17.05.07 – By Yero Moody: As many fans were somewhat disappointed (De La Hoya fans may have been very disappointed) with the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya on May 5, as was I, there is still the feeling of unfinished business lingering. Neither fighter was able to deliver on what they said they would do which created a tactical fight that played into the hands of Mayweather.
De La Hoya said he would fight rougher and more aggressive than normal and force Mayweather to make mistakes and end the fight with a knockout. That never happened. Although De La Hoya was very aggressive he wasn’t effectively aggressive. He also never really fought as rough as he and Freddie Roach initially said that they would. Mayweather said he was going to be brutal in his win over De La Hoya but as it turned out it was anything but that. He was content to land shots mostly one at a time. He never forced the action nor did anything to hurt Oscar.
This is what makes a second fight more compelling and probably alot more exciting. Both fighters have a feel for the other and can tweak their fight plans accordingly. Mayweather during a post fight interview on HBO aired during the replay of his fight with De La Hoya said directly to Oscar (Oscar was via satellite) that he wanted to “do it again.” Oscar was very noncommittal and said that he needed to “be smart and really think about fighting again.” In this writer’s opinion based on some of the remarks De La Hoya made during the interview, he seemed content just having given Mayweather a tough, competitve fight as he put it.
Mayweather knows he didn’t deliver on his word and neither did De La Hoya. Mayweather also knows that he clearly did enough to win. But the fans want more as Larry Merchant eluded to, more than a fighter just doing enough to win. In order for Mayweather to really be considered an all time great he must give us, the fans, something to remember him by. His most exciting fights have not been against high caliber opposition. He has beaten alot of B level fighters with the exception of De La Hoya of course. That is why Mayweather wants this rematch. He knows beating De La Hoya in a more crowd pleasing way would bolster his claims as the best fighter and a true all time great.
I want to make it very clear that Mayweather absolutely beat De La Hoya without a shadow of a doubt. Despite the arguments that the compubox statisticians were off, one can use common sense and surmise that they couldn’t be that far off. 43% of total punches landed to De La Hoya’s 21% is double the output. 57% total power punches landed to De La Hoya’s 24% is more than double.
Even if they the compubox operator was off he would have to be either on drugs, blind or just a plain cheater to have scored it that lopsided! Unless of course if you prescribe to a conspiracy theory that the two judges, the commentators ( two of which don’t seem to like Mayweather) and the compubox operators all had it in for De La Hoya because they like Mayweather so much.
As funny as it sounds thats what some people actually think. Lets be real folks, you don’t have to rely on compubox stats all you need is sight. Clearly, Mayweather landed more clean punches than De La Hoya and that is why he won. I happen to agree with Jim Lampley when he stated the obvious “alot of ringside fans from whom we heard the boos seemed to have voted with their hearts and not with their minds”
A second fight would be alot more competitive because both fighters now have alot more to prove. There will not be the need for hesitancy. Both fighters now know what works and what doesn’t. I’m interested to see what De La Hoya chooses to do but as I predicted in my last article he will probably choose an opponent he knows he can beat like Antonio Margarito, Felix Trinidad or Miguel Cotto and ride off into the sunset.
Mayweather on the other hand needs to be in an exciting fight against a tough opponent to really solidify him as an all time great. He doesn’t need to do enough to win he needs to dare to be great. The only man right now that can really do that for him would be Sugar Shane Mosley. Sure, Mosley is not in his prime but he is the best right now. Mosley is much better than Ricky Hatton, Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey and Paul Williams. I’m salivating for a fight between the Pretty Boy and Sugar!
Thanks for reading! Questions or comments: yero_m @yahoo.com