IB (December 22, 2010) ? I?m not talking about War, the group that sang the hit song ?Cinco de Mayo?, I?m not even talking about the pugilists entering the ring for fistic battle. What I am talking about is the conflict brewing between promoters for the Cinco de Mayo weekend.
Cinco de Mayo, may be the biggest weekend for Mexican celebration and along with the festivities there has always been boxing. Cinco de Mayo weekend has traditionally been one of the biggest for professional boxing, and boxing fans alike. Especially fans of Hispanic background they look forward to a big event featuring popular Hispanic fighters.
First to enter the ring is Bob Arum of Top Rank, snatching up the date of Saturday, May 7th and announcing the contest between the most popular boxer today, Manny Pacquiao and former champion ?Sugar? Shane Mosley.
Now we wait to see what (if anything) Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions will do. Traditionally, it?s GBP setting the stage for the Cinco de Mayo battles in the ring however, Bob Arum has stepped into the ring and is shadow boxing in warm-up.
With Arum already announcing his promotion will take place on May 7th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, we wait to see if De La Hoya will counter.
You would think De La Hoya has the bigger draw for Mexican fight fans in Juan Marquez. Will De La Hoya elect to go with a show featuring Marquez? After all Marquez has gained much popularity by beating Michael Katsidis in his last contest.
De La Hoya would have loved to match Marquez against Pacquiao, would have made a spectacular Cinco de Mayo weekend fight. Arum said he was open to the idea but made it perfectly clear, there would be no co-promotion. In other words De La Hoya and Marquez would have to settle for a purse and would be treated as an opponent to Pacquiao rather than as an equal, so that flame was cupped before it can become a fire.
De La Hoya has many fighters he can use in putting on a show and keeping his tradition of Cinco de Mayo weekend fights. In addition to Marquez, he has Amir Khan like Pacquiao, not Hispanic but has the name and respect of Mexican fight fans. De La Hoya also can use upcoming and Mexican favorite Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez, Robert Guerrero or Victor Ortiz to complete an exciting Cinco de Mayo event.
I have a feeling Arum, is waiting to see what kind of competition De La Hoya will bring, then we may see the knockout punch thrown by Arum, in his announcement of the full card.
Another thorn in the side of De La Hoya is location, with Arum nailing down Las Vegas, can De La Hoya be successful in convincing another hotel and casino to sponsor and compete with the MGM? The other option would be to contact Jerry Jones?
Jones is a business man and I?m sure another face in the ring, other than Pacquiao would be an interesting topic to the owner of the Dallas Cowboys.
I think this party is just getting started?
-Moncayo Blackbull
