For most boxing fans and pundits, November 13, 2006 was day one of what is expected to be biggest marketing campaign for a non-heavyweight super fight since Marvelous Marvin Hagler met Sugar Ray Leonard on April 6, 1987. Nearly twenty years after that memorable fight took place, the “Golden Boy,” Oscar De La Hoya will defend his junior middleweight championship May 5, 2007 against the universally-recognized welterweight champ and pound-for-pound king “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
The similarities of both matchups are striking. Oscar De La Hoya is the crossover star of his generation, as Leonard was when he met Hagler. Mayweather is the sports’ most respected and skilled champion at present, as Hagler was in 1987. Both fighters are at a crossroads in terms of popularity.
Like Leonard before him, De La Hoya is a living legend looking for another notch in his belt in the twilight of his Hall of Fame career. Mayweather, like Hagler before him, is a veteran superstar looking for that signature win to define his already decorated career. And fittingly, the fight will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, the epicenter of the boxing universe.
So, you may ask, why is De La Hoya vs. Mayweather bad for boxing? The answer is simple – on paper, it does not have the makings of a great fight. First, let’s start with Oscar.
Don’t let Oscar’s resounding victory over shopworn, undersized and unskilled Ricardo Mayorga fool you – De La Hoya is simply past his prime. Even in his prime, he struggled against other elite, ultra-quick fighters like Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker and “Sugar” Shane Mosley, whose styles (i.e. speed) bear some resemblance to Mayweather’s. For all of his Hall of Fame credentials and earning power, it can not be ignored that De La Hoya has a mediocre 5-4 record in super fights against Julio Cesar Chavez (2x), Whitaker, Quartey, Trinidad, Mosley (2x), Fernando Vargas, and Bernard Hopkins, respectively.
His dance partner Mayweather is undeniably great in his own right, dominating opponents with uncanny speed of hand and foot. He has “once-in-a-lifetime” defense, ring smarts, and speed, and has never lost a fight as professional. However, to the untrained eye, his virtues are, at best, overlooked or, at worst, scoffed at. This often leads to empty seats in major venues or sagging pay-per-view buys for many of his fights.
At times, Mayweather’s safety-first style, exacerbated by his recurring hand injuries in big fights, has often led to low entertainment value. For all of his fistic greatness and ring savvy, Floyd’s style is beautiful to the die-hard fan of the sweet science but is coyote ugly if you are a fan of Arturo Gatti or the fictitious Rocky Balboa.
And that’s what is wrong with this fight. It has the look-and-feel of a box office blockbuster with the script of a B-movie. It pits a veteran, past-prime superstar in Oscar De La Hoya against a smaller, defensive-minded boxing genius in Floyd Mayweather, Jr. In boxing, it is said that styles make fights, and this matchup most likely won’t be in style.
Boxing needs compelling matchups to galvanize existing fans as well as garner new ones. Best-case scenario, this fight lives up to its billing and is a boon for the boxing industry, casual fan and die-hard fan alike. Sadly, I am cautiously-pessimistic. Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. will draw record-breaking attention to the boxing universe on May 5, but may lose its viewers’ attention during the bout.
For the love of boxing, I hope that I am wrong. Stay tuned.
[…] MATCHUP Here is where it’s a no contest. When Miguel Cotto and Zab Judah meet, you have two fighters who have explosive offensive arsenals, with obvious defensive holes (i.e. chins that have been more than shaken). Cotto is a vicious body puncher with uncanny ring generalship for a fighter still relatively young. What he lacks in superfight experience, he more than makes up for in consistency, focus and heart, qualities that Zab Judah has often lacked in big fights in the past – most notably in his losses to Kotsa Tszyu and Carlos Baldomir, respectively. Despite these apparent weaknesses, Cotto will be facing the fastest and hardest puncher that he has ever faced in his burgeoning career. On June 9th, you will have two fighters with significant power and questionable chins – this may be boxing’s answer to the Dallas Mavericks versus the Phoenix Suns. Whoever gets the last shot will win. I have spoken at length in a previous article as to “Why De La Hoya Mayweather is Bad for Boxing.” […]