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A Fight for the Ages

Justin Jones

Issue date: 5/2/07 Section: Sports
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Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Media Credit: www.google.com
Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

COLUMN

This weekend on May 5th also known as Cinco De Mayo, there's set to be one of the biggest fights in professional boxing history.

Two superstars of the boxing world, Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will finally collide in front of thousands in attendance at Las Vegas, and millions of pay-per-viewers around the world.

The boxing world has been struggling as of late to capture the public's eye because of the lack of super fights and a decrease in heavyweight high profile names, but this fight has the potential to bring everyone's interest back into boxing.

There's so many more elements out there to this fight other than boxing that all people can enjoy the fight. Adoring females can't wait to see De La Hoya tear up the ring. If you're into hip hop, than you'll love the pre-fight appearance of Mayweather Jr.'s close friend 50 Cent. If you like action, then this is definitely the fight for you because a lot of shots will be dished out by both guys. If you like drama and a whole lot of trash talking, then most likely you've watched or heard about the 24/7 documentary series that HBO has put together to promote the fight. With exclusive clips, sound bytes, trash talking, and interviews the series alone will make you want to watch the fight.

I have to admit that I haven't been as interested in the boxing world as I used to be, but this fight has me going. I have no problem paying the 50 dollars or so to watch this fight and I can't say that for most of the fights.

It's very rare to get two of the best fighters of the same generation in or near their prime to actually fight one another, that's why this fight is so intriguing.

Most odd makers or even boxing insiders don't give De La Hoya much chance to beat Mayweather Jr., but I'm going to go against the grain yet again. Mayweather Jr. doesn't have the power to knockout De La Hoya so you can already take that out of the equation. While Mayweather Jr. does have a pretty good speed advantage and better defense than De La Hoya, De La Hoya has more experience, a better jab, more power, a better chin, and he's bigger than Mayweather Jr.

I don't know if Mayweather Jr. can really take a punch because none of the fighters he has faced in the past possessed the kind of power that De La Hoya has.

Mayweather Jr. is trying to portray himself as the tougher guy by bad mouthing De La Hoya and trying to get underneath his skin, but it could prove to be the wrong move. Everyone that has talked bad about De La Hoya before boxing him (i.e. Ricardo Mayorga and Fernando Vargas) was knocked out. De La Hoya is focused, he looks to be in solid shape, and the kind of training he's going through for this fight is amazing.

De La Hoya has no pressure on him which is another reason why I think he's going to win. Mayweather Jr. is undefeated, he's the favorite, he's younger than De La Hoya, and everyone is expecting him to win. Sounds like a lot of pressure for a guy that hasn't had the track record or faced the caliber of fighters that De La Hoya has.

This will probably be the biggest money generating fight in boxing history so it's definitely a must-see type of deal. The fight will probably not live up to the hype because there's been so much publicity and attention. It would be near impossible to live up to the height of expectation. What I do expect from the fight, is for both fighters to feel each other out in the first two or three rounds and then I expect them to go at it.

If Mayweather Jr. just boxes De La Hoya by sticking and moving he might win the fight. But, if he trades punches with De La Hoya than De La Hoya will catch him. De La Hoya has to entice Mayweather Jr. to trade either by hitting him with powerful punches early. Mayweather Jr. will bite on that because he has a lot of pride and he doesn't like to be shown up and that will be his downfall.

So my pick is De La Hoya to knock out Mayweather Jr. in the ninth round.


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