Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather: For All The Marbles

Following Floyd Mayweather Jr’s (37-0, 24 KO’s) recent 12-round win over Carlos Manuel Baldomir on November 3, 2006, came the announcement that Mayweather would be taking on Oscar De La Hoya (38-4, 30 KO’s), the current WBC Middleweight champion, and setting up meeting between boxing’s two most popular fighters, while at the same time, making this potentially the most lucrative fight of all time with each fighter guaranteed between 10-25 million dollars, at the minimum. The PPV sales will likely be tremendous, due to the crossover appeal of De La Hoya, whom has a strong following in both the Hispanic and the white public.

Along with this, is the emotional value of De La Hoya being trained by Floyd’s father, who will be in Oscar’s corner during the fight, giving instructions. If Floyd needed the shot in the arm to get up for this bout, this would certainly do the trick. More importantly, Floyd’s father, Floyd Sr., has taught him everything he knows, and is well versed on all of his son’s strengths and weaknesses, giving De La Hoya a huge advantage, as if he needed it.

There is, as it turns out, more of an advantage for De La Hoya, besides being trained by Floyd’s father, going into this bout than for Mayweather, simply because of the skill sets De La Hoya brings into it. He is still incredibly fast, even at 34-years old, and thus takes away a huge asset that Mayweather usually has going on his side. I can’t say this enough, Mayweather without his speed advantage, is essentially a crippled fighter, considering he doesn’t have the other weapons, like toughness or power, to fall back on in comparison to other top fighters. De La Hoya’s power, both right and left hand, is far superior to Mayweather’s, in my estimation.

So, the question is, can the 28-year old Mayweather wear down the aging De La Hoya and somehow win a decision? Probably not, considering De La Hoya’s superior talent and experience. Keep in mind, De La Hoya is much better than the opponents that Mayweather has feasted on during his short career, meaning you throw those wins out the window, along with Floyd’s inflated record. Ultimately, I see De La Hoya’s power being too much for Mayweather, who will be confused and rattled win he gets into uncharted territory.

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Posted November 28th, 2006 l 107 views

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