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A Tinsel Town Affair
It has all the intrigues of a Hollywood movie. The young, cocky and talented up and comer looking to make an impression on the world audience and in the other corner, the old, humble, clean cut, golden boy fighting in his last bout, hoping to notch one more win in what is an already storybook career.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., plays the role of the younger betting favorite while Oscar De La Hoya enters his last fight with a spot in the International Boxing Hall of Fame already reserved. In most Hollywood prize fighting flicks, the road to the ring takes as much precedent as the actual fight itself. True to it’s fairy tale prospects, and like any Ron Howard produced picture, this one presents all the twists and pre-fight drama of a high budget flick.
This will be Mayweather’s first fight at the junior middleweight limit of 154 lbs. A year ago this month, Mayweather fought his first fight at 147 lbs, stopping shopworn ex light welter champion Sharmba Mitchell in six. After capturing the IBF title in April from Zab Judah and then walloping WBC champion Carlos Baldomir in a unification fight, Mayweather is moving up yet again.
Floyd started his professional career and captured his first title at the 130 pound weight limit and has moved up in increments ever since. While Mayweather has not allowed his added weight to slow him down, the jump is something to keep an eye on as he makes the difficult compromise between giving up a size advantage and slowing himself down.
Russell Crowe’s portrayal of James J. Braddock in the Academy Award winning film “Cinderella Man” put a strong emphasis on the heart and desire of the former heavyweight champion. This is the same desire that many feel De La Hoya might be lacking.
Despite his fiery beat down of Ricardo Mayorga, De La Hoya still has his doubters. What left is there to accomplish for a man who has accomplished virtually everything he has set his sights on? These days, De La Hoya is becoming as much known for promoting as he is boxing in the squared circle. Is he focused? While it’s a question only De La Hoya and those closest to him can only answer with absolute certainty, the questions on what Oscar has to gain by being hungrier then Mayweather will linger until the opening bell sounds on May 4.
Also on the laundry list of dramas, is the younger Mayweather stepping up to a level of exposure that he has never been a part of before. Outside of Mike Tyson, De La Hoya has been the biggest draw in boxing over the last eight years.
Mayweather, who has never showed signs of faltering in his biggest tests before, now enters a world in which half a million pay per view buys and a sold out arena is almost a certainty. The promotion tour for this fight is sure to be one unlike anything Mayweather has ever seen. How he handles it could very well be a deciding factor in the fight.
Much like the upcoming movie, “Rocky Balboa”, layoffs and inactivity will be much of the talk leading up to the fight. Whether they afflict De La Hoya or not is another issue in itself. Oscar has fought just twice in the past two years and split those bouts, losing by way of the now infamous liver shot to Bernard Hopkins and knocking Mayorga down twice en route to a TKO victory.
It will have been almost a full year since the Mayorga fight when De La Hoya laces up the gloves again. “The Golden Boy” has been very careful in picking and choosing his fights over the past few years. He wants to take full advantage of his opportunity to walk out of a lengthy boxing career with all his senses about him. Now the margin of error will be very slim against the world’s top pound for pound fighter and De La Hoya has to be able to shake off the ring rust quickly, in order to go out on top of the boxing world.
So when that night comes, it’s only appropriate that when the high profile celebrities take their seat, when the photographers flash their bulbs, when the fans cheer, when the lights dim and the stars of the show touch gloves, that we all sit back and eat popcorn while we enjoy a high budget feature flick.
