PRESS RELEASE:[May 4, 08]
Alex "The Bronx Bomber" Ramos' Commentary on De La Hoya-Forbes Fight
By Erin Niemela, Sr. Editor, MyWorldofSports.com

The California Home Depot Center filled with anxious fans awaiting the anticipated junior middleweight fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Steve Forbes this Saturday, May 3^rd, 2008, and as De La Hoya entered the ring, donning a black and orange robe, the crowd roared for their obvious favorite. This fight was the first of a farewell tour for De La Hoya, and his win will lead him to a rematch against WBC welterweight champion "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas this coming September, 2008. Interestingly, Forbes was trained by Jeff Mayweather, Floyd Mayweather's uncle, while De La Hoya has trained under Floyd Mayweather Sr, his father. MyWorldofSports.com caught up with Alex "The Bronx Bomber" Ramos, 4 time New York Golden Gloves champion, founder and president of the Retired Boxers Foundation, and a boxer with 30 plus years of experience, for his commentary during the fight.

Prior to Forbes' and De La Hoya's grand entrances, Ramos anticipated some problems for the fight: "Of course, you know, there's a big height difference in this fight, which is gonna be kind of a lot of trouble, I expect. [Forbes] is fighting a guy that's 5'10 ½, whereas he's 5'7 ¼, so, it's gonna be tough … you can see the difference in height." De La Hoya stepped into the ring, "Now Oscar De La Hoya's coming out, it's unbelievable, he looks very focused … everybody's going bananas!"

"I always figure out in the first 30 seconds which fighter gets the fight," Ramos told us into the first round. De La Hoya delivered a series of jabs right off the bat, but Forbes countered with his own double jabs. De La Hoya threw a nice left hook, but Forbes kept up with his jabs, "He's fighting back, he's looking good!" Ramos said of Forbes, "You can tell right now that the difference is, of course, that you've got a bigger fighter which is 5'10, and Steve Forbes was a junior lightweight – which is 130lbs, and he needs to … keep the pressure, and be able to take the fight to [De La Hoya]. When you have a taller guy in front of you, you gotta keep the pressure!" Forbes threw body shots, De La Hoya countered with jabs, then right handed body shots, and De La Hoya landed some overhand rights. Forbes pushed him with a shoulder and delivered a combination of hits to close the round, in favor of De La Hoya. Ramos told MyWorldofSports.com, "He just hit him with a left hook, right hand, left hook, double up - beautiful combination by Steve Forbes … I love it, I love it, I love it. So, right now, the fight's pretty even … I don't have no predictions … as I've said, the 5'10 De La Hoya [is] fighting a guy that's a lot smaller than he is, and he's throwing punches, but Steve Forbes is coming back," Ramos explained.

The second round began with body shots by De La Hoya, "De La Hoya's got the bigger reach. De La Hoya hit him with a good body shot … I think he hurt [Forbes] right now, it's gotta hurt … but Steve Forbes come back with a double left punch – he just hit De La Hoya with a right hand and a left hand, back to back." De La Hoya continually caught Forbes with jabs, but Forbes managed to connect some body shots and a small straight before the close of the round. Ramos commented, "[De La Hoya] keeps catchin' him with a jab. I'd give this round to De La Hoya." De La Hoya continued to connect those jabs into round three, along with several hooks to the body. Ramos mentioned, "If [De La Hoya] was a big puncher it'd be a different story. If he was a big puncher, he could hurt [Forbes] possibly … he's controlling him very easy with the jab, but Steve Forbes is fighting back … [Forbes] does not have the power to stop him. You gotta have power to punch him."

"Steve Forbes is looking good … but, he's not gonna win unless he knocks him out," Ramos told us during round four. De La Hoya connected a hard jab to Forbes' head, but Forbes shook it off. Ramos commented, "Steve Forbes just shook his head, like, 'you didn't hurt me.' I love this ... He's runnin' around getting cocky, he's coming right at De La Hoya, and he knows that he can't hurt him … when a fighter hits you, you gotta make it like it didn't do anything … you gotta go out there and do your thing." Round four closed in favor of De La Hoya, who dominated with his
combinations.

