Oscar De La Hoya 38-4 (30 KO's) VS Floyd Mayweather Jr. 37-0 (24 KO's)
Now HERE's a fight that's going to revive boxing - or at least in ticket sales. Tickets for this boxing match already sold out the day they were available. I get more and more excited everytime I talk about this fight. This fight will be one of the biggest if not THE BIGGEST mega-showdown in years in terms of PPV sales, ticket sales, and people viewing the fight. So in case you don't know....here's why we're all watching the fight.

THE DRAMA:

Oscar De La Hoya formed and carried the nickname of "The Golden Boy". Everybody thinks they know why...but can we really explain the star power behind this guy's face? Even before he became a multi-dimensional superstar....he was popular and known worldwide. Even people who don't follow boxing know who Oscar De La Hoya is! Is this simply a gimmick of excellent promoting and marketing? Maybe so but lets analyze further. Oscar De La Hoya has all the makings of a hollywood movie except only better because the story was real. Oscar De La Hoya was a poor boy growing up in East LA in a neighborhood full of gangs and drivebys and fed on foodstamps. Lucky for him, he never ran with the wrong crowd. He stayed dedicated to boxing and massed up an impressive amateur career of 223 wins - and only 5 losses with 163 knockouts. (An amateur record matched only by a handful of boxers in ALL of boxing HISTORY). A big ke point in his life was at the death bed of his dying diagnosed with breast cancer. He promised her the gold medal. And he delivered. Already having a fan base when he won the gold medal at the olympics in '92, he was ready to go pro. Shortly after winning the gold, he began his career as a lightweight. Earlier in Oscar's career, he fought even as low as 130 pounds weighing only 128.5 lbs while standing at 5'11" tall! Don't let the dimensions fool you. He carries a LETHAL left hook and a strong right hand to go with it. Of course we won't forget about his incredible heart, invincible chin (never knocked out except to a body shot against an opponent naturally 20 pounds bigger!), quick hands, great footwork, great endurance, and boxing brilliance. As the years passed, De La Hoya moved up in weight again and again knocking out opponents from every weight class between 130 pounds and 154 pounds. He did it spectacularly, dramatically and he was good looking - movie star looks and a electric smile. He generated sellout shows everywhere he fought. People who never watched boxing came to see him fight. He spoke English and Spanish and he was good looking to the ladies. Everyone wanted a piece of "The Golden Boy" and he was man enough to give them a chance. DLH's boxing career is a list of who's who of the boxing world from lightweight to welterweight of the past 10 years. He won titles in 5 different weight classes including the unofficial yet highly regarded Ring Magazine Championship numerous times. DLH has put away and retired tons of former and curent greats. His 4 losses alone should be highly re-considered when you actually watch the fight.

Loss #1, the robbery against Trinidad. I don't care if he ran the fight or not. It takes 2 to make it a running match. DLH moved backwards and Trinidad was too scared to chase after him and was afraid he would eat counters. DON'T TELL ME A FIGHTER MOVING FORWARDS CAN'T CATCH UP TO A FIGHTER MOVING BACKWARDS! Trinidad might have looked like the winner of the later rounds being that he moved forward but he wasn't even landing shots! But that isn't even the point, the point is...DLH easily won the first 7 rounds without a doubt and also won the 8th by a slight but noticeable margin. I don't care what happens, but technically, if you win 8 rounds....you can do whatever you want in the final 4 rounds except get knocked down and you should still win! Another key note: De La Hoya's corner was the one responsible for telling Oscar to run so don't blame the fighter - blame the corner. DLH was robbed.

Loss #2: Sugar Shane Mosley - DLH was off his game, whatever...he lost fair and square and came back into the rematch determined. Shane Mosley in his own right is a great boxer and it was his night to shine. De La Hoya proved his worth by taking the rematch and WON in my opinion.

Loss #3: Mosley again - This one was total bullshit and a total robbery. Goddamn blind judges didn't see DLH easily outjabbing and keeping the supposedly faster Mosley at bay throughout the whole fight. George Foreman was a great boxer and he said DLH won....good enough for me! There was maybe only two rounds that Mosley could have won and that was simply because he landed a big right hand that buzzed but didn't hurt DLH. DLH won the fight. I saw it, the spectators saw it, the fans saw it, AND GEORGE FOREMAN AND EMANUEL STEWARD SAW IT! DLH was robbed again!

