Why Not? III: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Troy Browning (the free TV tune-up)

This is not a joke thread, bear with me for a second... Troy Browning is a 39-yr old undefeated light middleweight fighter (20-0-1, 10 KOs) who upset Julio Cesar Garcia this past June. The record looks great even though, other than Garcia, he has beaten absolutely nobody. However, it will look good to the fans who tune in just to see Oscar. Even better, Browning is from Philly, setting up a PERFECT Rocky-like storyline for the TV guys to beat to death in the weeks leading up to the fight. It's almost too bad that the "Rocky Balboa" movie isn't coming out this Christmas in advance of Oscar's potential free TV tuneup fight, which I suppose would happen in January or February so he can still fight on Cinco de Mayo weekend. Anyway, Oscar could spout on at the press conference about giving this guy a shot like Creed did with Balboa in the first movie, about how America is a great country where opportunity is given to all, etc etc...and of course the media would eat it up. Whatever network chose to air the fight could do a reality series with Browning and his preparation for the fight along with his life story of course. Think about the fame Peter McNeely has for being Tyson's first opponent out of the pen. He is a lefty (a southpaw like Balboa!), but come on, it's not like he's going to outbox Oscar, but there is a risk it wouldn't be overly pretty for the Golden Boy, considering every hardcore fan would trash this fight and expect DLH to blow out this guy inside of one round. The point here is not obviously a competitive fight, it's a decent storyline, which Browning has, and of course maximum exposure for boxing on network TV. I would hope GBP would stage a strong co-feature on the card (I mentioned in another thread Casamayor-David Diaz or the Mora-Ouma fight) to give the fans at least one real competitive, entertaining fight. Maybe NBC would jump at the chance to show DLH and Mora because of his Contender-generated popularity. What do you guys think? Sure, I'd much rather Oscar face someone with some kind of profile (Ricardo Torres moving up would be my no.1 preference, Alfonso Gomez a close second and the Matthew Hatton/brother of Ricky storyline isn't a bad third choice), but I'll take a huge boxing event on network TV no matter who he faces.

Comments (9)

Browning is a Super Welterweight, not a Super Middleweight. He would get destroyed in one round. Completely different levels of talent. browning is fuckin tough though man, and hes got not bad defense. It would be entertaining beatdown, he would just stand there and take it while tryin his best to throw back. but its a stupid fight to make, COMPLETELY different talent levels i agree, and Browining would likely get knocked out cold

18y ago

Antonio

The story is good and inspiring and all of that... But Oscar needs a tune-up who will at least pose somewhat of a challenge. A fight with Browning would be an exhibition. It's not a fight the fans want to see, and it's not a fight that will help Oscar in any way.

18y ago

kayjay

I don't mind seeing a guy get a big break and a big payday, and I'll watch whoever Oscar fights. But Oscar would get a load of hell for something like this; for his own sake he should knock out Marg instead.

18y ago

SkillspayBills

Thanks. Yeah, I spent the last hour or so YouTube-ing old Rocky clips as a result, lol. I think it would be a good attraction for boxing and non-boxing fans alike. I can tell great idea, send this to Oscar's people and tell them to make it happen. A good story always equals good tv.

18y ago

cupcrazy01

It is a tuneup fight for a reason, it would be a hell of a storyline. Great thread man I can tell you thought this through. Thanks. Yeah, I spent the last hour or so YouTube-ing old Rocky clips as a result, lol. I think it would be a good attraction for boxing and non-boxing fans alike.

18y ago

cupcrazy01

Browning is a Super Welterweight, not a Super Middleweight. He would get destroyed in one round. Completely different levels of talent. Yeah, I meant to type light middleweight, thanks for catching that. I have a hard time believing Oscar would get all the way down to 147 for his tune-up, so it would probably be a fight at 154 or 150 or something around there and Browning could make that for a shot at the Golden goose.

18y ago

SkillspayBills

Browning is a Super Welterweight, not a Super Middleweight. He would get destroyed in one round. Completely different levels of talent. It is a tuneup fight for a reason, it would be a hell of a storyline. Great thread man I can tell you thought this through.

18y ago

Antonio

Browning is a Super Welterweight, not a Super Middleweight. He would get destroyed in one round. Completely different levels of talent.

18y ago

Kball15

Troy Browning isnt a bad fighter, and it would be an entertaining beatdown cause Browning throws lots of punches and would fight till the end.... BUT it'll never happen though, cause Browning would have to come down at LEAST 1 division, and he's already as thin as a stick AND there are more credible and notable tune up fights for Oscar that are just as easy to, would provide more entertaining, AND give oscar more credibility so he could pick out his next opponent critisism free

18y ago