It didn't work out exactly as planned. And it definitely wasn't easy. But in the end, a frustrated Oscar De La Hoya overcame a terrific jab by a game Felix Sturm and went on to win a unanimous decision, 115-113 (I also scored it 115-113 in favour of De La Hoya).

The plan was for De La Hoya to go up against a non-threatening but respectable opponent at middleweight, get in some rounds, and then finish him off and prepare for THE BIG ONE, a September fight with Bernard Hopkins, who'd already done his part by beating Robert Allen earlier. But if Felix Sturm was supposed to be a tune-up for for Oscar, somebody forgot to tell him because he was in the fight from the opening bell to the last round. Oscar threw rapid-fire combinations to Sturm's body and head, but rarely connected because Sturm did a good job of protecting his body and chin. Meanwhile, in a classic case of outjabbing the jabber, Sturm couldn't seem to miss De La Hoya with his jab, and gave "The Golden Boy" even more problems when he turned southpaw later in the fight. De La Hoya had Sturm hurt in the fourth round, where it seemed the ropes saved him from going down, but Oscar, once one of the best finishers in the game, couldn't put him down. After giving away the 9th, 10th, and 11th rounds, De La Hoya poured on the pressure in the final round and escaped with a victory in a fight that was much more competitive than anyone, including De La Hoya, imagined it would be.

The crew at HBO was singing the praises of Sturm while Harold Lederman scored the fight for the German, but this could be more to do with the fact that they showed biased judgement in favour of De La Hoya in the second fight with Shane Mosley, and they were overcompensating for that by being critical of him.

Still, De La Hoya looked shaky. He was clearly upset at his performance and told Lary Merchant that, "Everything went wrong tonight...what can I say? I stepped into the ring and 'boom'- nothing". And if this is what Oscar looks like at 160 pounds, does he even stand a chance against "The Executioner"? Hopkins, who watched the fight in his dressing room, went into the ring to congratulate De La Hoya and admitted that his blood pressure went up before the official decision was announced. Hopkins had only praise for De La Hoya, and you could almost see the dollar signs in his eyes as he imagined the possible $15 million he could make to fight Oscar in September.

Hopkins was all business in his fight against Allen. Not even bothering to wear his executioner's mask as he walked into the ring, Hopkins turned his back as he touched gloves with Allen before the start of round 1. When an accidental low blow resulted against Hopkins in the 5th round, Hopkins responded to Allen's raised glove as a show of sportsmanship by throwing a right hand. The ever-cautious Hopkins still got hit more often than usual, and although he dropped Allen twice and won another lopsided decision (I scored it 120-106 for Hopkins), "The Executioner" looked sloppy and boring and at 39, might finally be showing signs that he is slipping.

So De La Hoya promised that if he won and Hopkins won, they would fight each other in September. Oscar might be having second thoughts, but a promise is a promise, and Hopkins was acting very cordial to De La Hoya in the hopes that he wouldn't back out of the fight.

But now it's over. So fuck the diplomacy, and let's get it on.

Of course, the REAL collision course (as HBO advertised the card) of the night was the undercard, where Jose Luis Castillo won a unanimous decision against tough Juan Lazcano. This was a hard fight to score (I scored it 115-113 for Castillo) as both fighters were so evenly matched, but the body-punching and constant pressure of Castillo had Lazcano's face unrecognizable. Lazcano hit the Mexican with a hard punch that would have surely dropped him if it weren't for the ropes, but Castillo battled back in what was a hard-fought brawl between two hispanic warriors. In the 12th round, they went toe-to-toe until the sound of the bell. Then they had to be pulled away from each other by their respective corners, after a bit of trash-talking. There was obviously no love lost between the two, and in the end, it was the stronger Castillo who walked away as The Ring's undisputed lightweight champion of the world.