO's), boxed beautifully and out-brawled Oscar De La Hoya in the final round,
to win the bout on a split decision before some 20,000 screaming
fans Saturday night in the Staples Center.
Mosley, who gave up the IBF lightweight title to seek the welterweight
championship, used beautiful side-to-side movement, a good left jab and several well-placed right hands to earn the victory.
In the final round, Mosley fought as if he needed to win the round to
become champion. De La Hoya also came out firing as the star-studded crowd went wild.
Mosley had much the better of the final hectic three minutes. He
connected on 45 of 88 punches, many of them hard rights that backed De La Hoya up. De La Hoya threw 72, but connected on only 18.
"It was a great fight, a close fight," Mosley said. "We went toe to toe for 12
rounds. We went soul searching. We showed we're both great warriors, two great warriors from the L.A. area.
"De La Hoya is a great champion. I was just the better man tonight."
Judge Marqi, scored it 115-113 for De La Hoya, Judge Lou Filippo
had it 116-112 and judge Pat Russell scored it 115-113 for the new
champion, Shane Mosely.
"There has to be a rematch," De La Hoya said. "Every great fight deserves
a rematch. He kept on coming. He was in great condition, he had good power. I knew he was fast and I matched his speed."
De La Hoya, however, did not seem to be able to match Mosley's speed in
the second half of the fight when Mosley took control after he seemed to be losing some steam from De La Hoya's body punches in the first six
rounds.
In the seventh, eighth and ninth rounds, Mosley landed several good hard
rights and he was especially effective in the 10th round when he had De La Hoya backing up.
Mosley was in charge again in the 10th round, but De La Hoya seemed to
have the best of the 11th.
De La Hoya earned a minimum of $15 million, while Mosley made $4.5
million.
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