Last weekend, HBO began a series entitled “De La Hoya – Mayweather – 24/7”. Its stated purpose is to give boxing fans “glimpses” into the personal and professional lives of the two men as they prepare for their fight on May 5th. It’s actual purpose, of course, is to try and stir up some hype for a match-up that vested interests are attempting to depict as the fight of the decade, or the fight of the century, or whatever. Needless to say, “overkill” is a word rarely used in marketing circles.
Despite the reputations and abilities of both fighters, expectations for the success and popularity of this fight seem to be running a notch too high. Or, perhaps, the excessive hyping can be taken to be a sign of the desperation of boxing’s backers in the face of an increasingly disinterested sport-watching public. There is just something about all this that does not seem quite right.
Let’s take the match-up, first of all. Certainly with Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr., we are presented with two men who have risen to the top of their profession. But does that mean a fight between them, at this point in time, is in any way meaningful?
Most of the people that would answer “yes” to this question are doing so either because they are huge De La Hoya fans or because they are huge Mayweather haters. Those of the latter group hope that somebody, anybody, can tear a stripe off of a man they perceive to be one of the most arrogant, obnoxious, and perhaps overrated fighters in the sport. Perhaps believing, as well, that Mayweather has coasted in recent years by taking on opponents he easily outclassed, they see in De La Hoya just the sort of world class fighter that he has been avoiding all these years.
A case can be made in support of this position. Mayweather grabbed the attention of the boxing world early in his career with dominating wins over more experienced opponents such as Genaro Hernandez. His dismantling of Diego Corrales later cemented his reputation. A couple of close wins over Jose Luis Castillo were impressive enough. Since then, though Mayweather has jumped up the weight class ladder, but has not stopped to take on any of the more truly meaningful opponents. His most notable recent win, that over Arturo Gatti, came with a style taylor-made for Mayweather to take advantage of.
Having said that, Mayweather is undoubtedly one of the best fighters in the sport today. De La Hoya was at one time at the same level. But now he’s 34 years old. That’s not to say that he has no chance against Mayweather. But it does mean that in order to win, he is going to have to find a way to neutralize Mayweather’s speed. Facing a larger, more powerful opponent in Carlos Baldomir, Mayweather spent much of his time moving backwards and winning rounds on points. If he is concerned about getting caught by one of De La Hoya’s famous left hooks, he will probably use a similar game plan.
De La Hoya is no Baldomir, but did look just as slow as Baldomir when he went up against Bernard Hopkins, and that was nearly three years ago. Sure, he looked a lot better against Ricardo Mayorga, but he was facing a limited opponent. The bottom line is that the match-up being made here does not give many indications of producing an exciting bout. Mayweather will probably do a lot of dancing while De La Hoya tries to catch him making a mistake. Tactically, it could be interesting. But a tactical fight is not worthy of the hype being generated by this event.
Since this is an event that is meant to reach beyond the die-hard fans and connect with a potential new audience, such issues must be taken into consideration. Think of all the MMA fans, used to fast bursts of action, tuning in to see one fighter jumping and jerking his way around the ring while another desperately tries to follow. That would get old extremely quickly. If De La Hoya can catch Mayweather and stay on him, things might get more interesting. But that will likely only encourage Mayweather to move around even more. The point is that these two likely won’t collide in the centre of the ring the way Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo did, or the way Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera (or Manny Pacquiao) did. This will not turn into the sort of brawl that non-boxing fans typically want out of the sport.
So what if the fight is a bore, one might say. Everybody knows that all mega-fights are built on hype, and that hype typically does not match the product that is later produced. If the fight is bad, we can all just forget about it and move on. The problem is that things are not quite so simple.
Boxing is a business. And like all businesses, reputation counts for probably much more than it should. In other businesses, a high-profile disaster can mean the end of a company, or even an industry. When the Coca-Cola company changed the formula for its signature beverage in the mid-80s, the result was so unpopular that the company temporarily slipped from its previously dominant position as the top soft drink company in the world. “New Coke” didn’t last long, but the damage it caused did, and it took years of heavy marketing of its newly-restored “Classic” brand to get the company firmly back on its feet.
Boxing is far from being the number one sport in any part of the world, so much so that it is now generally ignored by the sporting public. It is already suffering a public relations disaster by having such a weak heavyweight division. Boxing fans have coped with this problem generally by focusing on fighters in the lighter classes, but more casual sports fans have for the most part not followed them.
De La Hoya is one of the few world-famous boxers left in the world. But his reputation was made at a time when the sport was still somewhat relevant. Moreover, his status as a Mexican-American has resulted in huge fan bases in both of those countries. He has proven to be extremely adept at building crossover appeal for himself, approaching the status of a Hollywod celebrity. Apart from Roy Jones Jr., no other fighter from the past twenty years has been able to gain such fame.
To use a tired term, a “perfect storm” of problems may be brewing here. De La Hoya will probably be able to draw the casual crowd to the Mayweather fight, at least in part. From many of these people, this will be the first boxing match they’ve seen in years. And they may end up seeing the one fighter they recognize getting out-pointed by a guy they know little about in a long, drawn-out chess match.
Mayweather, for all of his faults, is a tremendous fighter, and is trying his best to curb his previously loutish behaviour. But it is probably too late for him to begin building the sort of fan base previous boxing superstars have enjoyed. Given the sort of style he will likely have to use against De La Hoya, it is doubtful that he will put the sport of boxing back on the map. And that is exactly the problem with this event.
In a cluttered media world, boxing does not have a lot of chances to get things right. And the way HBO and the other backers of this event are talking, this is a “must-see” boxing event. If people tune in to something that is less than satisfying, what incentive do they have to stick around for fights that are supposedly not so important?
De La Hoya – Mayweather is just one fight, of course. It’s success or lack thereof won’t make or break the sport of boxing. But it remains to be seen whether or not it will provide a much needed boost to the sport’s popularity, or merely confirm that much work remains to be done to recapture its former glory.
