53) Oscar De la Hoya Ret 8: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Oscar De la Hoya 6 December 2008 Nevada [r1] … Good straight left up the middle by Manny Pacquiao … right hook … the quickness of Pacquiao is a factor … Oscar is not firing his jab … De la Hoya nails Pacquiao … [r2] … Oscar is too stationary … Good [Pacquiao] body shots … a brilliant uppercut … The speed and variety of Manny Pacuqiao … [r3] … [Pacquiao] moving in and out effectively … [r4] … A [Pacquiao] flurry of left hands … good body shots … This is getting embarrassing [Lederman] … [r5] … Strafed De la Hoya with a right hand … Good body shot by Oscar … [r6] … They trade body shots … Straight left [Pacquiao] … [r7] … He’s [De la Hoya] getting shut out … Manny Pacquiao is annihilating Oscar De la Hoya … Oscar’s left eye is almost closed … [r8] … Pacquiao’s unstoppable onslaught … This could be the end of the fight … Death by a thousand left hands [Lederman]. US fight commentary
61) Juan Manuel Marquez IV Lost KO6: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Juan Manuel Marquez IV 8 December 2012 Nevada: [r1] … They have had three very good fights … More head movements [Pacquiao] … Good left by Pacquiao … ducked the right hand … flowing back and forth … good left hand inside [Pacquiao] … [r2] … Marquez looks exceedingly cautious … good body shots … Left hand by Pacquiao … another … Good body shots by Marquez … [r3] … Another straight left [Pacquiao] … Another body shot by Marquez … Right hand by Marquez … Manny Pacquiao has been knocked down … signature right hand over the top … A fight break out in Vegas … [r4] … Another straight right hand by Marquez … Good combination by Pacquiao … They trade shots again … [r5] … Manny Pacquiao evens up the knockdown count … Right hand by Marquez; Pacquiao was able to stand up … This is a blood-curdling war … Marquez is hurt bad … he is fighting back … what a round … [r6] … Another left jab … Marquez drives him back with a counter shot … Oh! … A sensational knockout by a bloody Juan Marquez … Manny Pacquiao is still face down. US fight commentary
65) Floyd Mayweather Lost Points 12: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Floyd Mayweather 2 May 2015 WBA WBC WBO Welterweight Nevada [r1] … The right hand of Mayweather … hard right hand again … [r2] … Now Pacquiao’s going to crack up a little offence … Mayweather lands another straight right hand … Hard left hand by Pacquiao … [r3] … Lead right hand from Mayweather … Body shots by Pacquiao … Hard right hand by Mayweather … [r4] … Pacquiao is throwing a lot of punches … right hook … [r5] … Mayweather has seized command again … [r6] … The straight left [Pacquiao] … good body shot … [r7] … Mayweather having a very good round … Hard left hand lands again for Pacquiao … [r8] … He [Pacquiao] has not been able to crank up the volume … Hard right hand by Mayweather … great left hook … again … [r9] … He is more accurate and he is limiting Pacquiao’s offence … Mayweather is backing off … too late … [r10] … Hard left hand to the body by Pacquiao … He’s [Mayweather] stole the last three rounds [Lederman] … Better this round [Pacquiao] … Neither man doing much … [r11] … Hard right hand by Mayweather … Body shot by Pacquiao … The footwork of Manny Pacquiao is the big issue … [r12] … He [Pacquiao] came into the ring without the tactical ammunition to open up Mayweather’s envelope [sic]. US fight commentary
[8.7] JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ 115-107(86)-6-2 [Welterweight & Light-Welterweight & Lightweight & Super-Featherweight]: Biography online - Boxing News online -
Julio César Chávez was born on July 12, 1962, in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. He started his professional boxing career in 1980, winning his first 43 bouts before capturing the World Boxing Council’s super featherweight title in 1984. Chávez went on to claim the World Boxing Association lightweight title in 1987, the WBC lightweight title in 1988 and the WBC light welterweight belt in 1989. Known for his aggressive body blows, Chávez notched 89 wins and one draw before suffering his first loss, to Frankie Randall, in 1994. Although he defeated Randall in a rematch, he relinquished the WBC light-welterweight crown to Oscar De la Hoya in 1996, and lost one final title bout in 2000, to Kostya Tszyu. Chávez retired in 2005 with a career record of 107-6-2, and has since seen sons Julio Cesar Chavez junior and Omar Chávez follow in his footsteps with success in the boxing ring. Biography online
The one and only Julio Cesar Chavez: His final world championship win came at light-middleweight, where he returned from a 20 month lay-off to stop Ricardo Mayorga in six sessions. Despite subsequently losing to Floyd Mayweather Jnr (via tight split decision) and Manny Pacquiao (weight drained, he would be stopped after eight) in two monster box office bonanzas, De La Hoya’s golden legacy has lived on since he retired from the ring in 2009.
