La Hoya

LAS VEGAS -- The "Golden Boy" turned "Macho Man," an Oscar De La Hoya left the Thomas & Mack Arena late Friday night with the most satisfying victory of his meteoric ring career.Derided by some Mexican fans for preferring stylish boxing over brawling, the World Boxing Council welterweight champion proved he could slug with the best by forcing Julio Cesar Chavez to quit on his stool after eight electrifying rounds.Watching their once-invincible fighter spitting blood from a deep cut inside his mouth, Chavez's cornermen tossed in the towel.

LAS VEGAS -- After his most recent championship match with Miguel Gonzalez in January, Oscar De La Hoya, his handsome face marred for the first time by a bruised left eye, shunned the customary sunglasses at the post-fight news conference."

BARCELONA, Spain -- His mother will be in his corner.She will watch him throw jabs that stun the opponent. She will see him dance from danger. And when the fight ends, the son will look to the roof of the arena and throw a kiss to the sky.Oscar de la Hoya says this without a trace of guile. There may be thousands of fans stuffed into a cramped boxing arena, and millions more watching on television, but de la Hoya is worried only about pleasing one woman, his mother, Cecilia, buried nearly two years.

BARCELONA, Spain -- Joe Byrd can't get a break.Yesterday amounted to a re- sounding success for his beleaguered U.S. boxing team, but the coach spent most of it fearing for Oscar de la Hoya's neck and his son Chris' body.Both fighters survived to advance to gold-medal bouts, but not in ways relaxing to Byrd, who is still reeling from the controversial eliminations of two U.S. fighters.De la Hoya edged a South Korean whose skills appeared better suited for professional wrestling. Chris Byrd dominated aCanadian, but distressed his father by keeping his hands down the entire fight.

LAS VEGAS -- A man in a business suit walked up to a group standing outside the Mandalay Bay Hotel, holding what appeared to be a stack of business cards.Upon closer inspection, each one read: "De La Hoya vs. Trinidad Tickets Wanted. Cash Paid/Strictly Confidential. Call 24 Hours A Day.""Hey, man, you got to help me out," he said, slipping a card to a man in the group. "I need tickets."Welcome to the club, pal.Tickets to tonight's welterweight title fight between World Boxing Council champ Oscar De La Hoya and International Boxing Federation king Felix Trinidad at the Mandalay Bay Hotel's 11,800-seat event center sold out nine days ago. So did the Mandalay Bay's 2,400-seat closed-circuit venue.

Thirty months ago, Oscar De La Hoya appeared on the cover of the Los Angeles Times Sunday magazine draped in an American flag.There was no need for text to accompany the picture of this teen-ager from the East L.A. barrio with the movie-star good looks and a flair for fighting.De La Hoya was being anointed as the next Sugar Ray Leonard, a megastar who could be as successful on Madison Avenue as in Madison Square Garden, where he will defend his lightweight title against Jesse James Leija tonight.

LAS VEGAS -- In the week leading up to his super-lightweight title fight with champion Julio Cesar Chavez of Mexico, Oscar De La Hoya served as a willing interpreter for both the Latin and American media in attendance.But there was no need for an interpreter to explain what De La Hoya did to Chavez in the outdoor ring at Caesars Palace on Friday night. In a word: mayhem.The 23-year-old boxing prodigy from the east Los Angeles barrio reduced the legendary Chavez to the role of a foil before the mismatch was stopped at 2: 37 of the fourth round.

LAS VEGAS -- The 100th fight of Julio Cesar Chavez's illustrious boxing career was meant to be a festive occasion for the super lightweight champion and his frenzied legion of flag-waving Mexican supporters.Instead, the atmosphere at Caesars Palace was almost funereal last night as youthful, gifted Oscar De La Hoya cut Chavez over both eyes and broke his nose, forcing ring physician Flip Homansky to stop the hotly anticipated championship fight at 2: 37 of the fourth round.Chavez, a month short of 34, now might contemplate retirement.

WASHINGTON -- From the upper balconies of the main hall of Union Station's subway system - a replica of a Roman bathhouse lined with statues of gladiators holding shields - fight fans craned their necks to see the combatants. The large crowd cheered challenger Floyd Mayweather Jr. yesterday and mostly booed World Boxing Council 154-pound champion Oscar De La Hoya as each strode down the runway to a stage flanked on each side by seven flags representing countries that included Mexico, England, El Salvador, Italy, Japan and the United States.

LAS VEGAS -- Call it "Oscar Mania."Everybody seems to be catching it.Teen-age girls swoon in Oscar De La Hoya's wake. Fight fans, seeking a new idol, hail the charismatic boxer as the next Sugar Ray Leonard. And now even boxing judges appear to have jumped aboard the bandwagon.The three Nevada officials assigned to his World Boxing Council welterweight title match with champion Pernell Whitaker on Saturday night seemed to be swayed as much by De La Hoya's reputation as his ring skills.Even the Los Angeles native's supporters -- the vast majority in the crowd of 12,200 at the Thomas & Mack Center -- seemed surprised by the lopsided margin that gave De La Hoya, 24, his fourth title in as many weight classes -- 130, 135, 140 and now 147 pounds.