Diego De La Hoya KO’s Badillo in L.A., Is The Olympic Auditorium Next?

De La Hoya KO’s Badillo – LOS ANGELES-Diego De La Hoya used those lightning combinations to stop Tijuana’s Arturo Badillo with a body shot to remain undefeated on Friday.

In a fight that was supposed to prepare De La Hoya (14-0, 8 KOs) for a future Las Vegas mega fight card, Badillo (20-10, 18 KOs) wasn’t cooperating and nearly bashed those hopes when he cut the young cousin of Golden Boy Promotion’s Oscar De La Hoya at Belasco Theater.

De La Hoya, according to his manager Joel De La Hoya, was prepping for a possible place on the mega fight card on May 7, between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Amir Khan. But a small cut was caused by a punch or accidental head butt in the second round. It could have been a serious setback but it remained a small abrasion instead of spreading into a large cut.

The speed of his combinations proved too much for Badillo who tried to set up for a knockout blow, but was overwhelmed by De La Hoya’s lightning blows.

A De La Hoya left hook to the body of Badillo sent the Tijuana warrior to the floor for the count.

“At first, the excitement got the best of me and I was trying to look for a knockout, but in the second round I realized I was going to play in to his game,” said De la Hoya of his big win. “I decided to change the pace and take my time and just play it safe. By the third round, I realized he was getting tired and that’s when I decided to take advantage and dedicate the third round to knocking him out.”

His cousin and boss feels he will be a champion.

“He’s got the goods,” said Oscar De La Hoya of his young cousin. “He’s making his own story every time he fights.”

Oscar De La Hoya said he plans to have both his cousin Diego and his son Devon De La Hoya on a future fight show at the Olympic Auditorium in June if possible.

“We’re going to call it the Night of the De La Hoyas,” said Oscar De La Hoya.

Other bouts

Carlos Morales (13-1-3, 6 KOs) seemed to be fighting a mirror image in terms of style in his super featherweight bout against Mexico’s Omar Tienda (14-3). Whatever Morales did Tienda seemed to figure it out and vice versa. It was mostly a matter of accuracy as Morales was more consistent than Tienda over the 10-round contest. Two judges scored it 100-90 and one 99-91 for L.A.’s Morales who never had an easy round against Tienda.

Nick Arce (7-0, 6 KOs) out-battled Mexico’s Luis Lizzarraga (5-8-1) in a fierce six-round super featherweight fight that saw no knockdowns. Arce started hot but found himself in against someone equally lanky and long-armed. Both were able to land wicked uppercuts and left hooks but the difference was Arce’s jabs and ability to slip punches. Not all of them, but enough to come out the winner by unanimous decision 60-54 twice and 59-55. It was the first time Arce was forced to win by decision.

“My opponent was well trained and came out to fight with his high endurance. I came for the KO but I’ll settle for the unanimous decision. This is motivation to keep on training to win those big victories,” said Arce of his win. “My fans love coming to see me fight because they can tell in my style that I love life and think it is too beautiful and too short to waste.”

Diego De La Hoya KO’s Badillo in L.A.

Big hitting Oscar Duarte (4-0-1, 2 KOs) of Parral, Mexico unleashed some of his vaunted power on Georgia’s Archie Weah (1-5) in the first round for a vicious knockdown from a right cross. But after that, Duarte just couldn’t put the finishing touch on Weah who gave him problems by keeping the fight inside and tying him up in their super lightweight contest. After four rounds the judges scored it 40-35 twice and 39-36 for Duarte.

“It felt great to knock down my opponent in the first round but I felt really tied up. My strategy for the rest of the fight was to just keep going in there strong and keep my composure. I’m looking forward to training really hard and improving after this win,” said Duarte.

Francisco Esparza (3-0) of Las Vegas won by unanimous decision over Mexico’s Antonio Martinez (3-6) after four rounds of a super featherweight bout. Esparza started fast but after expending a lot of energy in the first two rounds things slowed down. That was enough for Martinez to find his range with quick right leads. Though the Mexican from Durango landed plenty of rights, he never could do any damage. Two judges scored it 40-36 and one 39-37, all for Esparza who is trained by Hall of Fame fighter Fernando Vargas.

Check out this video with Paulie Malignaggie talking about Diego de la Hoya at The Boxing Channel

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