Boxing Press Conference: Oscar De La Hoya – Floyd Mayweather In Los Angeles

The final stop on the promotional tour for the upcoming May 5 bout between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. was held Wednesday outside of the world famous Grumman’s Chinese’s Theater in Los Angeles.

Dubbed “The World Awaits”, in front of the largest crowd on the 11 stop tour, and standing atop the footprints of the worlds greatest movie stars, the sports two biggest stars were about to leave their print on boxing.

The extremely large and mainly pro De la Hoya crowd was restless from the onset as both fighters arrived late because of the ever present Los Angeles traffic. Legendary ring announcer Michael Buffer preoccupied the crowed with a host of videos and when the two finally arrived he joked, “Only in L.A. can a superstar get caught in traffic with a police escort.”

The press conference began with the sponsors trying to plug their products to a chorus of boo’s from the raucous and impatient mob. HBO and MGM figure heads marched their way across the stage spouting the numbers that are already making this fight one for the record books. 22,000 closed circuit seats opened around Las Vegas, over $2 million sold in merchandise, and an estimated 1 million PPV buys.

And when the jeering reached a peak, HBO Sports President Ross Greenberg knew that it was about time to stop the parade and get talking about what everyone was there for.

The first major announcement was that the much coveted under card, directly preceding the Main Event would be undefeated Golden Boy fighter Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, 22-0 (17), against the Argentinean Sergio Manuel Medina, 28-0 (16).

Both trainers, Leonard Ellerbee and Freddie Roach, made their statements quickly and both promised that on May 5 their man was going to be the junior middleweight world champion and pound for pound king of the sport.

Then the circus began as Floyd Mayweather had his introduction and once again the chorus of boo’s filled Hollywood Blvd.

Floyd started everything off with a show of theatrics as he called off stage, “Bring him on up, bring Oscar up here.” Upon which a large golden cage with the words “Golden Girl” written across it, was brought onto the podium. He hoisted out the cage a large chicken and the playful fans began to chant Oscar’s name.

Floyd continued to antagonize the crowd as only he can ,”LA, I love you what’s up?” He repeated numerous times as the pro Del la Hoya fans became increasingly rowdy. “LA made me famous, and I love it,” and he did. The louder they got the bigger the smile on his face became. “I’m the villain in boxing, but damn I’m good.”

The second surprise of the day could be construed by many in the boxing world as not really that great a shock at all. Floyd thanked his family, his team, the sponsors, and Golden Boy Promotions. “Thanks to Sugar Shane Mosley, he put in a lot of hard work, and after I get finished with Oscar, I may kick your ass.”

After weeks of touting that this would be his last fight, Floyd continued on about a possible match up with Mosley. “We just don’t know…If the price is right we might make this happen.”

Mayweather went on for about ten more minutes accusing Oscar of quitting against Bernard Hopkins in what he called “a phantom punch.” He ended things with a jab at all of the Golden Boy fighters, “We got Winky Wright, we got Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley and Oscar, and we call them the Golden Girls, that’s what we call them.”

And I couldn’t help but think that maybe this was his wish list of fights. Although it would seem a stretch for Floyd to move up to 160, it seemed like a stretch three years ago when people were talking about him moving up to 154.

When Oscar was introduced, it seemed that Floyd could just not get enough of the spotlight, planting himself on top of the table in front of De la Hoya as he spoke. He seemed a little tired and expressed as much, “It has been a long couple of weeks…he talks and talks and talks.”

He spoke with less theatrics than Floyd and just pushed the fight, “May 5.” Floyd continued to sit on the table and drink his starbucks like this was his time and Oscar was stealing the thunder.

Both fighters then had one on one’s with various members of the media and when I asked Floyd about his statement that he had made earlier regarding a possible future date with Mosley, he repeated what he had said at the podium. “I am like Bob Barker. If the price is right, it can happen.”

When the announcement of the 11 stop tour originally happened, I was skeptical. I felt that the people who were going to watch the fight, were going to watch the fight. I didn’t think that they could garner that much press to push the 1 million PPV mark regardless if they had the mini-tour or not.

But as I walked down Hollywood Blvd and spoke to the masses of people that had shown up, just to see what was going on, I realized that this is exactly the type of thing that boxing needs. It needs interaction with the fans, and “The World Awaits” did just that.