Oscar's might of passage

Bob Mee in Las Vegas sees the old warrior Chavez spitting blood on his stool

OSCAR DE LA HOYA understood it had to be this way. He knew his rematch with Julio Cesar Chavez in Las Vegas early yesterday was about more than bolstering his financial portfolio by another $12m and about more than his march towards boxing greatness.

De La Hoya, born in Los Angeles of Mexican parents 25 years ago, understood this was a fight about what he is, and about what he can never be; about his right to be called Mexican as well as American; about the rite of passage. Money barely came into it.

By forcing Chavez, the scarred, proud symbol of old Mexico, to quit on his stool after eight rounds, he proved a point for the generation of "cross-over" children who want to retain and honour their heritage but also strike out towards fresh destinies.

Oscar was taught to fight by his father, Joel, as Joel's father had taught him. He grew up with Joel's uncompromising ways to guide him but was also bi-lingual and educated enough to send his homework back from amateur international trips. As time went on he modelled clothes, last year grossed $38m and paraded a girlfriend who is a former Miss USA. His ready smile and intelligence have attracted a large female audience - to the point where some toss underwear at him and some even ask him to autograph their breasts. He does.

This has cut little ice with the men who have stayed in Mexico, who like their fighting heroes to be old-fashioned warriors like Chavez. And so yesterday it was not enough for De La Hoya to beat his 36-year-old rival by using his speed, the speed of youth, to cut him up or out-point him. He knew the only way to beat the old way of life was by standing his ground and fighting, by proving that he had substance as well as style. It was the hard way but it brought reward.

It came in the cheers from those who had booed him into the ring. And it came in the smile, still as dazzling as ever but bloodied, and in the eyes, which shone in recognition from beneath cuts on both brows, as Chavez paid his respects. The older man leaned close and told the young one in Spanish: "You beat me. I give you respect."

It was Chavez's failure to do that after their first meeting two years ago when he was gashed to defeat in four rounds that had forced the return. Chavez had blamed the injury, had sneered at De La Hoya's talents and said with a pig-headed shrug: "There was no fight. It didn't happen." So this time De La Hoya abandoned his skills to have a fight with the old man whose only chance lay in exactly that tactic being employed.

Several times Chavez slammed formidable left-hooks into De La Hoya's ribs. He hooked at the head and connected. Amazingly for a man giving away four inches in height, he also thumped in a succession of stiff jabs. Even though most of the rounds went to De La Hoya, the fight grew ever more competitive.

The eighth was formidable with Chavez unloading ferocious bursts which echoed his great days of a decade ago yet De La Hoya ended the round with a 10-second explosion of precision power which had Chavez's head bouncing and jarring and the blood running down his chin. It was all the proof Chavez needed. A corner man turned to the referee Richard Steele and said: "It is finished."

Two of Chavez's three sons had been carried into the ring with him. They saw their father rage defiantly against the years and then, hurting too much, accept there was no more to be done. They will grow up to know how great he was, will not forget what they saw on the day he grew old, and one day may find themselves inspired enough to follow him into the ring. Almost certainly Chavez would encourage them. Jacob De La Hoya, seven months old and the result of his father's liaison with a fan, will be offered other choices. "My son will never box," said Oscar. "Never."

This fight out of the way, De La Hoya will return to the less complicated job of earning money on 21 November, again in the Thomas and Mack Center ring in Vegas, against Ike Quartey of Ghana. Quartey will present him with nothing more difficult than boxing problems. And for that he will probably be greatly relieved.