He then pauses for both dramatic and comedic effect.
‘After a few fights you can imagine that I realised how good I was.’
It’s dramatic, because to reach the heights that he did, he had to break that promise. Comedic? Well, Chavez did go 14 years and 90 pro fights until his first defeat, so he can be given a pass for sticking with the sport.
Chavez laughs, and the laughs do come a lot easier and quicker these days. Sober since 2011, the man widely considered to be the greatest Mexican boxer of all-time is in a good place in his life at 54 years old. He works as a television analyst for ESPN and Azteca, the latter network putting together a 26-episode drama series about his life, and he remains a popular ambassador for his sport. Yet it’s his sobriety that is the most important aspect of his life.
‘Now that I realise that life gave me a second chance after my addiction to alcohol and drugs, I want to give that same second chance to people struggling with this awful problem,’ he said. ‘I have two rehab clinics called Baja del Sol, one in Tijuana and the other in Culiacan Sinaloa, where it used to be my own house.’
It’s the rare happy ending for a man who seemed to be heading to anything but that. By the time his career finished in September of 2005 with a fifth-round stoppage loss to journeyman Grover Wiley, his demons were in full bloom. He didn’t want to fight anymore, knowing that he already lost the hunger to pay the bills necessary in the gym to cash in on fight night.
‘Everything is a sacrifice,’ Chavez said of the fight game. ‘The diet, your family, getting your body into shape with the extreme training. But you have to give everything you have to give to get to your goal.’
The drugs and alcohol took precedence over winning fights and taking titles, and by 2005, it had been years since he was a serious threat for either. But six years after that final bout, he won his biggest fight. And he has no regrets about how his career ended.
‘I don’t miss anything as a boxer,’ he said. ‘Everything is discipline. But winning the fights, that was my satisfaction.’
And no-one won like ‘El Gran Campeon Mexicano’. Chavez made the walk to the ring 115 times over the course of his 25-year career, winning 107 of those bouts, with only six losses and two draws. Four of those defeats came in the final seven years of his storied run, which means that from 1980 to 1998, he went 99-2-2.
Included were world titles in three divisions (super-feather, light, super-light) and wins over a ‘Who’s Who’ of the sport. From Roger Mayweather and Edwin Rosario to Jose Luis Ramirez and Hector Camacho, Chavez fought and beat them all, doing it with a no frills style that featured a punishing body attack and relentless pressure. Add in a cast iron chin, and it’s no surprise that Chavez wasn’t just seen as a great Mexican fighter, but perhaps the best ever, pound-for-pound. It’s praise he takes humbly.
‘I only did what I liked most, which was to box the best possible to win,’ he said. ‘I appreciate that people look me at the best Mexican boxer and it’s really an honour when people tell me that.’
Inspired by countrymen Salvador Sanchez and Raul Macias, among others, Chavez seemingly brought Mexico with him every time he walked up those four steps into the ring. And his local fans responded in kind, most famously in 1993, when 132,247 fans packed Estadio Azteca in Mexico City to watch Chavez punish and stop Greg Haugen in five rounds.
But to his fans, the media, and Chavez himself, there was no night that represented who he was as a fighter and a man than his first bout with Meldrick Taylor, which took place on St Patrick’s Day in 1990.
Chavez, 27, was 68-0 and the WBC champion at 140 lbs. Taylor, 24, a 1984 Olympic gold medallist for the United States, was 24-0-1 and the IBF super-lightweight boss. Both were at the top of their game at the Hilton in Las Vegas, but for 11 rounds, the fight belonged to Taylor, who was too quick and accurate for his hard-charging foe. That never stopped Chavez from moving forward though, and eventually the wear and tear of the fight began showing on Taylor’s face. As the fight entered the 12th and final round, both fighters were exhausted, but neither thought of taking their foot off the gas.
‘I really wanted that fight to end,’ Chavez admitted. ‘I was tired and thought I couldn’t go anymore, but I really knew I had to give everything in me; that’s how I am.’
Taylor was up on two judges’ scorecards by tallies of 108-101 and 107-102. On the third card, Chavez led 105-104. In short, Taylor had to stay upright for three minutes to get the biggest win of his career and hand Chavez his first defeat. That’s enough motivation for any fighter.
Chavez’s was bigger.
‘I always represent my country, because I will always be honoured to be Mexican,’ he said. ‘In the last round of the fight with Meldrick Taylor, my corner told me to give everything, to do it for Mexico. And that’s when I realised that the whole country was counting on me.’
He delivered, but not without some help. Some would say that help came in the form of referee Richard Steele, who controversially stopped the bout with two seconds remaining. But it really was Taylor, who refused to run out the clock, and in his desire to stand and trade with Chavez, found himself on the deck thanks to a blistering right hand delivered with moments left. Taylor rose, but when he didn’t respond to Steele, the fight was halted.