All Sport Report

Tomorrow night will be the biggest, most anticipated fight of the year if not the decade. There has been constant talk and speculation about this fight, the likes of which boxing hasn’t seen since the days of Muhammed Ali.

There was a week long tour of the combatants filled with more hype than any fight that has preceeded it. Tensions mounted from the “trainer swap” - Mayweather’s father had been estranged from his son for several years, and offered his services to help De La Hoya beat Jr, for the small sum of two million dollars. When De La Hoya didn’t want to agree to the astronomical training fee, Floyd Sr ended up back in the gym with his boy and the most recent flip and or flop may have Floyd’s daddy showing up as a guest of the Golden Boy.

The big question in my mind as a fight fan is - Can this fight possibly live up to the expectations we as boxing fans have put upon it?… The answer, I don’t think so.

Oscar De La Hoya is one of the greatest fighters of all time, without question. He won an Olympic Gold Medal at the 1992 Barcelona games, and over the course of his 15 year professional career he’s fought his way to an outstanding 38-4 record with 30 KO’s.

The list of fighters he’s dismantled in his forty-two fights reads like a who’s who of boxing champions including: Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker, Hector Comacho, Arturo Gatti and Fernando Vargas.

Oscar is the only man in boxing history to hold championships in six different weight classes, and he’s only been knocked out once in a career that spans a decade and a half. He’s only lost fights to three men (Shane Mosley twice) and only been really decisively beaten once, by Bernard Hopkins.

The problem for Oscar is that all of the things I described above, as impressive as they are, are in the past. The Golden Boy has had problems coping with faster fighters (like Mosley) and not only is Floyd Mayweather Jr a bit faster than Oscar, he’s four years younger and, from what I’ve seen throughout the hype - Floyd wants it more, and he believes that he’s walking out of that ring the winner.

There are maybe one or two guys in professional boxing today that are better fighters than Floyd Mayweather Jr, and unfortunately for the Golden Boy, he isn’t one of them. If Mayweather comes out and fights his fight, I don’t think that De La Hoya stands a chance - Floyd Mayweather Jr hands Oscar the second knockout loss of his career in the eighth round.

Saturday night when the opening bell rings, after all the dust of the trash talk has settled, the only thing that’s going to matter is who’s better, who wants it more and right now that guy is Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Here’s just a sample of what the Golden Boy is in for tomorrow night:

Mayweather, De La Hoya, Pretty Boy, Golden Boy, boxing