Oscar De La Hoya – Fool’s Gold

What was that?  Seriously?  What did I just watch?  I thought they were billing this as a “Super Fight”? It was really more like a “Super Ass Kicking” or a “How To Box Video” starring Manny Pacquiao and some guy who looked like Oscar De La Hoya’s older brother.  Now I am not a boxing aficionado by any means but I am a sports fan I know one thing, that was EMBARRASSING!!!  For those of you who may have missed it. On Saturday night there was supposed to be a fight to declare the unofficial “pound for pound champion in boxing”. (Yes! Boxing is still around) The problem was, only one fighter showed up and here’s a hint, it WASN’T Oscar De La Hoya.

Foreshadowed by a undercard full of lopsided fights that ended quickly and watching Jim Lampley and the HBO crew scramble for 45 minutes, you knew this fight wasn’t going to be pretty and you were right.  As soon as I saw the tale of the tape, I saw the writing on the wall.  A MUCH shorter Pacquiao (5′6″,’stache not included) gained 6.5lbs overnight and De La Hoya gained only 1lb.  By fight time there was only a pound advantage for Pacquiao but there is something to be said when the bigger (5′10″) who normally fights at a higher weight class can’t even match the 6lbs the much smaller and naturally lighter Filipino was able to gain.  Was he too tired to eat?  Did he even care? Was this all getting boring for him? All of those questions scare me and are my biggest problems with boxing as a sport.

When you look at De La Hoya’s career you can by no means say he has ever taken the easy road.  He has defeated 18 current or former champions and I am not insinuating he is a ducker like Fedor Emelianenko in MMA but when you look at the payouts he is receiving at this point in his career, you might agree with me when I ask how hard he is willing to train when he is guaranteed to make $20M+ win or lose.  Granted he is a boxer, probably the most competitive breed of athlete in this day and age, to get punched in the face for a living you have to be either competitive or crazy. And with his interviews and massively successful promotional company (Golden Boy Promotions) he is certainly not the latter.  When I saw he was rumoured to be paid $50M win or LOSE for his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May of 2007, I definitely questioned what was really bringing these fights about.

At least the Mayweather fight was for a title, so you could almost believe it wasn’t just for the ridiculous pay out.  You can almost believe the Golden Boy was motivated by the talk he may have lost it and wanted to prove he was still the pound for pound the best fighter in the world when he fought the Pac-Man.  But when you actually watched what transpired Saturday night, that all went out the window like one of Larry Merchant’s crazy-ass, long-winded questions.

How can we fix this?  I am not sure boxing can be saved but I have a thought to make it more interesting and it is borrowed from the sport some say is taking over for boxing, MMA.  In MMA, a majority of the fighters are paid PEANUTS compared even to the guy who rings the bell at main events in boxing.  That isn’t because the promoters are ripping these guys off (well maybe a little) but because the sport is still in its embryonic stage.  They do have a great way of making these guys fight a lot harder than most boxers, win bonuses. UFC for example, gives out a win bonus (usually it doubles the fighters base pay), a Fight of the Night bonus, Knock Out of the Night bonus and even a Submission of the Night bonus for usually $10,000. When you’re getting paid only $6,000 to step up and fight, that’s a pretty nice chunk of change and it not only gives these underpaid fighters more of a reason to make the fight exciting but to genuinely care how hard they train and what happens in the ring (or Octagon).

Now I am sure some boxers get cuts of pay per views, gates and all that but I mean bonuses off each other, almost like a bet.  I read a rumour that De La Hoya and Pacquiao agreed to put up 10% of their respected purses for the fight and I thought that was great but as far as I know it was only that, a rumour.  Take this exact fight, from what I heard, De La Hoya was promised 60% of the cut and Manny of course 40% but the side bet would even it out at 50%.  Of course 50% of say $100M isn’t too shabby no matter how you cut it but when you are putting up 10% of the money you can earn it also becomes a pride thing.  I know when I make my weekly $5 bet at work regarding anything from who goes the bathroom first to who talks first, I try my hardest to beat those other bastards.  Not only because the $5 will get me one more beer that Friday but because I don’t wanna have these guys to wave that money in my face like I always do to them.

Maybe my money scheme won’t save boxing or even make it more interesting but they have to do something.  Because showing up, getting out-punched 229 to 39 and having to throw in the effing towel in 8th round of a fight you were never in and still getting paid millions, is about as interesting as watching as my co-workers faces go blue after their morning coffees after a “First to pee bet”.  Ok, maybe not even that interesting.  So do us a favour Golden Boy, either train harder, fight competition that fits your style or join Blanche, Rose, Sofia and Dorothy in retirement.  (Golden Girl’s reference…YES!!!)

Peace!