Tweet
Mayweather-De La Hoya II looks tempting
By Robert Morales
RICKY Hatton had just been stopped in the 10th round by Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Yet, Oscar De La Hoya stood on the dais at the post-fight news conference and tried to convince reporters that a fight between him and Hatton would still be viable.
De La Hoya, who co-promoted the welterweight title fight under his Golden Boy Promotions banner, has said he is going to fight two more times - in May and September.
A fight with Hatton would be exciting, De La Hoya said, because of Hatton's whirlwind style.
It would definitely be a money-making event, what with De La Hoya's worldwide popularity and Hatton's fanatical British following.
But don't look now. Instead of a De La Hoya-Hatton match, it looks as if a De La Hoya-Mayweather fight could be in the works. De La Hoya lost his super welterweight title to Mayweather via split decision last May. Eric Gomez, the matchmaker at Golden Boy, on Wednesday looked into his crystal ball. In it he saw De La Hoya-Mayweather II.
"Knowing Oscar, he only wants to fight the best," said Gomez, a friend of De La Hoya's since childhood. "And it's very clear who the best is now, it's Floyd. I mean, I'm not insinuating anything. ... But I know him and he always wants the best.
"He's at the point in his career now where he only wants to prove that he can still compete at a certain level. Even more so now, after the big victory that Mayweather had. I mean, Oscar almost had (Mayweather), man. It was a close fight. One (more) round could have been scored for Oscar and it would have been the other way around.
"We're not trying to take away from Mayweather. OK, yeah, he beat him, that's fine. But it was a close fight."
Gomez wanted to make it clear that he was only speculating, but he said it would not surprise him one bit if De La Hoya makes the rematch with Mayweather.
"He's made it very clear to us that he only wants big fights, big events," Gomez said. "Once you are a part of these big fights - and Oscar's had many of them - it's kind of like addicting, it's like a drug. Big, big events with all the media of the world watching."
Gomez said that economics will figure into the decision. De La Hoya has promised his Golden Boy crew he will make before Christmas. Gomez said he realizes that a rematch between De La Hoya and Mayweather would be hard-pressed to equal the record 2.4 million pay-per-view buys the first fight did if for no other reason than rematches seldom do as well.
But it would still do better than De La Hoya-Hatton or De La Hoya against Miguel Cotto.
Like Mayweather, Cotto holds one of the four welterweight titles.
Immediately following his victory over Hatton, Mayweather said he was going to retire, like he supposedly was going to after he defeated De La Hoya. A while later, in the post-fight news conference, he was already wavering.
"I just fought, you know, about an hour ago. So I'm not even talking about boxing right now," Mayweather said. "Right now I'm worried about spending the holidays with my family and taking a long vacation to really see if I would want to come back to the sport of boxing. I've been in the sport my whole life. As of right now, I'm really bored with the sport of boxing."
And with a sly smile, Mayweather also said that the right amount of money could convince him to continue his career.
As for De La Hoya, he did a nice job of setting the scene for the possible rematch by saying that some in the media had recently questioned whether Mayweather was the best fighter in the world, pound-for-pound.
"There is no doubt now that Floyd Mayweather is the pound-for-pound champion," De La Hoya said.
Those words could be the precursor to De La Hoya-Mayweather II.
As for De La Hoya-Hatton, Gomez said he knows that Hatton's knockout loss to Mayweather would seemingly make that a difficult sell.
"We know that is probably what the criticism would be," Gomez said. "But at the same time, you saw what kind of fans (Hatton has). Even though he lost and got knocked out and blown away, his fans love him and it would be a huge event combining both guys."
Hatton is promoted by Golden Boy.
By Robert Morales
RICKY Hatton had just been stopped in the 10th round by Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Yet, Oscar De La Hoya stood on the dais at the post-fight news conference and tried to convince reporters that a fight between him and Hatton would still be viable.
De La Hoya, who co-promoted the welterweight title fight under his Golden Boy Promotions banner, has said he is going to fight two more times - in May and September.
A fight with Hatton would be exciting, De La Hoya said, because of Hatton's whirlwind style.
It would definitely be a money-making event, what with De La Hoya's worldwide popularity and Hatton's fanatical British following.
But don't look now. Instead of a De La Hoya-Hatton match, it looks as if a De La Hoya-Mayweather fight could be in the works. De La Hoya lost his super welterweight title to Mayweather via split decision last May. Eric Gomez, the matchmaker at Golden Boy, on Wednesday looked into his crystal ball. In it he saw De La Hoya-Mayweather II.
"Knowing Oscar, he only wants to fight the best," said Gomez, a friend of De La Hoya's since childhood. "And it's very clear who the best is now, it's Floyd. I mean, I'm not insinuating anything. ... But I know him and he always wants the best.
"He's at the point in his career now where he only wants to prove that he can still compete at a certain level. Even more so now, after the big victory that Mayweather had. I mean, Oscar almost had (Mayweather), man. It was a close fight. One (more) round could have been scored for Oscar and it would have been the other way around.
"We're not trying to take away from Mayweather. OK, yeah, he beat him, that's fine. But it was a close fight."
Gomez wanted to make it clear that he was only speculating, but he said it would not surprise him one bit if De La Hoya makes the rematch with Mayweather.
"He's made it very clear to us that he only wants big fights, big events," Gomez said. "Once you are a part of these big fights - and Oscar's had many of them - it's kind of like addicting, it's like a drug. Big, big events with all the media of the world watching."
Gomez said that economics will figure into the decision. De La Hoya has promised his Golden Boy crew he will make before Christmas. Gomez said he realizes that a rematch between De La Hoya and Mayweather would be hard-pressed to equal the record 2.4 million pay-per-view buys the first fight did if for no other reason than rematches seldom do as well.
But it would still do better than De La Hoya-Hatton or De La Hoya against Miguel Cotto.
Like Mayweather, Cotto holds one of the four welterweight titles.
Immediately following his victory over Hatton, Mayweather said he was going to retire, like he supposedly was going to after he defeated De La Hoya. A while later, in the post-fight news conference, he was already wavering.
"I just fought, you know, about an hour ago. So I'm not even talking about boxing right now," Mayweather said. "Right now I'm worried about spending the holidays with my family and taking a long vacation to really see if I would want to come back to the sport of boxing. I've been in the sport my whole life. As of right now, I'm really bored with the sport of boxing."
And with a sly smile, Mayweather also said that the right amount of money could convince him to continue his career.
As for De La Hoya, he did a nice job of setting the scene for the possible rematch by saying that some in the media had recently questioned whether Mayweather was the best fighter in the world, pound-for-pound.
"There is no doubt now that Floyd Mayweather is the pound-for-pound champion," De La Hoya said.
Those words could be the precursor to De La Hoya-Mayweather II.
As for De La Hoya-Hatton, Gomez said he knows that Hatton's knockout loss to Mayweather would seemingly make that a difficult sell.
"We know that is probably what the criticism would be," Gomez said. "But at the same time, you saw what kind of fans (Hatton has). Even though he lost and got knocked out and blown away, his fans love him and it would be a huge event combining both guys."
Hatton is promoted by Golden Boy.
Comment