Oscar De La Hoya vs Jorge Paez

The vacant World Boxing Organisation lightweight championship was won by Oscar De La Hoya when he knocked out Jorge Paez after 39 seconds of the second round at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on July 29, 1994. The victory made the 21-year-old Olympic champion a title-holder in a second weight division in only his fourteenth professional contest. De La Hoya entered with 13 victories, 12 by knockout, while Paez brought a record of 53 wins, six defeats and four draws, together with considerably greater experience. The Mexican had twice held the IBF featherweight championship and had already fought more than 60 professional contests. De La Hoya weighed 135 pounds and Paez 134½. Richard Steele was the referee.

The contest formed part of a Top Rank promotion billed as “The Grand Rumble,” with James Toney defending the IBF super-middleweight title against Charles Williams in the other principal bout. De La Hoya had relinquished the WBO junior-lightweight championship after stopping Giorgio Campanella two months earlier and moved up to contest the lightweight title vacated by Giovanni Parisi. Paez had earned the assignment after outpointing Juan Gomez in June. He represented the most seasoned opponent De La Hoya had faced, although there was a marked difference in size and physical development between them. Paez was guaranteed the largest purse of his career, while De La Hoya received a reported $800,000. A coin toss was required to determine the order of entrance because the championship was vacant; Paez won and exercised the customary privilege of entering last.

Paez began the first round as the aggressor. His irregular movements, changes of rhythm and darting advances had troubled many opponents, and De La Hoya did not immediately attempt to force the issue. The younger man boxed cautiously behind his left hand, watched Paez’s feints and allowed him to carry the action. Paez moved in and out, crouching low at times and looking to reach the taller fighter with quick jabs and looping punches. De La Hoya remained upright and balanced, keeping his gloves high and declining to follow Paez into unnecessary exchanges. There was little clean or sustained punching from either man, but Paez had done more of the work and received the round by 10–9 from each of the three judges, John Stewart, Jerry Roth and Chuck Giampa.

The end came before the pattern of the fight had been properly established. Early in the second round, Paez moved forward behind his jab, attempting to close the distance against the naturally larger man. De La Hoya met him with a sharp left hand, which stopped the advance and visibly disturbed his balance. He did not allow Paez time to recover. De La Hoya stepped after him with a rapid succession of punches, delivering them directly and without wasting movement. Paez tried to remain close enough to answer, but his defence had opened, and he was unable to escape the attack.

De La Hoya completed the combination with a left hook to the head. Paez first dropped to his knees and then rolled backwards onto the canvas. The punch had left him badly dazed, and he made no effective effort to rise while Steele stood over him and completed the count. The official time was 39 seconds of the second round. There had been no previous knockdown and no need for intervention by the referee beyond the count. Paez remained on the floor for several minutes after the contest had ended.

The brevity of the contest made any extended judgement of Paez’s tactics impossible. Still, it established that his experience and awkwardness were insufficient to compensate for De La Hoya’s advantages in height, reach, speed and punching force. Paez had been given the opening round because De La Hoya spent it observing rather than attacking. Once Paez committed himself in the second, however, the difference became plain. De La Hoya recognised the opening created by the advancing jab, struck before Paez could set his feet and finished with accuracy. The knockout was only the second suffered by Paez in a long professional career. It provided the clearest evidence to that point that De La Hoya’s rapid advancement had not been based solely upon careful matchmaking. The new champion left the ring with a record of 14 victories without defeat and possession of the WBO lightweight title, having required less than four minutes of boxing to secure his second championship.

By July 1994, Oscar De La Hoya was really looking the part. His 13-fight career was already moving at championship speed. He had Olympic gold, the looks, the Mexican-American following and a WBO title at super-featherweight. Jorge Paez was chosen because he had a name, plenty of experience and an awkward style, but he was really a former featherweight being asked to cope with a young man who was growing into a proper lightweight. Paez had boxed 63 times; De La Hoya had boxed 13. Experience mattered, but size, speed and freshness mattered more.

I remember Paez as a clever entertainer, not merely the clown some people made him out to be. His movement and strange angles could unsettle fighters, and Oscar spent the opening round having a look before nicking it with the cleaner work. That was sensible boxing. He did not chase Paez around or get dragged into the showmanship. He held his shape, judged the distance and waited for Paez to step into range.

The finish came 39 seconds into the second. Paez moved forward, and De La Hoya caught him with a sharp left, followed by a fast combination ending in a left hook. Paez went down badly and stayed there. It looked spectacular, but the truth was straightforward: Paez was too small and too shopworn to absorb that kind of accurate punching from a younger lightweight. Oscar did exactly what an emerging top fighter should do: he removed an experienced opponent without wasting time or punches. It was not his greatest victory, but it showed the speed, composure and finishing instinct that made him boxing’s next major attraction.