Ibhof inducae and former monthly boxing and boxing editor Graham Houston It resembles his experience from the ring from the Easter Nights of Fight in Vegas.

It is believed that Las Vegas and thinking of mega fight. My happiness was for many of them. They got memories and, at the editor’s invitation, I thought that I would share some with you with you in a regular series.

I will not start from the very beginning: it would be Salvador Sanchez vs Wilfredo Gomez in Caesars Palace in August 1981. Instead, I will go with it:

Oscar de la Hoya TKO4 Julio Cesar Chavez

Caesars Palace Outdoor Arena, June 7, 1996

De la Hoya vs Chavez was a type of fight against leaving. In one corner we had a younger pretender, de la Hoya, a golden boy: lofty, handsome, invincible, golden Olympic medalist.

Chavez was a hardened veteran battle, world champion in three importance. He defended his WBC title in 140 pounds, being a champion aged 130 and 135 pounds.

Some perceived Chavez as a real Mexican warrior in battle, carrying a flag for senior Mexico if you want. But De la Hoya, born and raised in the eastern Los Angeles, was proud of his Mexican roots. “Fight Doctor”, broadcaster, Ferdie Pachco, in this way it is to me: “Chavez is Latin; De la Hoya is an American Latin. There is a difference. “

The fight was the cooperation of Bob Arum-Don King. Arum was promoted by de la Hoya, and King represented Chavez. Because the arum fights were television at HBO and King’s on the Rival Showtime TV Network, the promoters concluded a contract in which the fight would be shown on the senior -fashioned television method of a closed circuit, with an event displayed on gigantic screens in cinemas and cinemas and cinemas and sports arenas in the USA and Canada. It was a Friday fight.

Chavez and de la Hoya shared the highest invoices in configuration fighting four months earlier. They both won the fights in the second round. Chavez destroyed an forthright boxer from Arizona named Scott Walker, whose fame was that he spoke a very faded Alexis Argello. De la Hoya blew up Darryl Tyson, a veteran from the capital of Washington.

So the stage was set.

From the very beginning, the boxing liked de la Hoya’s chances. “As soon as they set up [betting] I will bet on the Oscar with both hands, “the radio host of Las Vegas and the Great Bettor Dave Cokin told me.

They are not only so -called wise guys who chose de la Hoya. Almost everyone in the media also on the side of the golden boy. In the survey in Las Vegas Review-Journal 35 out of 38 writers chose de la Hoya. But Don King thought that “boss scribles” (as the juvenile king described, writers) were wrong. King said he was betting on $ 600,000 on Chavez.

De la Hoya was favored in contradiction -220 in American opportunities (or 5/11) in Caesars sports book. Under/Over was set to 10 rounds, and “under” was favored on -200 (1/2).

Of all the great fights that I saw for years, to be forthright, I was the most certain result. De la Hoya was ten years younger (at the age of 23 to 33), higher, faster, stronger. His star was on the ascendant.

Chavez was knocked down in a fractional defeat with a talented and underestimated Frankie Randall, he looked like a happiness that he would leave Dodge with a technical win in the rematch, and in recent fights he was hit much easier than once. It was sailing shipments for me in different directions.

“De la Hoya, released from youth’s ambition, can be able to produce spectacular results that provide comparisons with great warriors from the past,” I wrote in the monthly Boxing preview. (I think I nailed the colors to the de la Hoya mast in this.)

The fight was of course eagerly expected. It was marked as “Ultimate Glory”. All 15,000 places in Caesars Palace were sold within 18 days.

In Las Vegas it is always sizzling in Las Vegas, but the fight day seemed particularly burning. From memory, I think that the heat inside the ring was estimated at 100 degrees, although in the arena the desert air began to frigid down.

Chavez had the support of Mexican fans. The evidence was red, green and white flag of the nation. But the attitude of De La Hoya was a grim determination. It struck me how tough and mean de la Hoya looked like. The stout growth of the facial hair darkened his chin. His hair was cut out. I was reminded of Emanuel’s steward: “Oscar has this great smile and excellent manners, but when the bell calls, it becomes one of the most icy killers I’ve seen.”

The fight itself was obviously one -sided, though dramatic. De la Hoya promised that he would not run away from Chavez. Not him either. De La Hoya reports soon hit Chavez’s face. These were fixed shocks. Chavez’s face quickly red. Even worse, much worse, with Chavez cut on the left eye – as if his eyebrow suddenly unpacked – from the next stab. Blood began to flow on the left side of his face. And it was only the first round.

My successor as the editor of BN Harry Mullan, sitting next to me, was afraid of the worst – that Chavez was in an impossible situation with 11 rounds. “This bad cut and the fight hardly started,” Harry said. “What a disappointment.” But for supporters de la Hoya, the fight could not start better.

The devoted Mexican contingent tried to gather his man with something that seemed to me rather a selfless song “May-Hee-Co”. But nothing could save Chavez. De la Hoya hit him freely on his body and head, stopping him in his tracks, even forcing him to return.

When the second round ended, at the poignant moment, Chavez, rubbing blood from the eye, approached the neutral angle instead of his own, only correcting his course when judge Joe Cortez called “Julio!” Alert him about his mistakes.

Frustrated, confused, bloody Chavez was like an aging lion at a distance. He pointed to a younger man to stand on his fingers. But de la Hoya chose the moments to relieve the impacts, and then withdrew to continue his far distance.

When Chavez managed to get closer, in the third round de la Hoya celebrated him, swaying him in the clinch. Judge Cortez warned de la Hoya. But de la Hoya showed that he could not only a container outside and overtake Chavez, but was also physically stronger.

Chavez tried to fight de la Hoya in the fourth round, but the younger man got up to the left hooks of the master and returned with pointed, tough blows. Bloody blood with cut to the left eye of Chavez, but, as I noticed in my report from the ring: “His nose seemed crushed under the strength of de la Hoya blows.” All senior, hackled phrases used: “Facial Blood Mask” and the like. It was too much.

Judge Cortez called for a while and asked the Flip Homansky committee doctor to examine the patch over the eye of Chavez. Could Chavez be able to continue? Homansky shook his head. After two minutes, 37 seconds of the fourth round.

Unfortunately, Chavez did not accept the defeat with grace. He said that his eye was cut off during training, but after three months of preparation he did not want to ask for postponement. He said he didn’t feel de la Hoya.

De la Hoya initially paid tribute to Chavez at a press conference after the fight. “It was very arduous for me, because Julio Cesar Chavez was a great master and he will always be my idol,” said De la Hoya. “But my task is to win fights.”

But the mood de la Hoya changed after notifying the unflattering comments after the fight of Chavez. “Well, it shows what a person he is,” said De la Hoya. “I think I deserve a bit of a loan. For someone who would say that his opponent does not hit tough, that he is a warrior without a good, it hurts my feelings. But if Chavez believes it, it’s his opinion. “

De la Hoya said he would be more than cheerful that he would make Chavez a rematch. It took place two years later at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, and de la Hoya won on the corner in retirement after eight rounds.