The sad state of boxing in the U.S. is such that it has become rare that a professional bout generates much interest from the casual fans of the fight game who only check in for a truly big fight. But one of those special events is happening tonight in Las Vegas as WBC super-welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather battle for the super-welterweight title. The bout will be shown on HBO pay-per-view for around $50 and has been the subject of a slick HBO documentary miniseries, “24/7,” that has followed the camp preparations of both boxers.
This is a particularly interesting fight because De La Hoya personifies strength and power in the ring while Mayweather is one of the speediest boxers of all-time. Mayweather, who is 30, is younger by four years and smaller than De La Hoya, but he is the WBC welterweight champion, is undefeated in 37 professional contests, has held world titles in four weight divisions, and is widely considered to be the best overall boxer in the fight game at this time. His nickname is “Pretty Boy Floyd” because virtually no one ever lays a glove on his face.
On the other hand, the older De La Hoya (38-4) has been known as the “Golden Boy” since he won a gold medal in the 1992 Olympics and has taken on virtually every good fighter in the 150 or so pound weight classes since that time. Although not as fast as Mayweather, De La Hoya certainly is not slow by any means and combines superb balance with one of the most lethal left hooks in boxing. Only two non-heavyweight fights have generated over over one million pay-per-view purchases and they both involved De La Hoya. This fight will be the third and will almost certainly generate the most pay-per-view purchases of any non-heavyweight fight.
One of the interesting subplots to this fight is that Mayweather’s father has been De La Hoya’s trainer for the past six years and offered to train De La Hoya for this fight against his son for a cool $2 million. De La Hoya thought about it, but ultimately declined because he decided that the arrangement would just be too weird. Maybe so, but that is precisely the type of spice that looks to make this fight special even for folks who do not tune in the fight game much.