SPORTS
What was billed as a bout between the fastest fists in boxing left a sour taste in the mouths of most involved.
The Golden Boy was overshadowed by a set of judges with an outside prerogative.
Tearing a page out of the book of Vernon Forrest, Oscar De La Hoya fought the smart fight and was left stripped of his prize possessions - his WBA and WBC 154-pound title belts.
Avoiding a recurrence of their first slugfest in 2000, De La Hoya used his lightning jab to make easy work of "not so sweet anymore" Shane Mosley.
Despite a few flourishes of street brawling and a vision-impairing cut on his right eye, the result of an "accidental" head butt, De La Hoya waited out the fight, landing frequent quick jabs, which saw Mosley frustrated at every swing.
De La Hoya used reach to his advantage, staying clear of Mosley's deadly uppercuts, and landed nearly twice as many punches as the new champion.
But the official judges were not impressed, despite a more convincing performance than Forrest had in either of his victorious bouts with Mosley, and handed the belt over to the undeserving 32-year-old.
Analyst George Foreman (yes, the grill guy) suggested it was a conspiracy against Top Rank boss Bob Arum, but that would be too crude, wouldn't it?
If boxing really wants fans to relate to a sport that has moved from national TV broadcasts to overpriced pay-per-view Wrestlemania-like farces they wouldn't do things like this, right?
They wouldn't allow the Golden face of their tainted sport to inexplicably get shafted twice, would they?
But it happened, and the gracious loser will hold his ground.
