Chavez’s opportunity to make good his only unavenged loss and to win the De la Hoya’s WBC welterweight title failed after he was beaten and bloodied for eight rounds and failed to come out for the ninth.
THE UNDERCARD – Antonio Diaz won a twelfth-round TKO over Hector Quiroz for the IBA light welterweight title. IBF light middleweight champ “Yori Boy” Campas retained his title with a third-round TKO victory over Larry Barnes. Welterweight Cory Spinks won a decision over Lupe Suazo. “Butterbean” Eric Esch scored a third-round TKO over Troy Roberts. Featherweight Augustine Sanchez won a decision over Francisco Maldonado. Mia St. John won a split decision over Brenda Felter.
THE OPPONENT – Since taking Chavez’s WBC light welterweight title in their first match, De la Hoya had won victories over Miguel Angel Gonzales, Hector Camacho, and other top fighters. He had also moved up to take Pernell Whitaker’s WBC welterweight belt, which Chavez now attempted to gain. After this fight, De la Hoya would have successful defenses against Ike Quartey and Oba Carr before losing his belt in a very close majority decision to Felix Trinidad. He then won the IBA version of the belt but lost it in his first defense with a split decision to Shane Mosley. He decided to go up in weight, though, and had successful title defenses at light middleweight against Fernando Vargas and “Yori Boy” Campas before losing to Shane Mosley, once again ending his prospects in that category. After moving up in weight last year, De la Hoya took on Bernard Hopkins for his unified middleweight titles but counted out in the ninth after taking a vicious body hook. He still plans to remain active, perhaps at welterweight, and has a current record of 37-4 (29).
ROUND ONE – The fighters mostly just posed and feinted this round, each waiting for the other to come in to give him the chance to throw counter punches. Chavez did go in a couple of times, but landed only a few punches and was also barely hit before the fighters were separated again. De la Hoya attacked only a couple of times this round, both times while Chavez was against the ropes, but managed to miss most of those punches also.
CORNER – De la Hoya remained standing during most of the breaks; in his corner were trainer Robert Alcazar, cutman Chuck Bodak and Joel De la Hoya. In Chavez’s corner were trainer Rómulo Quirarte, cutman Armando Barak and Rodolfo Chavez.
ROUND TWO – Chavez came out more aggressive this round, but it was De la Hoya who was landing and then able to hold him off at arm-length. However, when De la Hoya let up with his punching, Chavez got in a combo that concluded with a perfect right, flush on De la Hoya’s chin. They posed a little more before De la Hoya finally got in a combo. Chavez came in to respond, but De la Hoya pushed him off and was able to land his hooks from the outside. Chavez tried to work his way in many times but never got in more than a couple of shots before being pushed off by De la Hoya, who received a warning from the referee. Near the end of the round, however, De la Hoya let Chavez in to attack him but still landed the majority of the punches. Just before the bell, referee Richard Steele warned both fighters to keep their punches up. De la Hoya landed 37 of 70 punches thrown this round (53%); Chavez 19 of 42 (45%).
ROUND THREE – Chavez again started aggressively, though De la Hoya was landing more with his counter punches. Chavez then landed an effective punch, but it was a low blow and got him a warning from the referee. De la Hoya took just a few seconds to rest and was angrier than ever with Chavez but not enough to make him attack. Even as Chavez was landing some jabs on him, De la Hoya didn’t bother responding to all of them, finally landing a flush cross after a minute of hardly doing anything. In the last thirty seconds, each fighter got in a few hard hooks, but it was still mostly downtime. This round De la Hoya landed 26 of 51 punches thrown, Chavez 17 of 30.
ROUND FOUR – The first good punch of the round was a minute in when Chavez landed a good right and De la Hoya matched it with a left hook. De la Hoya started landing more throughout the round, getting in some good combos towards the end, as Chavez was less aggressive and missing almost all of the punches that he did throw.
ROUND FIVE – De la Hoya was more willing to initiate the action this round, and Chavez was equally aggressive. It started out in more of a boxing style, with Chavez’s jab being his most effective punch. Most of his other punches missed as De la Hoya kept moving off, though landing many of his own punches. The action picked up at the very end of the round when the two fighters just started slugging at each other on the inside. In this round De la Hoya landed 34 of 85 punches thrown (40%) and Chavez 28 of 48 (58%).
ROUND SIX – Both fighters started landing punches right away this round. De la Hoya allowed Chavez to work on the inside and still landed good shots, though most of his punches looked a little sloppier at that short range. Chavez was able to land more punches at this close range but wasn’t throwing enough to be really effective.
ROUND SEVEN – De la Hoya started this round with the jab, controlling the distance right away. Chavez didn’t show much offense. He landed a few jabs but knew that he would not be able to land much of anything else at that distance and conserved his punches. De la Hoya meanwhile was able to throw more of a variety of punches and got in good combinations to easily win the round. De la Hoya landed 37 of 63 this round (59%), Chavez 14 of 28 (50%).
ROUND EIGHT – In the first half minute, De la Hoya came out very aggressively, landing combos to Chavez’s body. He then continued firing at Chavez with everything he had, hoping to score the knockout win that he had been looking forward too. Chavez fought back, though, and was landing some heavy shots of his own. Both fighters slugged through the whole action-packed round. A stiff uppercut caused a cut on Chavez’s lip and blood started to pour from it. Just before the bell, De la Hoya landed another great uppercut and a combination off of it. Chavez did not come out of his corner for the next round, giving De la Hoya the TKO win. Final PunchStat: De la Hoya landed 254 of 517 punches thrown (49%) and Chavez landed 162 of 346 punches thrown (47%).
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Venue: Thomas & Mack Center
Scheduled: 12 Rounds
Title: WBC Welterweight
Referee: Richard Steele
Judge: Anek Hongtongkam 73-79
Judge: Daniel Van de Wiele 75-78
Judge: John Keane 75-78
Promoter: Top Rank
Broadcast: HBO TVKO
Ring Announcer: Michael Buffer
Commentator: Jim Lampley
Commentator: Larry Merchant
Commentator: George Foreman
Interpreter: Ray Torres