My Take On Boxing 5.11.07: De la Hoya vs. Mayweather
Posted by Larry Csonka on 05.11.2007
I boldly go where I have not gone before to dissect the biggest match in history, in my own special way.
Introduction:
There was much thought into actually doing this column. I am not a huge boxing fan, although I used to be. The current state of heavyweight boxing is a major reason that I got out of it, and with the rise of MMA and tons of good free MMA, I have turned more towards that while staying with my Wrestling roots. But when they went with the 4-part "24/7" deal, I decided to watch and well, I got hooked on the fight. I have liked De la Hoya for a while, Mayweather is a beast and has that quality that makes me "love to hate" him. With all of this in place, I decided to order the show, not report on it, and sit back and relax for once. I did so, watched the specials, the fight and have decided that I would write on it with some thoughts, so here we go.
My Take On…De la Hoya vs. Mayweather
24/7: The first stop on the De la Hoya vs. Mayweather tour was the 24/7 specials produced and shown on HBO. In essence, they took the "UFC ALL ACCESS" and made it into 4, 30-minute specials. I had no problem with it as those specials have been great tools for the UFC. But these shows ended upon a completely different level than the UFC shows. First of all the production and overall presentation were nothing short of phenomenal. HBO knows their shit and when they went into this they went into this to make it the best show it could be, and it was.
-Secondly, the UFC shows do a tremendous job of making the underdog look to have a chance. This match didn't need that, so it played off of personality. They clearly took a pro wrestling line of thought here; boxing fans don't get pissed, follow me here. They made sure to make you feel that one guy was completely likeable, while the other was a cocky asshole. De la Hoya was the family man. He has a simple life, he trains, he fights, he spends time with his family and is looking to produce fights and give back to the sport that gave him so much. Mayweather was the cocky "T.O" style athlete. He's all about himself, wearing the bling, carrying around obscene amounts of cash, chilling with his posse and swearing up a storm. It was Flair vs. Steamboat from 1989.
-Thirdly they followed the training, and did so well. People love training sequences, they love the Rocky montages, they get into this because it pulls them in and makes them feel like they are there. Mayweather is a BEAST of epic proportions when it comes to conditioning, purely amazing. For lack of a better word, the cinematography of these sequences was amazing. Nothing short of top-notch works by all involved.
-Finally there was the family aspect of both men. Oscar was single minded on not only training, but also spending time with the family at any cost. You also got the feeling that he was doing it for them. Mayweather was reconnected with his father, and in the end there was drama there. Not only did his father used to work with De la Hoya, but also when he and Floyd had issues, De la Hoya wanted to make sure he made it to the fight. This is the little back-story that not every match could have, but they played it up well. They used all the tools available to hook you.
The Fight: The fight finally came, and I made the call not to cover it for the site, but rather sit back and relax as I don't get to do that often.
Larry's Scorecard: -ROUND 1: MAYWEATHER: Mayweather looked good and strong, and landed the majority to take the round. -ROUND 2: DE LA HOYA: De la Hoya begins his push in aggressiveness and in the opposite the first round, takes it. -ROUND 3: DE LA HOYA: A very even round, De la Hoya kept pushing and takes it. -ROUND 4: DE LA HOYA: Mayweather laid back and took the onslaught. He is a machine and was hoping for De la Hoya to tire before him. -ROUND 5: MAYWEATHER: Mayweather controlled through out and landed the "best and most dangerous" shots of the night. -ROUND 6: DE LA HOYA: De la Hoya battled back, and took what I felt was the closest round thus far. Mayweather got good shots at the end, but it might have been to late in the round for some judging, but also, a good end flurry can sway judges as well. Either way easily. -ROUND 7: MAYWEATHER: Domination by Mayweather until the end where I thought De la Hoya had a shot to finish him, but it never was. Either way easily. -ROUND 8: MAYWEATHER: Almost the same as the last round, but with Mayweather with the advantage and De la Hoya ending in a flurry. Either way easily. -ROUND 9: DE LA HOYA: De la Hoya was on fire, Mayweather was picking him apart and landing at will, but De la Hoya had the fire. Very close. -ROUND 10: MAYWEATHER: Close round, De la Hoya with a few good shots, but domination by Mayweather and De la Hoya tiring was the story here. -ROUND 11: MAYWEATHER: More of the same from round 10. -ROUND 12: DE LA HOYA: Amazing finish to the fight. De la Hoya had a great shot near the end, had the crowd behind him and I didn't think Mayweather did enough to win it.
My Score: 114-114
In the end the judges scored the bout as so:
-115-113 for De la Hoya
-116-112 for Mayweather
-115-113 for Mayweather
I could easily see anyone going with Mayweather due to him landing so much. But I felt De la Hoya pushed a lot more, and in the end, didn't do enough for me to win a decision. Call it champions advantage of you will, but if a guy doesn't do enough to clearly win rounds, then the champ gets it. In the end, I really feel that Mayweather may have slightly had the better fight, but with so many close rounds, I ended with the tie. No way did De la Hoya win the fight, so I cannot ever agree with the one judge. But a tie would not have surprised me. It wasn't an epic battle like they had hoped, but a damn fine fight to be sure.
The Buy Rate: De la Hoya vs. Mayweather did 2.15 million buys and grossed $120 million, making it the biggest event in the history of PPV. Simply amazing. This did what they said it could do, it topped Tyson vs. Holyfield. He doubled Chuck vs. Tito, and did one million more than WrestleMania. This was the biggest money fight in the history of boxing, and lived up to that aspect of the hype. Simply amazing.
The Aftermath: People were calling this the "match that would save boxing." Well, I don't see boxing dying, there is an audience for it, but I don't think that the fight did anything to help the sport either. What I mean by that is this. They knew that this show would come close to if not exceed all records. They did not take advantage of this. The under card is what I am referring too. They had a chance here to put guys on the card that people would care about, and maybe spend money for.
What we got was:
WBO Number 1 Contender Super Bantamweight Bout: Rey Bautista (22-0, 17 KO's, 122 pounds) vs. Sergio Medina (28-0, 16 KO's, 122 pounds)
No offence to these guys, but they aren't selling a ton of PPV. I didn't get into either bout, and in the end this is what I am talking about. Since I am not an avid boxing fan right now, I don't have any better suggestions, but there has to be some guys out there that they think can be the next guys to sell a lot of PPV's and help the sport, and they were not on this show. The "future" of boxing should have been on display here, it wasn't and that is an aspect that they failed at with SO MANY people buying the show.
And then we have to discuss the futures of De la Hoya and Mayweather themselves. For a fight that was supposed to save the sport, the men doing the saving seem to be only here for part of the journey. Mayweather said that he was retiring. Now obviously in fighting, boxing and wrestling all retirements are bullshit until proven otherwise, but how does this keep people buying shows. De la Hoya seems more interested in promoting boxing now than being an actual boxer. Apparently he is going as well. There was light discussion, but I wish that there would have been more fire. More determination, more demand from De la Hoya for a rematch for the title he just lost. But we didn't, and that was that.
Conclusion…
There is no doubt that the fight did a lot to get more interest into the sport of boxing. There is no doubt that the build to the fight was tremendous. There is no doubt that the fight itself was a very good fight. And there is no doubt that this was the biggest money making fight of all time. But did it save a dying sport that seems to cater to the older audience while the younger kids flock to the MMA scene? Did they establish new stars to the biggest PPV audience of all time? No, they didn't. Oscar and Floyd made a ton of money, but they didn't leave boxing any better then they found it. But for one night, it did seem like the biggest sport in the world, and maybe that's all it was supposed to be.
