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By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports
Oscar De La Hoya will fight Steve Forbes on May 3 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in a bout that Golden Boy Promotions is attempting to pitch as a gift to De La Hoya’s many fans.
The spin is that by fighting on HBO instead of on pay-per-view, De La Hoya is doing his fans some tremendous favor.
I disagree that it’s any kind of a favor at all.
It would be a favor if De La Hoya were to fight on network television, like NBC, where everyone could see him for free and not just those that can afford to pay the $12.95 per monthly fee HBO charges.
And it might be a favor if De La Hoya weren’t earning a multi-million dollar payday for what amounts to little more than a tuneup against an outmanned opponent.
And it might be a favor if De La Hoya’s company took the huge licensing fee it will receive from HBO and poured it into the undercard. But you’ll see the usual collection of mismatches. Jorge Linares is a wonderful talent, but a fight with the very ordinary Billy Dib that is being discussed as the chief undercard match is hardly compelling.
This fight card is a commercial for De La Hoya’s rematch against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September. There’s nothing wrong with doing that but don’t try to spin it as if you’re being so gracious and doing the fans such a great favor by fighting a tuneup on HBO.
If De La Hoya really were serious, he’d take his purse in this fight and donate it to USA Boxing in order to help other young men have the same opportunity he had to win a gold medal and become rich and famous.
If he did that, I’d say he’s doing a favor for somebody. But all he’s doing is charging people for an advertisement for his company. That’s no favor to me.
Oscar De La Hoya will fight Steve Forbes on May 3 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in a bout that Golden Boy Promotions is attempting to pitch as a gift to De La Hoya’s many fans.
The spin is that by fighting on HBO instead of on pay-per-view, De La Hoya is doing his fans some tremendous favor.
I disagree that it’s any kind of a favor at all.
It would be a favor if De La Hoya were to fight on network television, like NBC, where everyone could see him for free and not just those that can afford to pay the $12.95 per monthly fee HBO charges.
And it might be a favor if De La Hoya weren’t earning a multi-million dollar payday for what amounts to little more than a tuneup against an outmanned opponent.
And it might be a favor if De La Hoya’s company took the huge licensing fee it will receive from HBO and poured it into the undercard. But you’ll see the usual collection of mismatches. Jorge Linares is a wonderful talent, but a fight with the very ordinary Billy Dib that is being discussed as the chief undercard match is hardly compelling.
This fight card is a commercial for De La Hoya’s rematch against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September. There’s nothing wrong with doing that but don’t try to spin it as if you’re being so gracious and doing the fans such a great favor by fighting a tuneup on HBO.
If De La Hoya really were serious, he’d take his purse in this fight and donate it to USA Boxing in order to help other young men have the same opportunity he had to win a gold medal and become rich and famous.
If he did that, I’d say he’s doing a favor for somebody. But all he’s doing is charging people for an advertisement for his company. That’s no favor to me.
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