12/03/24
May 04, 2008
De La Hoya wins easy decision: "But fighters have been known to change their retirement plans as easily as they change gloves, and the only thing for certain is that De La Hoya will add many more millions to his already fat bank accounts before he finally hangs the gloves up for good. Mayweather has yet to sign for the rematch, though De La Hoya expressed confidence that the money would be too great for him to refuse."
My guess is De La Hoya will probably have to fight someone a little tougher than "Tomato Can Sam" before he gets another shot at Mayweather.
posted by canstusdis at 01:11 PM on May 04, 2008
I think he needs to go ahead with his acting/singing career. He was a great fighter but I just don't think he has it in him anymore. He already had his time. I love Oscar but I hope he stops fighting. Boxing is becoming a joke. I mean really who do we have anymore?
posted by brandy at 01:18 PM on May 04, 2008
The best thing about Oscar these days is that he's heavily invested in the Houston Dynamo and you can see their logo on his shorts.
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 01:25 PM on May 04, 2008
Brandy: What do you mean "becoming"? It's been a joke for a long time. (And I say that as a moderate fan.)
posted by Drood at 02:45 PM on May 04, 2008
I know, but I'm a lover of boxing. I have watched probaly every fight since before I was born. I know what you're saying though. Older fights you could watch and see the fierce fighter in the eye. Now it's simular to a musical production. I will continue to watch it though because there are those rare good fights still left.
posted by brandy at 03:15 PM on May 04, 2008
Basically it's become the wrestling aesthetic. Rather than two guys hitting each other, it's all the pomp and circumstance of Wrestlemania now. Now I'm a pro-wrestling fan myself. I watch it because I enjoy the theatrics, the acting, and the athletic ability. However I don't want to see that sort of show in a REAL sport. It seems it's too much to ask these days to just see two guys swinging at each other. There's gotta be hype specials. There's gotta be all the show and production values, there's gotta be, to coin a wrestling term, a babyface and a heel etc... The essence, two guys fighting, is practically sundry at this point. Boxings biggest issue is PPV I think. Every fight worth anything (and a good number that aren't worth that) are on PPV. There's a reason boxing is considered a dying sport. It's because most people won't pay for (or in my case can't even get) the events. Boxing will never return to the mainstream fulltime until people like Don King are dead, and regular folk can get easy access to seeing the fights. It's all very well if the fights airs on ESPN afterwards etc... But seeing it a week later after the entire planet knows the result makes it kinda pointless.
posted by Drood at 12:48 AM on May 05, 2008
I saw this fight and I have to disagree. Granted, this wasn't a Pay-Per-View quality opponent that De La Hoya went against in Steve Forbes but this was still a pretty good fight. MMA has much more physical interactions going on but this was still a fight to the finish and entertaining. Also, I was digging the fight taking place outdoors.
posted by BornIcon at 08:37 AM on May 05, 2008
Hey Drood, remember when Wide World of Sports used to show boxing on Saturdays? I also remember watching the Vinny Paz/Greg Haugen battles on NBC. I agree, boxing needs to come back to the mainstream. As much as I loved boxing, I really can't tell you who the up and comers are anymore because I don't subscribe to either HBO or Showtime, and there is no real way to keep up on it otherwise. How many people can name the heavyweight champions, much less have seen one of their fights? I loved watching the Contender, and that is a show that should have gotten a lot more exposure for the sake of boxing. On King he has done more to destroy boxing than just limiting the bouts to PPV. The sooner he's gone, the better off the sport will be.
posted by crqri at 05:00 PM on May 05, 2008
You used to be able to see some kickass boxing on all three networks back in the day. NBC used to carry heavyweights fairly regularly; I recall seeing Earnie Shavers, Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes, Gerry Cooney, and others on the Peacock. CBS, if I remember correctly, concentrated more on the lighter weight classes, with fighters like Boom Boom Mancini, Alexis Arguello, Aaron Pryor, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Barry McGuigan, and more. Great fights almost every weekend. And, on Wide World of Sports, you could catch Golden Gloves, Olympic qualifying matches, and lots of other amateur matches. I sure do miss being able to see real, quality fighters on network TV. No wonder the sport is failing as badly as it is. You price yourself out of your core demographic, you're going to suffer.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 06:10 PM on May 07, 2008
What happened to boxing?