Oscar De La Hoya not only fought in and promoted the highest grossing PPV event in boxing history in 2007 but also staged the second highest grossing fight of the year for good measure.
As Oscar?s incredibly successful fighting career comes to an end an equally eminent promotional career is certain to flourish.
Oscar?s Golden Boy Promotions deservedly gets the readers vote as Promoter of the Year for many reasons. The two obvious reasons that spring to many readers minds will of course be Oscar?s split decision defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jnr in May and ?Pretty Boy?s? 10th round destruction of Britain?s Ricky Hatton on December 8. Both fights were broadcast live on HBO and generated around 3.5 million PPV sales and an astonishing $200 million in revenue.
And lets not forget that Golden Boy also staged a number of other ?Super Fights? in 2007 including, Marco Antonio Barrera vs Juan Manuel Marquez, Bernard Hopkins vs ?Winky? Wright, Manny Pacquiao vs Barrera and Shane Mosley vs Miguel Cotto. Since Golden Boy staged their first boxing show in December 2002, the company has grown steadily and continues to grow . Oscar has done an excellent job in marketing the company from a figure-head point,which is of paramount importance in the entertainment business, but CEO Richard Schaefer and Vice President/Matchmaker Eric Gomez must equally take the credit for making Golden Boy the world?s No.1 boxing promotional team in 2007.
The aforementioned would make a strong team in any promotional company but add Bernard Hopkins,Shane Mosley and Marco Antonio Barrera into the equation and it is easy to understand why Golden Boy have been so successful.
2007 was indeed a successful year for the California based promoter and it is difficult to envisage how they can top it. But Golden Boy already have a number of big shows planned for 2008 including Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez for the WBC super-featherweight crown on March 15 and are understood to be negotiating De La Hoya vs Mayweather II, so who knows?
