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?THE WORLD AWAITS? ? FINAL CHAPTER By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Sat, 05 May 2007 When you really get down to analyze tomorrow?s showdown between two of the greatest fighters of our time ? six division champion Oscar De La Hoya who is a handsome man and a truly talented fighter and four division champion Floyd Mayweather Jr whose ?Pretty Boy? nickname is both a reflection of his looks as well as his ring savvy ? you will realize that this is more a mega event than a world title fight. It has all the ingredients of a soap opera with De La Hoya the lovable superstar and Mayweather and his family playing the role of villains to the hilt. Indeed, if you were to look at the Mayweathers, father Floyd Sr and uncle Roger who trains Floyd Jr you would soon appreciate why De La Hoya?s celebrated trainer Freddie Roach branded them ?low class? with particular reference to Roger Mayweather as a ?jerk.? Roach?s remarks which were effectively echoed by several boxing writers both privately and in print came after Roger Mayweather without reason viciously verbally attacked Roach at the final pre-fight press conference and desecrated the name of one of the greatest trainers and genuinely decent boxing men of all-time, the late Eddie Futch. Floyd the fighter turned from ?Pretty Boy? to somewhat ugly man when in a conversation with media carried by boxingscene.com on Wednesday he accused a writer from the respected Los Angeles Times of working for Golden Boy Promotions. Mayweather claimed that he ?sold this fight? and not De La Hoya. Mayweather Jr said that while De La Hoya got more attention he was ?not jealous of him.? He said ?I make a ton of money too. I don?t need Oscar De La Hoya. I made $10 million in my last fight. And I didn?t fight Oscar De La Hoya.? But the overwhelming consensus is that De La Hoya is the main attraction. As TK Stewart of the Bangor Daily News said in a recent article ?he is what his nickname implies - The Golden Boy. Fight fans love him, women swoon for him and the suits from corporate America chase after him in an attempt to get him to endorse whatever it is they are trying to hustle.? In this respect De La Hoya is what Manny Pacquiao is to Filipinos and the multitude of products he endorses although the reality is that while American companies do the hustling to get De La Hoya, in the case of Pacquiao a couple of individuals around him do the hustling with no concern about the products he endorses as long as the money comes in and they get their fat commission. The numbers tell the story of De La Hoya who, together with his Golden Boy Promotions and CEO Richard Schaefer, the prominent Swiss banker who together with his wife recently acquired American citizenship, has ensured that ?The World Awaits? will become the biggest grossing fight ever staged in Las Vegas which is regarded as the boxing capital of the world. Within three hours after tickets went on sale, they were sold out with a ?live? gate record of $ 19 million. When respected Cebu boxing patron Tony Aldeguer checked on the possibility of buying some tickets for friends of his son Michael who has slowly assumed the mantle of managing the fights of the ALA Gym and taking over the boxing business, he discovered that there was one front row, all-access seat available for the incredible amount of $107,000 which is over P5 million! A few tickets were also available from online scalpers at around $25,000 around 25 feet away from the ring. Ticket sales have zoomed past the previous record of $16.8 million for the heavyweight rematch between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield which was held at the Thomas and Mack Center on November 12, 1999. When we checked with the MGM Garden Arena Box Office we were told that tickets were priced at $2,000, $1,500, $1,000, $750 and $350 which meant the top seats cost approximately P100,000 and the cheapest around P 17,500. In terms of the pay-per-view, an audience of an estimated one million at around $55 per hit should generate an additional $ 55 million which would assure De La Hoya of an all-time high and the additional mantle of PPV revenue king beating Mike Tyson who currently enjoys the top spot at $54.5 million with Holyfield second at $54.3 million and De La Hoya himself at third with $49.2 million. David P. Greisman in a very interesting article on the mega-fight says the ?two superstars names alone make it a product that tempts the wallet even as TK Stewart predicts that De La Hoya whom he describes as ?The King Midas of the fight game? on Saturday night ? Sunday morning in Manila ? ?will bring the entire city of Las Vegas to a standstill.? In many ways it would be like Metro Manila and other key cities in the Philippines when Pacquiao fights. However, the De La Hoya-Mayweather theater makes Pacquiao, with all his achievements in the ring and they are many and exciting, pale in comparison. The giant broadcast network ABS-CBN will telecast the fights on a slightly delayed basis on its pre-eminent Channel 2 with Tanduay, the No.1 Rhum and a major supporter of boxing as its major sponsor. The network will also carry the fights on pay-per-view on SkyCable as well as a selection of theaters including Rockwell, the SM Malls and Gateway among others. When Pacquiao enters the ring no matter who his opponent is, you can almost sense what is going to happen. The devastating puncher and a challenger in the eyes of many to the title of the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today Floyd Mayweather, would quickly swarm all over his opponent with blazing fists. The De La Hoya-Mayweather battle , in the opinion of some of the most knowledgeable men in boxing, may well turn out to be a tactical affair given the styles and the advantages that both men are banking on. Against this background are a few who believe that it could turn out to be a