Mosley: Oscar's weight was problem
Posted Dec. 9, 2008 at 11:04pm
By Michael Rosenthal
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LOS ANGELES -- Make no mistake: Oscar De La Hoya should retire after the beating he took from Manny Pacquiao on Saturday.
That said, some believe it would’ve been at least a somewhat different fight had De La Hoya not had peculiar weight issues. He weighed in at 145 pounds on Friday and then gained only two pounds by fight time, which shocked a lot of people.
Shane Mosley, a partner in Golden Boy Promotions, was among them.
“It wasn’t even Oscar in there,” said Mosley, speaking at a news conference Tuesday to promote his Jan. 24 fight against Antonio Margarito. “For him to gain only two pounds from the weigh in … it just doesn’t happen. I can see if he’s fighting at 160 and he went up to 162 … but 145 to 147? It just doesn’t happen to someone that tall.
“I think it was the weight. I don’t want to take anything away from Manny; he fought a great fight. He can’t help it if Oscar had complications.”
De La Hoya had been near the welterweight limit of 147 for at least a month even though he had been fighting at 154 or even 160 pounds the past few years, which might’ve sapped his strength or even left him dehydrated. Normally, fighters come into camp over the weight limit, taper down to the limit by the weigh-in and then replenish their bodies between the weigh-in and the fight.
“He wasn’t that slow, he was just weak,” Mosley said. “There’s a difference between slow and weak. He was a sitting duck. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t do nothing. It has nothing to do with age; it has to do with how he prepared for the fight.”
So does Mosley think De La Hoya should retire?
“I wouldn’t tell him anything,” he said. “I’d ask, ‘How do you feel? Do you feel like you want to do this anymore?’ It’s up to him. When you’re in the ring, you’re fighting for your life. You have to want to fight.”
Michael Rosenthal can be reached at theringeditor@yahoo.com
That said, some believe it would’ve been at least a somewhat different fight had De La Hoya not had peculiar weight issues. He weighed in at 145 pounds on Friday and then gained only two pounds by fight time, which shocked a lot of people.
Shane Mosley, a partner in Golden Boy Promotions, was among them.
“It wasn’t even Oscar in there,” said Mosley, speaking at a news conference Tuesday to promote his Jan. 24 fight against Antonio Margarito. “For him to gain only two pounds from the weigh in … it just doesn’t happen. I can see if he’s fighting at 160 and he went up to 162 … but 145 to 147? It just doesn’t happen to someone that tall.
“I think it was the weight. I don’t want to take anything away from Manny; he fought a great fight. He can’t help it if Oscar had complications.”
De La Hoya had been near the welterweight limit of 147 for at least a month even though he had been fighting at 154 or even 160 pounds the past few years, which might’ve sapped his strength or even left him dehydrated. Normally, fighters come into camp over the weight limit, taper down to the limit by the weigh-in and then replenish their bodies between the weigh-in and the fight.
“He wasn’t that slow, he was just weak,” Mosley said. “There’s a difference between slow and weak. He was a sitting duck. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t do nothing. It has nothing to do with age; it has to do with how he prepared for the fight.”
So does Mosley think De La Hoya should retire?
“I wouldn’t tell him anything,” he said. “I’d ask, ‘How do you feel? Do you feel like you want to do this anymore?’ It’s up to him. When you’re in the ring, you’re fighting for your life. You have to want to fight.”
Michael Rosenthal can be reached at theringeditor@yahoo.com
