Chances Of An Immediate Rematch Don’t Look Good Whitaker Shows De La Hoya How He Frustrates Good Fighters
There’s a reason why Pernell Whitaker never got a rematch of his controversial draw with Julio Cesar Chavez. It’s the same reason why Oscar De La Hoya probably will never fight him again.
Whitaker simply has a habit of making good fighters look bad. And that’s bad business for a rising superstar like De La Hoya.
“You can never look good against Pernell Whitaker,” De La Hoya said. “A southpaw fighter like him will make any fighter look bad any day.”
Though De La Hoya said he was more than willing to fight a rematch after winning a unanimous decision Saturday night to take Whitaker’s WBC 147-pound title, there’s little chance of it happening, at least in the near future.
Not after an intense but largely tactical fight that not only frustrated De La Hoya but also many of the 12,200 fans, many of them Hispanic, who came to root for the 1992 Olympic gold medalist.
“One time is enough,” promoter Bob Arum said. “Mexicans don’t like that kind of fighting. It isn’t fighting, it’s playing around, looking for angles. We’d lose half our audience for a rematch.”
De La Hoya hadn’t even finished celebrating in the middle of the ring and Whitaker was calling for a rematch.
Many at ringside thought he had a good case after flashing some of the skills from his past to outpunch and, at times, outbox De La Hoya.
“If De La Hoya is the fighter he thinks he is, we should have a rematch right away,” Whitaker said. “That was the Pernell Whitaker of old. I thought I pitched a shutout.”
The ringside judges didn’t, however, with one scoring the fight four points in favor of De La Hoya and the other two favoring the new champion by six points.
“I’d love to fight him again,” De La Hoya said. “I’d dominate him the next time because I know his style now.”
Though Whitaker landed more punches than De La Hoya and scored the fight’s only knockdown in the ninth round, it was De La Hoya who was the aggressor.
Whitaker’s handlers claimed Sunday that the Las Vegas judges were influenced by the prospect of lucrative future De La Hoya fights. But they also admitted Whitaker may have hurt himself by clowning so much in the ring.
It was the third time Whitaker’s otherwise perfect record has been marred by a controversial decision. In his last big fight, against Chavez in 1993, most thought he won, although he was given a draw.
“This one was more surprising than the others,” Whitaker said. “I would have been able to accept a draw. For 12 rounds he was almost asking me to knock him out. I had so much fun in there and he didn’t come close to hurting me.”
For De La Hoya, the win was worth a lot more than the $10 million he pocketed in his richest payday to date.
Undefeated in 24 fights, he has won titles in four weight classes and may soon be able to claim that “pound for pound,” he’s the best boxer in the game.