Soil from Stone

I watched the de la Hoya vs Mayweather fight tonight. Prefight interviews showed Mayweather being very cocky and offensive, while de la Hoya was calm and classy. In their grand entrances, you could see the same personalities, Mayweather taunting the Las Vegas crowd by wearing Mexican colors and a sombrero; de la Hoya draped in red velvet and calmly walking to the ring. You could see some serious tension in de la Hoya, though. I think staying outwardly cool cost him a lot more energy than Mayweather’s constant energy cost him. I saw another level of these same characters after the bell rang. The emotions broadcasting from Mayweather’s face were like the instant color changes of a deep sea squid. I saw fear when de la Hoya struck and elation when Mayweather struck back. De la Hoya wore a poker face. Whether in retreat or attack, his expression never seemed to change until about the ninth round. Even then, he only changed from cool to cool and tired.

Mayweather was blindingly fast and in constant motion, like he had a caffeine drip hidden in his shorts. He struck and bounced out of the way again before you even knew he was there. He was accurate too with a 40-60% connection rate compared to de la Hoya’s 10-30%. De la Hoya threw nearly twice as many punches, but Mayweather still connected twice as often. It’s a good thing for Mayweather, too, or the fight would have been over by the sixth round. He was faster, but de la Hoya hit harder.
The one difference between the two fighters that struck me the hardest seemed to be in the source of their skill. Both fighters were in great condition, and both fought intelligently. But de la Hoya seemed to fight mostly from the mind, while Mayweather fought mostly from instinct. The one planned and schemed, while the other acted and reacted. It made for an interesting and very close fight between two men with very different styles.

It was Mayweather’s speed, however, that really made the difference in scores. In the ninth round de la Hoya started to show the energy drain. He was still hitting hard and made a few more good connections, but it wasn’t enough. Mayweather couldn’t hit him hard enough to knock him down, let alone out, but he connected more often and was able to block more of de la Hoya’s slowing strikes. It was anyone’s fight through the end of round eight. After that, it was all Mayweather with a two to one split decision.

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