It's a look as fearsome as any in boxing, one Oscar De La Hoya usually follows with an attack that can be just as frightening.
Julio Cesar Chavez saw it just before he was demolished in four rounds by De La Hoya. It was the last thing Rafael Ruelas saw before De La Hoya took him out with a savage attack in the second round.If De La Hoya has his way, it will return Saturday night when he defends his newly won WBC welterweight title in the Alamodome against David Kamau.
"It's the eye of the tiger," De La Hoya said. "I just get that focus and that concentration. It's tunnel vision and I just go out there and do my job."
It's also a look that has been missing in action recently for De La Hoya, who needed 12 rounds to beat Pernell Whitaker two months ago to win the 147-pound title and also went the distance in his previous fight against Miguel Angel Gonzalez.
Now, recommitted to becoming more of an offensive fighter again under new trainer Emanuel Steward, De La Hoya hopes to become once again the kind of puncher who knocked out 20 of his first 22 opponents.
"People pay their money to see good fights," De La Hoya said. "I want to get back to getting the knockouts in the early rounds. I want to be more aggressive, like the way I was before."
De La Hoya turned to Steward following the Whitaker fight after becoming disillusioned with the defensive training tactics of former trainer Jesus Rivero.
Steward had worked in the opposite corner when De La Hoya fought Gonzalez, and was impressed with what he saw.
"I never saw such fierce, competitive eyes, almost like an animal," Steward said. "You see him transform into almost a cold-blooded killer in the ring."
The 24-year-old De La Hoya (24-0, 20 knockouts), on a pace to fight five times this year, figures to have an easier target against the stand-up Kamau than he did against the wily and slippery Whitaker.
That could mean a return of his knockout power, though Kamau (28-1, 21 knockouts) has never been stopped.
"I'll be happy with a knockout," De La Hoya said. "My last couple of opponents thought I had no power because I wasn't getting any knockouts. I was losing respect from my opponents, and that gets them more confident."
De La Hoya is a heavy favorite to retain his 147-pound title on a fight card that includes a WBC super featherweight title defense by Genaro Hernandez against Russian Anatoly Alexandrov. The fights will be televised by HBO beginning at 9:30 p.m. EDT.
De La Hoya stopped Hernandez in the sixth round of their Sept. 9, 1995, fight for the WBO lightweight title. He went on to move up in weight and win the junior welterweight title a year ago against Chavez, defending it once before taking on Whitaker.
Kamau, a native of Kenya, is best known for his only loss, by majority decision to Chavez Sept. 16, 1995, for the WBC 140-pound title. In that fight, Kamau was ahead on the scorecards before being knocked down in the eighth round.
"I don't step into a ring to lose," said Kamau, who has fought only twice since the Chavez loss. "I am a strong fighter, and I know I can punch. Whatever it's going to take, that is what I'm going to do."
Assuming De La Hoya beats Kamau, he will fight Hector Camacho on Sept. 13, then take a fight at the end of the year, possibly in Japan or France. After that, there is a possible rematch with Whitaker as De La Hoya keeps a busy pace.
"I would love to go overseas and give the people an opportunity to watch me," he said. "The great champions did that. Muhammad Ali went all over the world fighting so people could see him."