BOXING/WBC light-middleweight title: Oscar De La Hoya will be considering a possible September showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr after the veteran "Golden Boy" produced a vintage performance to stop Ricardo Mayorga in the sixth round at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, and take the Nicaraguan's WBC light-middleweight title.
The 33-year-old challenger described the victory at the weekend as one of the best of his career, made all the sweeter as Mayorga had repeatedly insulted De La Hoya and his family in the weeks before the fight.
He had questioned De La Hoya's sexuality and promised he would knock him out inside six rounds, but was stunned when the American neatly worked his way inside Mayorga's wild hooks in the first round and sent the champion crashing to the canvas with a clinical left hook.
"It was a really tough fight," said De La Hoya. "The way he was talking about my wife and my son, Gabriel, motivated me to go right at him.
"'No matter what, I was going to stand up to him and show that I was going to fight. I had to show the bully that I wouldn't back down."
Mayorga fought back bravely from the early setback and nailed the American with a superb uppercut in the second. But he appeared to have all but punched himself out with a huge effort in the opening minute of the fifth and, by then, it was clear De La Hoya's more economical and accurate attacks were going to win the day.
Sure enough, in the sixth Mayorga was hurt by body shots and driven into a corner, where De La Hoya unleashed an unanswered barrage of punches that had the champion sinking to his knees.
A great finisher throughout his long career, De La Hoya was not about to let the opportunity pass and continued to rain punches into Mayorga's head, prompting referee Jay Nady to halt the contest.
De La Hoya said he would take his time before naming his next opponent. "I don't know where we'll go next," he admitted. "I don't plan on fighting much longer, maybe one more major fight. Who knows? Mayweather is probably the best fighter in the world, but we'll see what happens.
"Antonio Margarito is great, too, but we aren't making any decisions until we can all sit down and see what to do next. I only want the best fight available."
There is speculation he could face the winner of the coming middleweight title fight between Americans Jermain Taylor and Ronald "Winky" Wright, or the Puerto Rican Felix Trinidad, who beat De La Hoya in a welterweight title fight seven years ago, but it seems likely he will come under most pressure from the cable television network HBO to face Mayweather, who many experts believe to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Like De La Hoya, Mayweather's first world title came as a super-featherweight, and he has remained undefeated in moving up through the weights.
Mayweather (28), now the IBF welterweight champion, was at ringside to witness his potential next opponent in action.
A fight date of September 16th has been mentioned, but De La Hoya will need to switch trainers if he is to take the fight because Floyd Mayweather Senior has intimated he would not be prepared to be in De La Hoya's corner in the event of him fighting against his son.
Guardian Service
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