In the latest boxing news, former six-time champion Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs) will be fighting a tune-up bout on May 3rd against an un-named opponent before Oscar takes Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a rematch which will likely be held on September 20th. Best of all, De La Hoya’s tune-up fight will be shown on regular HBO, giving the fans a break from not having to fork over $49.95 for a PPV bout.
Apparently, De La Hoya is hoping that other big-name fighters will follow his lead and fight for free on regular cable, allowing more fans to see their bouts without have to pay. Though I’m not sure how good fans would have felt having to pay to see De La Hoya fight when he’s fighting a mere tune-up bout, plus the fact that he’s no longer a champion.
It’s a good move by De La Hoya, though it’s unclear whether other boxers will feel inclined to want to repeat this action, as De La Hoya’s huge wealth gives him to freedom to do this that other boxers don’t have. There is talk of having the bout take place in Mexico City, Mexico, where they could squeeze in 130,000 fans in the Estadio Azteca stadium, or in Carson city, California. De La Hoya, who turns 35 next month, is also getting back his old trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., who will be working his corner for both the tune-up and the rematch with Mayweather Jr.
I think Mayweather Sr. could actually help De La Hoya, as Mayweather Sr. seemed to have a calming effect on De La Hoya and would perhaps have a few ideas with which to beat his son, Floyd.
In De La Hoya’s last fight, he lost a split decision to Mayweather Jr. on May 5th. In the first half of the fight, De La Hoya looked good, hitting Mayweather with fast combinations and stinging jabs. However, De La Hoya failed to keep up the pace and and lost most of the rounds in the second half of the fight as Mayweather took over.
Despite losing, Oscar looked good for a fighter making only his 5th fight in 4-years. De La Hoya had previously looked old and shot against Bernard Hopkins and Felix Sturm, but both of them were middleweights. De La Hoya seemed to have done a little bit of over-reach, thinking perhaps that he was good enough to compete against the larger middleweights.
As it turns out, De La Hoya couldn’t, and looked bad against Hopkins and especially Sturm, whom De La Hoya got a controversial victory over. Worst of all, De La Hoya wasn’t always active, having taken two years off after his defeat to Hopkins in 2004, and fighting only once in 2006. Even in earlier years, De La Hoya would often fight only once to twice a year, not enough to keep his skills sharp in my estimation.
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