Oscar DeLaHoya: no one, not even Mayweather can fill the void!

In Oscar De La Hoya's last outing not only did he smash Ricardo Mayorga, he also smashed some outrageous Pay-Per-view numbers. According to Mark Taffet, the senior vice president for HBO Sports, the pay-per-view buys for De La Hoya vs. Mayorga have been adjusted. The actual figure as Taffet reports now stands at 925,000 buys. That is up from the previously reported figure of 875,000. The revised revenue figure for the fight is now a total of $46.3 million.

And all Oscar had to do was show up for Mayorga. De La Hoya's drawing power is simply amazing and something the Boxing world will sorely miss if and when De la Hoya retires. With the numbers he ranks in, it would be easy for him to keep on going fighting decent challenges and keep on ranking in some serious cash. Of course he already has serious cash and a few more bucks will not make his lifestyle any easier than it already is.

Fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr., for De La Hoya certainly would not be about the money. As evident with what De la
Hoya vs. Mayorga did in PPV sales. De la Hoya can make a bucket load of cash no matter who he fights. The only real thing Mayweather Jr. bring to the table for De la Hoya is motivation. The same way Mayorga motivated De la Hoya is basically the same thing we could expect De la Hoya's motivation to be for Mayweather. Although Mayorga motivated De la Hoya by stiring up his anger, De la Hoya has stated time and time again that fighting Mayweather, a fighter regarded by many as pound for pound the best is exactly the kind of motivation he needs.

It would be fair to think that De la Hoya vs. Mayweather Jr. would easily out do the sales of the Mayorga fight. Although Mayweather's popularity is no where near De la Hoya's... the simple fact is the Boxing world and even casual fans can not resist De la Hoya when he is in a serious challenge. The "Lovers" and the "Haters" show up in droves. And in De la Hoya's case there always seems to be more "Lovers" than "Haters."

Even if Mayweather were to defeat De la Hoya, there is no reason to expect that Mayweather's start power would sky rocket overnight. After all, those who follow De la Hoya's career do so with loyalty. If there was no loyalty, then there would be nothing close to the PPV numbers De La Hoya consistently brings in.

Mayweather of course would make a load of cash himself and a win would help him over all. There is no doubt there. But if Mayweather thinks he will walk away with the hearts and minds of De la Hoya's fans.... he has another thing coming. The PPV numbers are always in the favor of De La Hoya... that's because the fans are showing up for him.

So even if and when De la Hoya finally decides to retire, boxing will lose out. The kind of numbers De la Hoya ranks in will be a massive void that in all probability will be impossible to fill. At least not in the foreseeable future. No PPV torch will be passed on to Mayweather. Mayweather will not fill the void. De la Hoya's PPV number will leave when he does. It all ends with his Retirement.

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