Photo and Report by Juan C. Ayllon Reprint courtesy of the Carol Stream Examiner EDITOR'S NOTE: This is one of a handful of articles I have transferred from my site, www.ayllonmedia.com, that I plan on shutting down soon. Enjoy the look back! SAN ANTONIO, Texas, November 10, 2006 – The packed crowd at the Alamadrome roared. Nicknamed “Soccer Mom” for his ardent attendance at his kids’ sports events, this husband and father from Carol Stream, Illinois was fighting three-time world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield. What’s more, Holyfield, 44, had tired visibly in the last several rounds. With six minutes to go, victory and the Vacant USBA Heavyweight Title were all but his. Or were they? No spring chicken himself at 33, Fres Oquendo was expected to dispatch the old warrior on his shield, forcibly ending what many considered foolish: Holyfield’s aspirations to unify the world heavyweight titles and retire as Champ.
With a walloping right to the temple moments into their fight, Holyfield knocked Oquendo down hard and served notice that he was here not only to fight, but also to win. Granted, even the late, revered heavyweight champ Rocky Marciano suffered first round knockdowns at the hands of faded greats Archie Moore and Jersey Joe Walcott. Unlike the original “Rock,” however, upon rising, Oquendo failed to batter and overwhelm his older foe for the remainder of the bout. Instead, he circled and retreated. Boxing carefully, he sought to catch his aggressor coming in with occasional right-hand bombs. That, and he clinched a lot. This endeared him neither to the crowd or the judges. In a city packed with Latinos, who favor a more aggressive style and have thus embraced old warrior Holyfield, this was a cardinal sin. After 12 rounds, judges scored the bout unanimously for Evander Holyfield with tallies of 116-111 and 114-113 twice. With this victory, Holyfield (217 lbs.) won the USBA Heavyweight trinket and advanced to 40-8, with 26 wins via knockout. Oquendo (220 lbs.) slipped to the sidelines with a record of 26-4 and 16 knockouts. “All we wanted was to see Fres do a flurry (of punches),” said Dave Wride, Oquendo’s sports attorney. “If you look at it statistically, all he had to do was win the last two rounds. He won ONE of the last two rounds. He’s confident. He thinks he’s winning. He played it safe. If you’re going to fight in the ‘Holyfield Show,’ you’ve got to fight more aggressively.” “That’s Fres’ style,” said former International Boxing Federation Heavyweight Titlist Chris Byrd, who scored a controversial points win over Oquendo in September 2003. “He’s got an awkward style. The knockdown in the first round hurt him. He was scoring points (however). It was a close fight. 114-113 was fair. The score of 116 to 111 was way off. If they gave (the fight) to Oquendo, they wouldn’t have said anything. They gave it to Evander and they didn’t say anything.” Boxing carefully, Oquendo really began asserting himself by the fourth round. Circling, he repeatedly pumped a stiff left jab in Holyfield’s face. The jab, while not a particularly devastating punch, disrupts an opponent’s rhythm, can cause cumulative damage and set up more powerful blows. Oquendo did just that, mixing in heavy rights and a single left hook to the head. Undeterred, Holyfield continued pressing forward. In the sixth, Oquendo collapsed from a low blow landed during a spirited Holyfield assault. Allowed time to recover, he resumed hostilities with a mixture of malice and caution. Oquendo continued jabbing, circling, and increasingly spearing with stiff rights. During an especially combative eighth round, Holyfield dug another borderline low blow, drawing loud protests from Oquendo and prompting the referee to intervene. This pattern of Oquendo playing matador to Holyfield’s bull carried through the 11th round, where, displaying incredible heart, a clearly tired Holyfield pressed forward and willed himself to maintain the steadier work rate. Oquendo continued to circle and pepper with jabs and intermittent rights. Fireworks erupted in the 12th and final round. Both fighters teed off on one another in a rousing display of aggression. After the scores were announced, an angered Oquendo stormed out of the ring. With two unsuccessful attempts at a heavyweight title—once to Byrd and the other, an 11th round TKO loss to then-World Boxing Council Heavyweight Titlist John Ruiz in April 2004—he thought he’d won and was finally on his way to winning a world championship. “We fired Don King and were excited about where things were going up until now,” Wride said. Where they go from here remains unclear. No doubt, Oquendo will continue supporting his children’s athletic events for years to come. However, the experience will likely be bittersweet, as cheering throngs may remind him of the night that he let a living legend, and a shot at a title, get away.
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