| Bad Left Hook Unofficial Scorecard | |||||||||||||
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Total |
| Oscar de la Hoya | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 120 |
| Steve Forbes | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 108 |
Official scores: 119-109, 119-109, 120-108
Image © AP
Oscar de la Hoya's return to the ring was all but completely advertised as a tune-up fight, almost a glorified sparring contest to prepare him for a proposed September rematch against pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
It turned out to be nothing more and nothing less. "The Golden Boy" used an effective jab and some re-energized legs that didn't fail him down the stretch to score an easy win over veteran Steve Forbes, exactly as everyone expected it would be. Official scores were 119-109, 119-109 and 120-108. I had a clean sweep for Oscar, 120-108.
Steve Forbes wasn't really uncompetitive, just out of his depth. He's a good fighter, too good for most guys to want to fight, and tough as hell. He kept up his 39-fight professional streak of never being knocked down.
Some are going to point to this as a mild rebirth for Oscar, but I say wait until we see him in against a better fighter than Forbes. During the fight, I tried to picture what Oscar was doing being employed against Mayweather. It's the right idea, jabbing and working the body, but Forbes is just not Floyd Mayweather. I think Oscar can always be competitive against Floyd, but I don't think he can beat him.
We're going to find out, though. Like it or not, Oscar-Floyd II is a reality.