Floyd Mayweather Has A Chronic Problem

By ‘chronic’ we’re not inferring drug use, although we’d probably risk The Sporting Orange money vault on Mayweather testing positive for something. But the real problem is Oscar De La Hoya. According to De La Hoya, despite losing Saturday night’s match-up, the fight after the fight has just begun.

We hope “The Pretty Boy” enjoys a full dose of “Encino Man,” “Jury Duty,” and “Bio-dome,” because that’s what Dr. De La Hoya is prescribing from now until February 3rd, 2008.
The Fight After the Fight
Ouch!

Thanks to the guys at Funny or Die for the video.

Cinco De Mayweather

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a dickhead. In fact, I think he is the Terrell Owens of boxing. During his split-decision victory over Oscar De La Hoya on Saturday, Mayweather made it a point to mock De La Hoya as much as possible. It all started when Mayweather entered the ring wearing a sombrero along with a robe and trunks with Mexico’s flag on them (see left) to insult De La Hoya’s Mexican-American heritage on Cinco de Mayo. Mayweather was accompanied by a rapping 50 Cent, who reportedly bet $1 million on Mayweather to win the fight. The jeering continued in the ring, as Mayweather smiled at De La Hoya whenever Oscar appeared to have landed a decent punch.

The fight was rather disappointing in terms of big punches landed. It did not appear that either fighter was injured by any of their opponents punches throughout the entire fight. Both fighters ended the fight without showing any swelling or blood on their faces. This was a fight of missed punches for De La Hoya, and quick feet for Mayweather. One intangible for De La Hoya was the crowd, which was dominantly in his favor, and showed it by breaking out into cheers for Oscar whenever he landed a punch. Mayweather made his punches count, landing 43% of his punches to only 21% for De La Hoya. While Mayweather did not spark many attacks, he was clearly the winner. The decision should have been unanimous for Mayweather, but nonetheless, he still earned the 154 pound World Boxing Council title.

I lucked out by getting to watch the fight with a horde of drunk idiots who knew nothing about boxing, because whenever De La Hoya would go on one of his flurries without actually making any contact with Mayweather, these guys would go crazy cheering for Oscar. One guy even ran around the room cheering at the top of his lungs and taunting the Mayweather fans after the results were announced. He thought that De La Hoya was the new champion, until his father yelled “Mayweather won, you asshole!” (Note: people who mistakenly think they know a lot about sports are douches).

My favorite quotes from Mayweather post-fight were:

• “It was easy work for me”
• “He was rough and tough, but he couldn’t beat the best.”
• “That was one of my easiest fights, actually.”
• “I showed you why I am the best fighter of this era.”
  

What an asshole.

Update: The fight can be seen in its entirety here. I suggest you watch it ASAP before it is taken down.

Boxing Will Never Die

The De La Hoya-Mayweather fight is being billed as boxing’s last chance. Pay-Per-Views are down and casual fans, which every sport needs, are not there. And, as the SI story claims, this may be the last chance to make this sport mainstream again.

Yes, boxing needs more oversight and now has to deal with the UFC as a legitimate competitor for dollars, but the sport is not dead or dying. Why? Because our most basic instinct as humans is to fight, and boxing and UFC provide us with that. Fight fans will watch both sports. What boxing needs to do is shrink, isolating the true contenders from the tomato cans. That will bring in casual fans. We can’t have an Ali or Frazer if they have to fight garbage in their first 20 bouts.

Boxing is also about personalities, something UFC lacks except for Ortiz and Liddell. This weekend’s fight is compelling because one guy is hated because he is so successful, the other because he is a jackass. Boxing will always have that, and as long as we want one guy to wear the black hat, boxing will survive. We may not be in the Golden Age of the sport, but that doesn’t mean it’s ready to die.
There’s one other thing about boxing. There are young phenoms out there like this guy once was.