Throughout last week, it was assumed that Oscar De La Hoya’s next outing would come against Floyd Mayweather in a rematch of a bout that took place last May. At first it was believed that they would go again on May 3rd, and then mid-September was believed to be the date of their second encounter.
But Dave Meltzer of Yahoo Sports was the first to report that in addition to facing Mayweather once again in the early fall, he would be returning to the ring on May 3rd – and on HBO, not pay-per-view, no less – and then once again in December to perhaps close out his career.
See what happens when you assume?
According to Meltzer’s story, the tune-up in May will take place either at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City (where Golden Boy officials will conduct meetings on Tuesday) or the Home Depot Center’s soccer stadium, which can seat up to 45,000 for boxing. The plan is to keep Oscar active going into this rematch with Mayweather and to drum up interest in the return bout. This development is surprising given the fact that 1999 was the last time De La Hoya boxed three times in a calendar year. 2004, during his ill-fated (yet highly profitable) run as a middleweight, was the last time that he fought more than once. More and more he had become boxing’s version of ‘Groundhog Day’ – he’d peep his head out once a year, collect millions and wouldn’t be seen for another 365 days.
The bout in May could lend some much needed credibility to the rematch, which has the feel of two corporate giants merging once again to engage in a sparring session and then cashing out their dividends. Here, at least Oscar is going through the motions of acting like a full-time prizefighter and won?t be coming off a year long layoff in facing Mayweather like he did the last time.
More than one email from exasperated fans has come into this mail box asking why, oh why, was this rematch being consummated. Folks, you just had to know once the initial hook-up garnered over 2.4 million pay-per-view buys and set financial records across the board that a return bout was basically etched in stone. I wouldn’t be surprised if a best-of-seven series were planned for the duo.
“There was a certain inevitability that when a fight or a movie or any other showbiz performance generates that kind of money, that people are going to try to figure a way to get to do it again and they don’t have to generate the same amount of bucks to make it work,” said HBO’s sage, Larry Merchant.
Just think about it, the fight does half of the pay-per-view buys it did last May – and it would still rank among the most successful events of all-time. If it does one-third, it’s still in the top ten.
“I don’t think anything surpassed the first ‘Star Wars’, but there were other ‘Star Wars’,” Merchant points out. But there’s a key difference here Lar’: ‘Star Wars’ was not just a box-office bonanza, but a critical smash as well. ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and then ‘Return of the Jedi’ were yearned for by the masses and were well received.
‘The World Awaits, Again’? Eh, not so much. It’s more like a Jerry Bruckheimer film, which feature big names on the marquee, huge budgets and generates loads of hype, but generally fails to live up to expectations from an artistic standpoint. De La Hoya-Mayweather is that mediocre flick that did boffo numbers. Therefore, a sequel just has to be produced.
“It’s not necessarily my first choice,” admits Merchant, who called the first meeting between the two. “If I was king of the world, my first choice would be Cotto-Mayweather and my second choice would be Cotto-De La Hoya.”
But what would actually change the second time around? Mayweather is in the heart of his prime and has stayed much more active than De La Hoya in recent years. As for Oscar? Well, he’s another year older.
“Given that Oscar, coming off a long layoff, fought a reasonably close fight that turned out to be a split-decision and you generate the biggest pot of gold in boxing history, it would be unusual if they didn’t try it again,” Merchant says.
One storyline that will be pushed ad nauseum is the return of one Floyd Joy Mayweather Sr., who will be resuming his training duties with De La Hoya. You can already see how the episodes of ’24/7′ will play out. But that formula has been played to the hilt by this point. Yeah, we get it, they don’t spend Father’s Day together.
But there are two ways to salvage this promotion to the hardcore fans. First, load the undercard. Give the fans a reason to shell out their hard-earned money, which means putting on a few fights that are at least worthy of ‘Boxing After Dark’ before the main event. The undercard that took place for their first meeting was as dreary as it gets. Would it really hurt the organizers – who will make millions upon millions ? to shell out a few bucks to make a few decent fights? Secondly, put the fight in an venue where the average citizen can actually be a part of the event, which means anywhere but a casino such as the MGM Grand. Put it in a large outdoor venue where tickets can be priced affordably (and not just scalped) and fans can actually enjoy the big fight experience. For all the talk Oscar has done in the past about putting boxing back on the map and marketing the sport to the masses, far too often he’s taken the safe and easy route by just picking up lucrative site fees from Las Vegas.
Will it be business as usual here?
THE CONTENDER SHOULD BE THE CONTENDER
The three names being mentioned prominently to face Oscar in May are: Dmitriy Salita, Paulie Malignaggi and Steve Forbes.
Salita should be crossed off the list immediately. He’s been given more protection by his handlers than our Commander in Chief by the Secret Service. One boxing insider says that if De La Hoya-Salita was made he would, “Call the Jewish Anti-Defamation League’ in response.
As for Malignaggi, he would bring a great personality, and he has gotten some major network exposure in the past year. But the problem is his style, which can be charitably labeled as ‘unentertaining’ to say the least.
The choice here would be Forbes. Yeah, I know he’d be a blown up welterweight, but so would Malignaggi for that matter, and he’s a far superior fighter than Salita at any weight. And while he may not be much of a puncher (neither are the other two), he’s a guy that will hang in the pocket, not run around like a rabbit and will make a fight out of it.
And no, I’m not just saying that so that maniac Jeff Wald doesn’t harangue me to death.
COTTO
So what happens with WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto now?
“He’s going to fight on the 12th of April,” said his promoter, Bob Arum, who says the bout will be telecast on HBO, with Alfonso Gomez as the opponent, although that has not been finalized as of yet.
As for the ‘Tijuana Tornado’, “Antonio Margarito, we’re talking with Showtime and we hope to have him fight on Cinco De Mayo weekend on Showtime against Zab Judah.”
But we’ll see how that changes with the development that De La Hoya would be fighting on that date on HBO. What was that line about a man having to know his limits? I think that may apply here to Showtime and Top Rank.
BOB QUIXOTE
Arum was in New York last week conducting meetings with HBO over a range of issues, one of them is Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. who he continues to push as his next big star.
So did he make any headway with the people on 6th Avenue?
“No, of course not,” said Arum on Friday afternoon. “Look, I understand where they’re coming from, it’s very, very difficult to see what we’re talking about living in that part of the country. I mean, let’s be honest about it, they’re in that part of the country, who the hell is Chavez? They know his father and so forth but they don’t understand, they don’t know – there’s nothing prejudiced or anything, they just don’t understand the Hispanics and how they are here and all that sorta stuff and how passionate they are.
“Now Mark Taffet does, because obviously they’re very important from the pay-per-view standpoint. But Ross (Greenburg) or Kery (Davis) don’t because they’re not particularly HBO customers. So I understand where they’re coming from. So I’m greeted underwhelmingly. ‘He’s a good fighter, he’s a nice kid, he’s a great personality. But we don’t want to put him on.'”
But Arum isn’t angry; in fact he’s buoyed by the fact that Chavez’s last pay-per-view show in December far surpassed their expectations, doing around 70,000 buys.
“The fact is, the people who support the kid are supporting him and we’re doing unbelievably on the pay-per-views. So let it be, let it be.”
Arum says he will just continue to build Junior into an attraction.
“Listen, I remember a few years ago how I had everybody at HBO laughing hilariously at me when I was trying to sell them Kelly Pavlik,” Arum recalled.
JONES-TRINIDAD
It may seem funny but I was more impressed by Felix Trinidad in defeat than Roy Jones in victory. Think about it, he gave up every conceivable advantage and yet, was still pretty competitive for much of the fight. He simply was too small to defeat Jones, but he made a valiant run at it. If he decides to lace ’em up again, I’d love to see him at 160 pounds.
As for Jones, he knew what he was doing when he chose Trinidad as a foe: an inactive fighter, boxing well above his best weight class and coming off a long absence from the ring. And yet he still failed to really dominate him.
Now you know why Trinidad is beloved, while Jones is just merely respected.
FINAL FLURRIES
Arum says that the rematch between Ricardo Torres and Kendall Holt for the WBO 140-pound title will open up the April 12th telecast on HBO….I want to see more of cruiserweight Eric ‘Danger’ Fields….Is it just me or is USC guard OJ Mayo much more Felipe Lopez than LeBron James? He’s definitely better than Lopez, but he’s a bit of a tweener, not really a point, not really a two-guard….A fight between Librado Andrade and Sakio Bika is being discussed seriously for March 15th on the Pacquiao-Marquez II undercard, but has not been finalized as of this weekend….I think Clark Johnson’s character on ‘the Wire’, ‘Gus Haynes’ the City Desk Editor of the Baltimore Sun, is the best new character on television. He’s the Ari Gold of 2008….I hear that Roger Mayweather could train Forbes for his bout against De La Hoya, which brings up an interesting question: if that were the case, would he really want his fighter to cost his nephew the lucrative rematch?. In fact, that would be costly to everyone named Mayweather.
