By Jack Presscot: We all sat in our homes or at Sportsbars and watched, in shock, as Oscar De La Hoya finally got knocked out against an opponent in his prime, and Father Time as well. Oscar looked physically depleted inside the ring. He had the six pack abs, but other than that, he looked like a poster child for UNICEF. I had called “Into the Grind” the internet radio talk show on the Thursday before the fight, and laid out the reasons why Manny Pac was going to win a split decision. One of them was Freddy Roach. Who better to train Manny Pac about holes in Oscar’s defense, than the man who had trained him for so many weeks to take on Money Mayweather..
One of them was Manny’s short stature. Not in the sport, but his actual height. I stated that at around 5’5, to Oscar’s 5’11, a lot of those punches were going to miss “swoosh swoosh swoosh” over Manny’s head, the way that they did over Pernel Whitaker’s but no one believed it. I also stated that Roach would formulate a plan to neutralize Oscar de la Hoya’s jab. And he did, and Oscar without the jab is like Godzilla without the Nuclear Breath.
The jab is roughly, 40% of Oscar’s offense. Another factor was the 147 pound agreement. Oscar is not a 147 pound fighter anymore. He certainly could make the weight again, but in my opinion, whatever tactics he used to make that weight and maintain it, drained his physical strength, his stamina, and made his legs weak. He had nothing left past 6, but a little bit of pride.
Now, after all is said and done, regardless of the outrage a lot of people felt over shelling out $54.95, call your local cable operator, to watch Oscar’s trainer Nacho throw in the towel, regardless of people calling for de la Hoya’s letter of resignation, and regardless of the strange Oscar fans still lighting votive candles in front of his statue at the Staples Center, the fight sold 1.25 million PPV buys. Thats probably more than Brock Lesnar’s UFC Title victory, and more than any other PPV sold in Boxing. What does this translate to?
Think about it. Oscar de la Hoya is a businessman first. He now has Golden Boy Promotions to run, property taxes, fighters to pay, and other expenses of running a promotion means that he and Richard Schaefer need to put money into GBP to generate even bigger bucks. And GBP without Oscar is like the Terminator series without Arnie. GBP, even if Sugar upsets Margarito in a month, is a rudderless ship without Captain Oscar at the helm. With Oscar at the helm, even an aging Oscar, there is more PPV revenue to be made. Here are some of the options for Oscar de la Hoya in 2009.
1. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. A natural grudge match, and in the eyes of the Mexican people, a shot at redemption for the embarrassment a primed out Oscar put them through in 1996, and 1998, when Oscar destroyed the Ghost of Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. twice. Bob Arum would be delighted to co-promote, Oscar would see it as a winnable fight, Julio Jr. badly needs it for credibility, and Julio Sr. would have to be restrained from entering the ring himself. A competitive fight at this point, if you dont believe me, re-watch the 8th round on Saturday, of the Manny Pac-DLH replay.
2. Tito Trinidad at a middlweight “catch weight” Tito, with the numbers at EVEN MONEY and Don King would be delighted to oblige. Oscar needs redemption, and at least 1.5 million PPV buys are to be generated as the people of Puerto Rico think of Tito what the Filipinos think of Manny.
3. Pretty Boy part 2. Think about it. Floyd Sr. agrees to train Oscar against Floyd Jr. This alone will guarantee big box office.
Only time will tell!