Loss #4: Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins - Watch the fight... I think DLH was fighting someone wayyyy too big for him. Hopkins held at least a 20 pound advantage and wasn't affected by any of DLH's punches. To DLH's credit, Hopkins holds the record for most consecutive middleweight title defenses: 20, stayed undefeated for over 10 years, and beat huge powerful opponents as big as 175 pounds! So I think we have to give DLH a break on this one being this his prime fighting weight is more closer to 147 pounds! We have to give him credit for trying though. This fight was his first and only knockout and it was a bodyshot...so we know his chin is made of solid rock!

More drama: Oscar De La Hoya was trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr. for about the past 6 years! This was the very man that invented "The Mayweather Style" that we see today. It's also known as the "Kronk Defense" by the way that you hold the front arm low and use your front shoulder to block punches and shoulder rolls to get out of the way. The young Floyd Mayweather Jr's gifted talent and cat-like speed was able to make such great use of this style and going entire fights without allowing opponents to land a single telling blow. In the beginning when Mayweather Jr. was first coming up in the game and making a name for himself, DLH had expressed that he would never fight his trainer's son and that it would never happen. Besides, they were always in different weight classes as Mayweather Jr.'s true fighting weight was probably closer to 136lbs or 140lbs.

Years have gone by and Mayweather Jr. has defeated opponent after opponent but gaining no credit, no respect, or even the paydays that he deserves. There might have been some truth to this...but I think it has to do with his cockiness. Although his skills can backup his talk, he really shouldn't run his cocky mouth so much. He is currently 37-0 with (24 KO's). He claims he's the greatest of all time and wants to prove it but he won't take dangerous fights. The only fights I respected Mayweather Jr. for was his fights against Corrales and Castillo...both powerful and deadly contenders. Mayweather Jr. handed Corrales his first 5 knockdowns all in 1 fight! Against Castillo, I think Mayweather Jr. lost the first fight (but won the decision) but he did win the rematch fairly in my eyes. Today Mayweather continues to move up in weight climbing far beyond his true fighting weight but he still wins and wins effortlessly because of his speed. His combination of raw talent and boxing brilliance has allowed him to reduce his opponents to nothing but playtoys. He is often dancing, ducking, slipping, and waving his body around the ring dodging punches like they were choreographed. He returns several punches here and there but lately his fights have been quite boring in my opinion. Floyd Mayweather Jr. continues to boast himself as the greatest ever and ever better than Sugar Ray Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson. I say - HELL NO! The original Sugar Ray Robinson won over 180 fights and won titles in 6 different weight classes and never got knocked out. Mayweather isn't better that Sugar Ray Leonard either who defeated other legends in his time: Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran, Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns, and "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler. The only claim that Mayweather can make is that he's got just as much raw talent as anybody and beaten all his opponents easily but he CANNOT say that he's beaten a great fighter. All tops wins were over previously-beaten fighters or fighters that had flaws that were going to be exposed sooner or later. I think he's fighting too high in weight and now he wants to further stake his claim as "the greatest" by challenging a true champion: Oscar De La Hoya.

There has been many angles to predicting this fight that I've heard and agreed with, myself. I believe it's a combination of everything that has been going on. I'll do my best to explain all of these and which I think really make a factor.

KEY FACTORS IN THIS FIGHT:

1) Oscar De La Hoya being old and past his prime - I think this is full of shit. DLH has had a very healthy life and boxing career. He has never taken serious damage and still has the reflexes and physical strength and endurance to keep up at a world class level. He just demolished Ricardo Mayorga who was supposed to give him a hard time but ended up getting knocked out in a one-sided fight against the supremely superior De La Hoya. DLH may be old enough to allow some to beat him but he won't be a push-over. Let's not forget that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is only 4 years younger than De La Hoya! We make DLH out to be some kind of old man but Floyd himself is beginning to fight like an old fighter. His last couple fights haven't been exciting and he's been hurt often which leads us to ....