"Right now, De La Hoya looks like he's just overpowering Steve Forbes, he really is," Ramos told us during the break, while Forbes' corner worked to fix his new bloody nose and De La Hoya's corner applied more Vaseline. "It's an interesting fight because the little guy, the smaller guy – rather, is trying to put it out there, and you can tell he's worked hard, and that it's the biggest fight of his life," Ramos said.

Round five was disappointing to some De La Hoya fans, as Forbes blocked some otherwise solid hits. Both men managed to deliver some damaging hits that, at the least, simply stunned each opponent, but the trade-off of blows was anything besides destructive. "The pace of the fight has been fast since round one, no question," Ramos said, "it's a great paced fight, but not anything really damaging … just throwing punches."

Forbes came into round six with a right hand and then a left hook. "Steve … he's looking good. He's in great condition …" Ramos stated. In a turn of events, a solid uppercut by De La Hoya shakes Forbes and manages to cut him over the eye by the end of the round.

De La Hoya dominated round seven with several powerful left hooks, which kept Forbes off-kilter. Forbes managed to get a few jabs and body shots, while his performance in round eight involved a few lucky strikes against De La Hoya including a connecting uppercut. Ramos commented, "as of right now, the most punches being thrown are [by] Oscar De La Hoya … the punches that are landing are [by] Steve Forbes."

Round nine featured more jabs by De La Hoya, weakening Forbes with each body shot. "Oscar threw some punches in this last round, but nothing major to hurt Steve Forbes. If you are fighting a smaller guy, you should be able to out do him," Ramos stated.

"Oscar is winning the fight, so far. He's ahead on points without a doubt. He's the bigger man. Steve Forbes is putting up a good fight but there's no question about who's winning the fight," Ramos explained at the beginning of round ten. When asked if he though Forbes still had a chance to win the fight, Ramos replied, "Anybody has a chance! Listen, I always tell people that, in the sport of boxing, when you blink, as quick as you blink, anything can happen. You have to have the power to stop somebody, and I don't know if [Forbes] has that, but anybody can get knocked out in this sport." De La Hoya delivered a flurry of hits to Forbes, causing the crowd to go ballistic, while Forbes tried to counter with a combination. "Again, Oscar is applying the pressure," said Ramos. A few solid hooks by De La Hoya left Forbes' face looking awfully broken in.

Round eleven involved some decent body shots and combinations, as well as double and triple hit combinations by Forbes, but nothing as damaging as he may have been looking for. "If he doesn't do anything with these next few rounds, then Oscar wins the fight," Ramos said, "it's the reach that's been giving [Forbes] trouble." MyWorldofSports.com asked Ramos why Forbes might not be able to secure a knockout. He replied, "…you have punchers and then you have boxers. Oscar's a boxer, not a major puncher, and if this guy was a puncher, he would be able to knock De La Hoya out."

De La Hoya looked for the knockout in the final round, while Forbes kept his hands close to block some hits. De La Hoya landed hard jabs and hooks, at certain times making Forbes back up. "One of the things Steve Forbes is doing is … putting his hands up after he gets hit with a combination, but it's not doing nothing. He's a little guy," Ramos commented, "if Steve Forbes had the power, he could do something, but he doesn't have the power." The final round ended without a knockout, with the scores favoring De La Hoya.

Oscar De La Hoya, "The Golden Boy," took the win with a final scores of 119-109, 119-109, 120-108 unanimous judges' decision, and his win will take him into a rematch with Floyd Mayweather, Jr., in Las Vegas, on September 20^th, 2008, and we, here at MyWorldofSports.com, wish him the best of luck.

Erin Niemela
Sr. Editor, MyWorldofSports.com

Special thanks to Alex "The Bronx Bomber" Ramos, founder and president of the Retired Boxers Foundation, for his color-commentary.