For his hundreth professional bout, Chavez took on Oscar De la Hoya (21-0-0, 19 KOs) in defense of his WBC light welterweight title. The fight turned out not to be the “Ultimate Glory” for him, though, as it was stopped in the fourth round due to a bad cut over his left eye, giving him the first TKO loss of his career and taking the title away from him for the second time.
THE UNDERCARD – Erik Morales retained his NABF super bantamweight title with a decision win over Hector Acero Sanchez. George scott retained his WBU lightweight title with a decision over Pete Taliaferro. Johnny Tapia TKO’ed Ivan Alvarez in eight to retain his WBO super flyweight title. Lightweight Diego Corrales won a four-round decision over Ciro Canales. “Butterbean” Eric Esch knocked out George Clarke in one.
THE OPPONENT – Oscar De la Hoya had been six years old when he started to box. When he turned pro at the age of 21, he had already had a long and successful amateur career with a record of 223-5 (163), including a gold medal in the lightweight division at the 1992 Olympics. De la Hoya began his pro career briskly and within two years had already won the WBO super featherweight and lightweight titles. When he met Chavez in ‘96 he was still undefeated with wins over Jorge Paez (KO2), Juan Molina (UD12), Rafael Ruelas (TKO2), Genaro Hernandez (TKO6) and a number of other top big name contenders.
ROUND ONE – De la Hoya started on the outside, keeping Chavez at a distance with the jab and an occassional cross. Within the first minute of the fight, De la Hoya’s jabs had opened up a large gash over Chavez’s left eye. By two minutes in, the entire left side of his face was covered with blood, but the ringside doctor said the fight could continue. De la Hoya continued to get in his punches while keeping Chavez off, even pushing him off with necessary. PunchStat showed Chavez as throwing only 18 punches this round, but even of those he got in only a few; De la Hoya threw 52.
ROUND TWO – Chavez came in more aggressive but finally got in a flush left after much feinting. De la Hoya was patient for a while before he started landing multiple jabs on Chavez and then mixed it up with crosses. The cut, which had stopped bleeding during the break, was now opened back up, but Chavez waved De la Hoya in for more. However, that didn’t help much, as De la Hoya got in another hard cross which just added to the bloodflow. There was some light clinching, and the fans tried to encourage Chavez with chants of “Mexico!” but there still wasn’t much action. De la Hoya stayed on the outside throwing just a few punches, and Chavez used the time to rest a little and let the cut heal a little. PunchStat showed Chavez as having landed 17 of 49 punches thrown thus far in the fight and De la Hoya 41 out of 101.
ROUND THREE – De la Hoya started jabbing to the body as well. He darted in and out of range to land his blows, but accidentally headbutted Chavez as well and received a warning from the referee. Most of the round, Chavez was going backwards. De la Hoya pushed Chavez a few times and leaned on him in addition to his punching. A few times Chavez rushed in to throw punches but was barely able to land anything while doing so.
ROUND FOUR – Chavez came out more aggressive, but De la Hoya was able to keep him off simply by putting one glove out against his shoulder, similar to what they do in cartoons. Chavez didn’t let up, however, and got in a couple of times to land a few hooks. De la Hoya started backing up more this round but was still able to land good, crisp punches while doing so, still controlling the fight even while Chavez chased after him aggressively. Chavez’s face was completely bloodied again. Two minutes into the round, De la Hoya started landing more punches, though he was also missing a lot more. Referee Joe Cortez had to stop the action again to have Chavez’s cut checked. This time Dr. Flip Homansky judged that the fight could not continue, and De la Hoya picked up the TKO win at 2:37 into the round.
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Venue: Caesars Palace
Scheduled: 12 Rounds
Title: WBC Junior Welterweight
Referee: Joe Cortez
Judge: Anek Hongtongkam 27-30
Judge: Daniel Van de Wiele 27-30
Judge: Larry O’Connell 27-30
Promoter: Don King
Broadcast: HBO
Commentator: Larry Merchant
Commentator: Jim Lampley
Commentator: George Foreman
Physician: Dr. Flip Homansky