2) Floyd Mayweather's injury-prone right hand - His right hand keeps getting injured and his fights become snoozers because he has to fight one-armed which means a track & field race for the fans. I don't think he has the power to tickle DLH with his left hand and he's in trouble for sure if his right hand isn't going to be reliable against DLH. I think this is going to be a big factor especially now that we've seen Floyd Mayweather Jr. cry on public TV because he can't keep boxing any longer. Whether or not the crying is real we do know one thing - Floyd does not have the power to knock out people at the heavier weights. He hit Carlos Baldimir dead on numerous times and was unable to make the beast quit. There is one positive way to look at Floyd's right hand. We could perhaps say that he breaks it often because he hits too hard....you could certainly make that the case after seeing him knockdown Diego Chico Corrales.

3) Oscar De La Hoya's experience - Yes, this counts. C'mon people...he has beaten the best of the best of the best! Don't believe me?! Compare Oscar's previous opponents HERE and Floyd's opponents HERE. Sorry Floyd, you beat good, and even really good fighters but not greats. Don't just look at the wins and losses, check out the opponents of their opponents. You will also see that DLH's opponents had much harder competition than Floyd's opponents. You might also notice that the people Floyd Mayweather Jr. knocked out are people that DLH also knocked out, but in fewer rounds and DLH did it earlier when they were at or closer to their prime. DeLa Hoya is proven! De La Hoya also fought the far better opposition. Trinidad, Vargas, Chavez, Quartey, Mosley, Hopkins, Whitaker are far bigger, stronger, smarter, and better boxers than any of Floyd Mayweather's opponents. De La Hoya fought and beat the bigger and better competition.

4) Floyd Mayweather Jr's incredible speed - Yes, speed kills. Yes, I think Floyd is faster than De La Hoya and can keep it up all night long. Will he be able to toy around with DLH? I don't think so. Floyd's speed can be negated with good speed like how Zab Judah easily won the early rounds against Floyd, good boxing on the inside as shown by Jose Luis Castillo in their first fight when I thought he beat Floyd but lost the judges decision in a very controversial manner. Let's not forget that DLH also faced Sugar Shane Mosley who was also a blindlingly fast fighter himself. Mosley was the type who could throw triple-left hooks and double-right hand leads whenever he wanted. He was that fast and DLH handled him easily the 2nd time around in my opinion.

5) Oscar De La Hoya's size - This is a big factor. I think Floyd is a shaky 147 pounder. The reason he's able to fight this high in weight is because he's so fast that nobody can hit him. Then again, he doesn't exactly pick the fights with people who COULD hit and also hurt him. Not in my eyes, he didn't. De La Hoya has grown into a solid 154-pound fighter and he does carry the punching power. Floyd was never a knockout puncher to begin with and he definitely won't be one against DLH when he fights at 154 pounds. Some proof that there is a disadvantage to Mayweather's size can be found in his earlier fights when he was hurt against smaller fighters and also in the Baldimir who Mayweather hit numerous times cleanly but couldn't knockout. One common comparison people make is that... "Both Delahoya and Mayweather started their career at the Jr Lightweight limit of 130lbs". I don't think this is a major factor because DLH is obviously the bigger many in many ways. You can see on www.boxrec.com that during the early part of his career, he fought at a low low weight of 128lbs on several occasions. During one, it took him forever to knockout a relatively weak puncher, and on another occasion he suffered the first knockdown of his career. Immediately after, he went up to fight at 134lbs only 2 months later. From 1997 and after, he never fought below 147 pounds and spent the last 10 years fighting everybody at 147 and 154 and then making a brief stint at 160lbs. Mayweather on the other hand has fought only 3 opponents at 140. Gatti, Corley, and Bruseles. All three are weak contenders having never made a stand at any weight class. Gatti, as much as I like him, is simply a man composed of highlight reels and near-miss wins over people Floyd has already disposed of. Corley is simply a gatekeeper. Bruseles...? At 147, Floyd has also fought only 3 fighers - Mitchell, Judah, Baldimir. Mitchell was obviously past his prime when Mayweather knocked him out, Judah a dancing fool at 140lbs, and a bigger one at 147lbs when he lost to the Cinderella man of 2006, "Carlos Baldimir". Judah's only respectable win of late was Cory Spinks, the best soft puncher today. Judah himself has not had any creditable opponents at 147 therefore disproving his status as a 147 fighter. Judah's fight with Mayweather could have been made at 140 pounds but I figure a WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT sounds a whole lot more dangerous than LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT. Other than Judah, Mayweather has had no real fight at 147.

