Columnist Dean Juipe: De La Hoya, Hopkins past their primes

Dean Juipe

Friday, June 11, 2004 | 9:35 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Prior to his fight last week against Robert Allen, Bernard Hopkins was telling anyone who would listen to "wait until after June 5" before updating their boxing pound-for-pound ratings. The inference was that Hopkins would be so impressive that he would not only leap past a few of his contemporaries but ascend to the top spot that sat vacant in the aftermath of Roy Jones' loss to Antonio Tarver.

Well Bernard, we've waited. And we weren't impressed with either you or Oscar De La Hoya, who fought Felix Sturm in the companion main event last Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The pound-for-pound title goes, by default to some extent, to Floyd Mayweather Jr., who is 32-0 while frequently coming across as standoffish in the ring and snobbish out of it.

But you don't have to be popular to be the pound-for-pound king, as Jones often proved. Both he and Mayweather were in attendance at last week's fights and were introduced to the crowd, and each man was booed by as many who cheered.

If the customers hadn't wanted Hopkins and De La Hoya to win, which the fighters needed to do to solidify their Sept. 18 middleweight title fight, they'd have booed the guys in the ring as well.

Hopkins is 39, De La Hoya is 31 and they both looked to be over the hill.

But Hopkins is the likely winner in their September fight because it's at his natural weight and he appears to be declining at a less severe rate than De La Hoya.

The Golden Boy has a good deal of tarnish on him these days.

He's chubby at 160 pounds, especially for those who recall him as a svelte 130-pound champion 10 years ago.

His stamina has also been affected, as his periodic habit of gasping for breath during the middle of a round would indicate.

And although he still has some pop on his punches, his strength isn't what it once was and the clean knockout shots that came so easily in the past have been reduced to distant lore.

His deterioration extends to his in-the-ring wardrobe as well, as De La Hoya fought Sturm in a pair of trunks he must have found in the back of the barn. Stylish out of the ring and usually in it, De La Hoya looked more like a plump waif than a fit combatant as he fooled the judges into thinking he had beaten his younger, fresher opponent.

De La Hoya talks about his legacy and making history by being a champion in six weight classes, but I think he targeted Hopkins for his next fight simply because it's good money ($30 million) and the least degree of risk.

Hopkins isn't going to punish De La Hoya no matter how one-sided the fight gets, as his arsenal no longer includes a steady stream of debilitating punches. Hopkins will fight De La Hoya as if determined to go the full 12 rounds, slipping in for an occasional combination while minimizing the burden on the judges.

De La Hoya vs. Hopkins will be a decent fight with an exciting backdrop, yet it's hardly the classic matchup that two in-their-prime fighters would provide under ideal conditions.

By my count it'll be something like the fifth best fighter in the world vs. the sixth best fighter in the world, and nothing like the No. 1 vs. No. 2 battle that Hopkins (and maybe even De La Hoya) envisioned.