After his dominant performance over Julio Cesar Chavez in September of 1998, Oscar De La Hoya remained dormant from ring action for the rest of the year. His next bout was set for February 13, 1999, against Ike Quartey at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. I ordered it on pay-per-view, knowing Quartey would be a tough test for Oscar.
The fight was evenly fought, and in the sixth, both men suffered knockdowns. Quartey went down first, then Oscar not long after. As the fight entered the final round, it was anyone’s to win, and ‘The Golden Boy’ proved to be the better man by dropping Ike seconds into the twelfth round. Oscar dominated the round, was went home the winner by split decision.
Three months later, Oba Carr accepted the challenge, and De La Hoya handled him with little difficulty in their May 22 bout at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas. It was over in eleven, which set up the big one, a September date with Puerto Rican great Felix Trinidad.
I had decided to run the Philadelphia Marathon on November 21, 1999, and had been in training since February. The fact that I had a lawn service and was on my legs all day, coupled with no less than five miles of running every morning, would hopefully prepare me for the 26.2 mile distance. I had run the half-marathon in September of 1997 in about 2 hours and 6 minutes, a time I was extremely proud of. On September 19, I planned to run my second, as kind of a warmup for the marathon two months later.
The week of the De La Hoya-Trinidad bout set for September 18, we had a major rainstorm in the northeast, forcing me to have to work on Saturday, September 18 to make up for having missed a few days during the week. Not the smartest thing to do the day before a distance run, but I had no choice. I mowed lawns all day, and arrived home at around 7 pm, ate dinner and punched in the fight on Directv.
My brother came over to watch the action, and were both huge Oscar fans. We both cheered on as Oscar was easily winning the rounds, outboxing and outboxing the capable Trinidad at will. With three rounds to go, I saw the fight in the bag for De La Hoya, and figured all he had to was keep up what was working already.
When he in turn ran from Felix for the final three rounds, my brother and I were shocked. He clearly handed Trinidad the last three rounds, leaving a sure decision, now up for grabs. When the call went to Trinidad, I was floored because I still think Oscar had built up enough of a lead to get the nod. Unfortunately it was boxing, and the whole night left a stale taste in my mouth.
My brother asked me if I was still going to run the race the next morning, and I said I would decide when I got up. When I arose on Sunday morning, I made the 15 mile or drove to Philadelphia to run in the ‘Distance Run’, as it was named. My legs felt terrible the whole distance, and after 11 miles, I had to sit down for 5 minutes, I was so exhausted. I sucked it up, hustled the last 2 miles, and was proud that I had finished at all. My time was about 5 minutes slower than in 1997, but there was a good reason. Glad it was over, I drove back to south Jersey, and ate a half gallon of ice cream to celebrate.
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