knockout for the ages or even the beginning of another great trilogy although both men have indicated they would like to retire after this fight especially De La Hoya who is 34 years and claims his bones are beginning to ache. To us, the corner may well be the defining element in this fight. Given the temperament and general demeanor of the Mayweathers where Floyd Jr despite all his trash-talking and insults appears to the sanest, his father and uncle may disrupt what goes on during the fight although Floyd Jr has been able to keep his composure in such situations in the past. De La Hoya has no doubt benefited immensely from his decision to bring in two-time ?Trainer of the Year? Freddie Roach who has said he expects De La Hoya to win by knockout in the later rounds. Roach realizes that De La Hoya who is the heavier fighter and has a decided advantage over Mayweather whose greatest asset is his speed, will have to take some risks and as he told Graham Shaw of Sporting Life recently ?we have to be a little more aggressive than normal. We have to cut the ring down. He is a mover and is not going to stand in front of us.? In fact Roach believes that his training style is one that accentuates aggression as clearly evident in the way he has turned Pacquiao into a relentless fighting machine unlike Roger Mayweather who is a more defense oriented trainer as shown by the superb ability of Floyd Jr to slip punches, not o get hit and whirl himself out of trouble if it comes. The Roach fight plan is easy to read. He will strive to get De La Hoya to ride on his power and as he told Shaw, ?let Floyd know he?s in a real fight right from the off.? Roach, in a TV interview carried by Boxing Scene which we write for, expected the first half of the fight to be ?a tough beginning? in which Oscar would try ?to get through him and break him down. This is going to be the rough part of the fight.? However, the cool and well mannered former fighter was convinced that after De La Hoya ?breaks him (Floyd Jr) down, it will get easier and easier and Oscar?s strength and power will take over.? An added plus in this regard was the shrewdness with which Golden Boy negotiated that both fighters wear Cleto Reyes gloves which are claimed to be ?puncher?s gloves? and one which created a whole lot of furor during Pacquiao?s first fight against legendary Mexican Erik ?El Terrible? Morales which Morales won. Roach and later Top Rank promoter Bob Arum assailed Pacquiao?s promoter at that time, Murad Muhammad, and accused him of selling out on the gloves. However, not so long ago David Mayo of the Grand Rapids Press quoted Dr. Tony Alamo, chairman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission as saying ?there?s just no conclusive evidence to support it.? The chief executive of Grant Boxing, Grant Elvis Phillips was quoted as saying that the Reyes gloves which fighters wore until around 2004 ?were like a rock? and they truly were a puncher?s gloves. But, Phillips said after Reyes switched from horse-hair-based to foam-based padding, it was not the same glove anymore. He noted that De La Hoya who used Reyes gloves before the re-design still insists on using them adding ? it goes to show how ignorant they are about the subject.? Bottom line is, Mayweather eventually accepted the pre-condition to wear Reyes gloves despite being known to be brittle-fisted. Mayweather was always used to wearing the Winning gloves which had more padding and then switched to Grant gloves in his last fight but now has to wear Reyes gloves. ?This guy has always pulled slick stuff in boxing. Now I can't wear the gloves I want to wear but he can wear the gloves he wants to wear,? Mayweather complained. No matter the controversies Mayweather said ?I am hungry and willing to die on May 5. I am looking forward to giving the fans excitement. On May 5 you will see the best Floyd Mayweather.? De La Hoya who was, when we last checked with bookmakers, a heavy underdog said ?We are ready for this fight. Floyd Mayweather is always in good shape. We are expecting the best of the best. Having Freddie Roach in my corner I believe, will make a difference. I am going to fight as hard as I can. May 5 is an important date for me and I have trained hard to beat Floyd Mayweather.? Indeed Cinco de Mayo is special for all people of Mexican heritage since its Mexico's national day. The esteemed writer, Hall of Fame inductee and boxing guru Bert Randolph Sugar says De La Hoya is a ?taller, bigger, stronger boxer who is fighting at a more natural weight than Mayweather who is moving up from welterweight.? He says Oscar has ?a style which will bother Floyd Jr. His height and speed of his jab will make it hard for Floyd to throw right hands, one of his favorite weapons. Oscar has very underrated punching power. Anyone who fought him will attest to the fact that he hits very hard, especially with his power punch, his left hook.? Discussing the strengths of Mayweather, Burt Sugar noted that he is a faster boxer who can ?work at a fast pace the entire fight, all 12 rounds if necessary.? Floyd, he said ? possesses blazing hand speed and power in both hands. He uses feints to keep his opponent off balance and always seems to be one step ahead of his opponent?s next move with his radar-like instincts.? Finally, Bert Randolph Sugar said ?Mayweather is a tremendous body puncher with either hand and is extremely accurate inside especially with hooks, rarely hitting an opponent on the arms or elbows but usually landing to the pit of the stomach or his opponent?s sides.? Journalist David Greisman summed it all up perfectly when he wrote ?We are in the midst of a perfect storm, the powerful product of advertisement and anticipation. We can only hope that the money and the time we?ve spent are worth it. We can only hope to be blown away.? Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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