DE LA HOYA TURNS OUT TO BE FAR MORE MACHO.

Byline: Michael Rosenthal Daily News Staff Writer

The thousands of adoring Oscar De La Hoya fans who filled the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday got basically what they wanted: A spectacular performance by their hero.

What they didn't get was anything resembling a competitive fight, an all too common occurrence in today's boxing world.

In one of the most pathetically one-sided championship bouts in recent memory, De La Hoya pummeled a resilient, but helpless, Hector ``Macho'' Camacho from the start to win a unanimous decision and retain his WBC welterweight title before an estimated crowd of 14,500.

In only one respect could De La Hoya's performance be deemed a failure: His goal was to be the first to stop the 35-year-old Camacho (64-4-1, with 32 knockouts) and he was unable to do so.

The judges scored it 120-105, 120-106 and a dubious 118-108. The Daily News had it 120-106.

``I wish (referee) Richard Steele would've taken a point away earlier to prevent all the holding,'' De La Hoya said of Camacho's survival tactics, for which the challenger lost a point in the ninth round.

``He was very tricky, but I thought he held a lot. He just wanted to survive.''

Camacho entered the ring in a typically ridiculous outfit, this one of a futuristic motif with a Darth Vader-like helmet. He was greeted with jeers and smiles from the overwhelmingly pro-De La Hoya crowd.

The Puerto Rican also entered the ring in shape. Clearly, his 147 pounds were as solid as they had been in years. He was as ready as he was going to be. Which wasn't very ready.

From the beginning, it was clear Camacho wanted no part of De La Hoya (26-0, 21 KOs).

Moments after the opening bell, the champion landed the first of what would be dozens of solid left hooks. After that, Camacho was in retreat, running, juking, holding, doing anything it took to survive and collect his $3 million in good health. (De La Hoya received $9 million.)

He admitted it.

``If you can't stop someone from punching you, you either hold or you run. I held,'' he said.

Offensively, Camacho offered nothing. A casual observer would be hard pressed to remember more than a half-dozen solid punches landed by him. Certainly, none did any damage.

At the start, it wasn't terribly easy for De La Hoya in terms of offense. As in his April bout against Pernell Whitaker, he was frustrated to a good extent by his experienced, left-handed opponent's guile and stance. However, unlike the Whitaker fight, which De La Hoya won by a controversial decision, he landed with regularity to control the fight and build momentum as it progressed.

By the fifth round, Camacho was helpless as De La Hoya consistently landing hard punches - mostly left hooks and left uppercuts to the head. Several times in the middle rounds, Camacho seemed to be hurt but the challenger, known to have an excellent chin, remained on his feet.

Finally, in the ninth, De La Hoya did what only one other fighter (Reyes Cruz, in 1988) was able to do: He put Camacho down.

With about 20 seconds remaining in the round, he landed a vicious left hook - maybe his best of the fight - and followed with a volley of punches that knocked Camacho against the ropes and onto the canvas. Camacho held the remaining of the round to fight another.

From there, hard, damaging punches by De La Hoya - now also being delivered to the body - came in bunches. Still, Camacho, hurt, tired but proud, survived to say he went the distance with a great champion.

What he can't say is he gave that champion a fight.

``He earned it,'' Camacho said. ``He fought hard, he did everything he said he'd do - except knock me out.''

In preliminary bouts, IBF junior middleweight champion Raul Marquez (28-0, 20 KOs) survived deep cuts above both eyes to beat a determined Keith Mullings (14-4-1, 9 KOs) by a split decision.

Marquez, a '92 Olympic teammate of De La Hoya, controlled much of the fight by throwing an Henormous number of punches, although Mullings, a last-minute replacement for Yory Boy Campas, also was busy and effective.

However, Marquez suffered the cut in the ninth round. With blood flowing in his eyes the remainder of the fight, he fought mainly to survive. Several times, referee Mitch Halpern stopped the fight to have doctors examine the cuts but - with his title at stake - he was allowed to continue.

In the end, Marquez did enough to win. The decision was greeted with a chorus of boos from the crowd.

Marquez had the edge according to computer fight statistics. He connected on 290 of 934 punches, Mullings 214 of 803. Marquez was 200 of 470 in power punches, Mullings 178 of 659.

Afterward, Marquez said he hurt both hands during the fight.

``I thought I did enough to win,'' Marquez said. ``I'll give him a rematch if he wants one. He was very strong, he had a very hard head. He was tough.''

Also, Butterbean, somehow still popular with fans, was lucky to avoid defeat against someone named Bill Eaton of Kidder, Mo.

The 317-pound Bean (33-1-1, 25 KOs), who has been a pro now for three years, was knocked down in the first round of a scheduled four-round heavyweight bout was escaped with a majority draw. Eaton (8-1-2, 5 KOs) won the bout on one judge's card while the other two had it even.

Bantamweight contender Paulie Ayala (23-0, 9 KOs) outpointed Ricardo Medina (20-17-4, 13 KOs) over 10 rounds.

Lucia Rijker of L.A. stopped Andrea Deshong in the second round of a scheduled six-round women's bout.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Oscar De La Hoya says Hector Camacho ``just wanted to survive'' the beating he received in Saturday's bout.

(2) Hector Camacho hangs onto Oscar De La Hoya in the second round, a tactic that cost Camacho a point.

Associated Press