6) Floyd's defense - Some people are too caught up in Floyd's highlight videos and they think his defense can't be beat. Ithink DLH has the power, size, and skills to push Floyd around and force to trade. Let's not get caught up and forget boxing BASICS. You cannot fight a competitive fight with your hands down. If you watch Floyd's fights against fast fighters or tough fights, you will see that he actually puts both hands up in front of his face instead of the hands-down dance he does against weak competition. He didn't clown around against Zab Judah. He fought that fight with both hands up throwing punches one at a time.

7) Oscar De La Hoya's jab - This guy is a natural left-hander. He's got a great jab that he often uses as the main weapon and a devastating left hook to go with it. He's got a great front arm which is something for Floyd to worry about. Can Floyd really dodge DLH's jabs all night long? I don't think so. De La Hoya beat the super speedy and kept the brilliant combination fighter, Sugar Shane Mosley at a distance by jabbing him all night long. Mosley was rejected time and time again and could not find a way past De La Hoya's jab. Everyone knows Mosley lost, you could see it in his face and his dad's face and how they were so surprised that they won. A strong excellent jab will slow down any speed fighter and DLH has a great one.

8) The biggest and most controversial factor on this fight thus far........ Floyd Mayweather Sr's participation in the fight - When I first heard about the dispute over money. I thought it was full of shit. On De la Hoya's side, I just couldn't understand why he let $1 million come between him and the man who could win him one of the biggest fights of his career and seal his hall-of-fame worthiness. On Mayweather's side, I'm really wondering if this man can really make a difference. Who is this man really loyal to? Can Mayweather Senior really teach Oscar anything new? Is this even about money? I didn't think so. I could've sworn blood got in the way and sure enough, the Mayweathers come together. Maybe this is all a ploy to build hype and sell tickets.

9) Oscar De La Hoya fights to win! Unlike many other greats of today. For example, Morales when he took on Pacquiao for the 3rd time. I think he knew he was going to lose. He walked into the ring like a frightened creature. He knew he was going to lose. He knew he didn't have what it took any more. He fought for the money, not for pride, and when times got rough in the 3rd round, he found it easier to stay down on the canvas and just say "no." Rest assured, we won't be seeing that in Oscar Delahoya this time around. We all know he sure as hell isn't fighting for money. He took his time, made careful judgements and decided once and for all that he could beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. and that he was going to do it. He was the one man who could make or break the fight and he decided to go with it.

10) What will it take for Floyd to beat Oscar De La Hoya? Oscar has to be old. He's certainly been inactive for several years and a win over Mayorga (who has since disappeared from boxing) is not clear proof of his ability to fight at the elite level. He would also have to beat Oscar to the punch everytime and use his superior speed and defense to befuddle and poke Oscar with non-stop punches to get his attention. Mayweather has to find a way past Oscar's jab and to use his faster hands to stop Oscar from finding his rhythm. Mayweather can also use his younger body to apply non-stop pressure to tire out the older Oscar De La Hoya. An ideal fight plan for Floyd Mayweather would be to RUN and move constantly for the 1st 4 rounds to annoy Oscar by not letting him get anything off. By the mid rounds, it should be a jabbing contest and even right hands if Floyd discovers he has the power to make a fight out of it. If not, Floyd can win if he makes it a jab-contest and looks to score with fast shots from odd angles. De La Hoya has not fought an awkward opponent for years and Floyd has all the speed, skills, and body movement to make it an awkward fight. Floyd so far seems to be winning the psychological warfare. Floyd Mayweather Jr. will beat Oscar De La Hoya if he can outlast, outpunch, get within reach, annoy, and confuse the older man...all without hurting his right hand.

So we have the boxer-puncher goldenboy against the speedy Mayweather. Who am I going to pick? - More on that later.

See for yourself. I included some videos of each fighter:

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