By Jake Donovan
Assuming the most recent plans stay intact, Oscar de la Hoya’s final bout gives 2008 exactly what it needs – a storybook ending.
Heading into the year, everyone knew that 2007 would be a tough act to follow. In particular, the stretch that began with Kelly Pavlik wresting the middleweight crown from Jermain Taylor and ended with the check hook heard ‘round the world as Floyd Mayweather handed Ricky Hatton his first professional loss.
The sport gave it a damn good run to start the year, with the action in March going down as among the greatest months of boxing in recent memory, if not all time.
Then came April. And then May… and now June. Too many showcases, not enough show stoppers, though a few suprises have been provided along the way (most of which have been courtesy of ESPN2 Wednesday Night Fights and Showtime). For the most part. Boxing is back to where it was before 2007 began; twiddling its thumbs awaiting a blockbuster moment, while fending off suggestions from the less informed mainstream media that our sport is once again on its last legs.
Up ahead is the welterweight showdown between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. The match up itself is a fight fans dream, but not necessarily the type of high profile bout that will reel in those not normally in a hurry to cover the sport. Those types were setting aside September 20 for their annual “let’s watch boxing for a night” venture. That’s when de la Hoya was supposed to return for a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Those plans obviously changed the moment Floyd suddenly called it a career (at least for the moment, though severing all ties and leaving more than $20 million on the table is pretty damn convincing). Speculation began as to who would be de la Hoya’s next opponent, and how it would affect his initial plans of “3 fights in 2008 and then I’m done.”
Winky Wright’s name surfaced, a good thing considering that he’s been missing in action since dropping a decision to Bernard Hopkins last summer in their 170 lb. catchweight fight. Sergio Mora’s name also entered the mix, after scoring a huge upset win over Vernon Forrest last week, with such a fight being for a junior middleweight alphabet title rather than taking place at 150 lb.
Rather than linger on or worse, force something that isn’t there, Oscar announced that September was scrapped, that he’d instead focus on promoting other members of his stable that month. The decision was the right call; even if Mayweather signed on for the fight, they’d only be left with three months to conduct a press tour, prepare for another 24/7 documentary, and try to squeeze training somewhere in the mix.
It also seemed farfetched that de la Hoya could rematch the sport’s best fighter in late September, yet somehow come back three months later or less in order to stick to the script. As it was, many speculated that the Oscar tour would have no choice but to extend to 2009, with his finale coming perhaps next Cinco de Mayo.
Instead, plans merely changed. He still ends his career in 2008, only it’s two fights instead of three. Two fights is an improvement from what he offered in each of the last three years, not fighting at all in 2005 before going one and done in 2006 and 2007.
Besides, it’s quality, not quantity, when it comes to such an event. He already had his tune-up, going 12 rounds with Stevie Forbes last month on HBO. On to the big fights, the biggest fights that can be made, in which de la Hoya has always managed to play a part, regardless of the circumstances surrounding them.
If all goes as planned, then Oscar’s career will end with the biggest possible (as in most realistic) fight that can be made – a showdown with the assumed heir to the welterweight throne, Miguel Cotto. Of course, the Puerto Rican superstar has to first get past Margarito next month in Las Vegas.
But assuming, or at least for the moment pretending, that Cotto emerges victorious. That leaves five months to work out the particulars, stage a major press tour, the 24/7 series, train and finally fight. And fight they will, as Cotto doesn’t have it in him to get caught up in a business transaction disguised as a boxing match.
The fight shouldn’t be too difficult to make. Bob Arum said it himself last weekend at the Kelly Pavlik-Gary Lockett post-fight press conference – “I really want to beat the Golden Boy.” At the time, he was talking about a possible de la Hoya-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr bout in September, which he believed would’ve been a blockbuster for a card that would trail Mexican Independence Day.
In all honesty, Arum stands a much better chance of beating Golden Boy with Cotto, an established two-division titlist and among the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters, than with Chavez Jr, who’s still improving but has yet to beat anyone beyond the prospect level.
He stands just as much of a chance should Margarito pull off the upset in July. Top Rank then gets their long awaited wish of making the Mexican brawler a household name, one whose marketability would only increase when attached to a de la Hoya fight.
But for de la Hoya, there’s no bigger fight at the moment than Cotto. To his credit, he recognizes this, to where milking the sport for an extra payday isn’t as important as delivering the perfect finale.
The cynics will suggest that he once again played bait-and-switch with HBO. Dating back to 2005, it was tradition-like in that de la Hoya would reserve a September PPV date, only to decide that he wasn’t ready to return to the ring. Another member of his stable would instead get the date. Marco Antonio Barrera reaped such benefits in 2005 and ’06; Juan Manuel Marquez was supposed to land the slot last year, only for an injury to postpone the show.
It’s Marquez’ turn again this year, with a rumored bout against Joel Casamayor to possibly headline the September PPV slot rather than mid-October as once suggested. Another Golden Boy card featuring Juan Diaz, possibly against Michael Katsidis in a potential Fight of the Year candidate, would get bumped up one weekend to the start of the month.
That gives de la Hoya two shows to promote his own farewell party, all while keeping the rest of his stable busy and freeing up dates for the rest of the sport in the process.
If the final chapter comes against Cotto, then the plots and sidebars become endless, including his career coming full circle as his last fight would end where it began – fighting on a card with Bob Arum involved in the promotion. Though amidst all of the hype that will surely surround such an event, what comes about in the end has a chance to justify it, if not surpass it altogether.
Should de la Hoya find a way to win, he truly goes out with a bang. He beats one of the sport’s very best, a fighter in the heart of his prime and coming off of perhaps the biggest win of his career. Not that de la Hoya needs to do anything else to secure his place in the Boxing Hall of Fame, but there would be no better ending than to go out on top after enjoying the most lucrative career in the sport’s history.
If Cotto wins, then his star power finally catches up to his talent. As one superstar exits the sport for good, a new one is born. However indirectly his intentions, de la Hoya departs knowing that the sport that made him rich beyond his wildest dreams is in good hands.
It’s a storybook ending, either way you look at it – to his career, and for 2008, a year that can use all the good news it can get.
Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .