The Last "Great" Fight

The dust has settled, the talk show lines have quieted, and now's a good time to look back at the fight that was supposed to "save" boxing.

The Floyd Mayweather - Oscar De La Hoya match up was certainly the most anticipated fight in a long time, and it brought together two of the most skilled fighters to strap on the gloves in my generation. De La Hoya was the name, Mayweather was the story. It was the perfect storm...the fight to shove boxing back into the mainstream; the fight to save a struggling sport whose biggest stories right now are a 7-foot freak show and Mike Tyson training in Vegas in front of spectators like a caged bear.

Just one problem: Whoever is supposed to be in charge of saving boxing picked the wrong fight.

On paper it looked great. De La Hoya ranks right up there with Tyson and Holyfield when it comes to fighter notoriety. Mayweather was undefeated, a known commodity among boxing circles but not even close to a household name. Then came the HBO series 24/7, and suddenly America was introduced to the insanity that is Floyd Mayweather's world.

Interest started to grow by leaps and bounds. Mayweather morphed into an egotistical punk right before out eyes. Sympathy and support grew for De La Hoya. In Grand Rapids, Mayweather's home town, sports talk show phone lines burned up with people voicing their desire to see Floyd "get what he deserved" from Oscar. The fight had its hero, and its villain. Everything was falling into place.

Except no one seemed to realize that the fight was fatally flawed to the point that there was no possible way for it to live up to it's billing. No one seemed to want to listen to all the experts and pundits proclaim this would be a tactful, strategic match up that would go the distance. The casual fans (me) who were shelling out their money for the Pay-Per-View (me again) still had memories of Tyson throwing haymakers at every corner; envisioning a veritable slugfest that would leave only one man standing.

No way that was going to happen.

If you've ever seen Floyd Mayweather box, you know he is insanely quick, and has some of the fastest hands boxing has seen. He's impossible to catch in the ring, he easily blocks jabs, and is a superb counter-puncher. He knows how to keep himself just out of arm's reach to keep from getting hurt, and still connect enough to win the round. In a word, watching Mayweather fight is BORING!

And yet, knowing better, I still wanted to believe. I wanted to see if Mayweather, standing on the verge of boxing immortality, would reach back and be able to find the power to lay De La Hoya out. I wanted to see if De La Hoya, on his last boxing legs, could muster some of his old magic and connect with that left hook. Instead, I got exactly what I paid for. 12 rounds of strategic ducking and weaving, jabbing and counter-punching. Exactly how you win a fight without getting hurt.

And with that, the air is being let out of boxing's balloon. The sport has always had competitors, but has been able to hold fan's interest thanks to marquee stars and faulty execution by their rivals. But times and audiences are changing, and boxing is lacking the tools to keep up.

Consider this:

-Boxing's top heavyweights right now are two brothers from Russia. While they love to throw punches, they have vowed never to fight each other. Which eliminates the most intriguing matchup of that weight class. Americans to this day still have a hard time rooting for a Russian anyway, but who cares when their top competition includes a 7-foot giant who's got to the be the 1/2 brother of Lurch.

-The WWE and UFC are growing, both in fan base and exposure. You can see some form of UFC or other mixed martial arts fighting on a dozen different channels nowdays. While boxing is widley available as well, it's so disjointed and disorganized, people have trouble following it. They'd rather be spoon-fed their sports. Which leads to the biggest cause of boxing's decline...

-Lack of action. Wait, lack of action? You're talking about a sport in which people punch each other for 12 rounds, right? Yeah, I am. But for my generation, our 6-second attention spans need to be fed constantly. There's too much strategy and ducking in boxing. Viewers prefer the slugfest that is UFC fighting and professional wrestling. We want ACTION, even if it's fake. And that's another reason why the UFC is growing...that stuff is REAL. It's just a mass of limbs and chokeholds, with the only rule seeming to be just don't kill the guy.


And so boxing shoved its chips in the middle, but in my opinion, they overbet their hand. But hey, it's Vegas, that stuff happens. Now, isn't Mike Tyson supposed to be fighting a cougar somewhere....