Oscar/Floyd - The Kurt Edition

The first time I met Oscar De La Hoya, it was like meeting Santa Claus. It was at a weigh-in on a show that his promotional company, Golden Boy, Inc. of course, was promoting for HBO's now defunct HBO-Latino series. I managed a prospect who was fighting in the main event against one of Golden Boy's fighters. Nevertheless, to get to Oscar, I had to stand in line and watch everybody in front of me shake his hand, say a few words and then get their picture taken with him.

I was there strictly for business, however. At the time, not only did I have a fighter in the main event of their show, but I also represented Cory Spinks, who was then the undisputed welterweight champion of the world. I wanted to appeal directly to the Golden Boy himself to try to get my man Spinks in the ring with him. When I finally got to Oscar, he was as you see him in every interview, very pleasant, but calculatingly pleasant, saying all the right things about Spinks - he's a great fighter, good bloodlines, etc. Bottom line, Spinks never got the fight - too much risk for too little reward.

That won't be the case for Floyd Mayweather on Saturday night. He's got the fight and for both he and Oscar, there will be some risk but a huge pile of money as the reward. Time Warner/HBO has put the their full weight behind marketing this fight and though the pretentious title of the promotion "The World Awaits" has been ridiculed - the fight has made the cover of Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine and even the Wall Street Journal.

The most fun part of seeing the main stream media cover this is just how ignorant they've become about the sport. As Matthew Aguilar of Boxingtalk.com astutely points out, in the ESPN the Mag article, they tapped a non-boxing writer to do it and he consistently referred to venerable trainer Emanuel Steward as Emanuel "Stewart". Aguilar rightly points out that this is akin to referring to the Super Bowl champion Colts' coach Tony Dungy as "Tom" Dungy (or worse Tony Dung). The article in the WSJ was also amusing as they gave a very academic breakdown of the fight - "Mr. Mayweather's success is due to his defensive style in which he endeavors to put his right glove next to his right ear . . ."

Regardless, I'm just happy to see boxing grab the spotlight once again, no matter how poorly the mainstream shmoes are at writing about it. As an insider in the sport, I'm just hoping against hope that we don't get one of the following:

a) A boring fight - this is a definite possibility as Oscar's best chance to win is to box and make Floyd lead and reach for him. If Oscar chooses to come forward, Floyd will more than likely stink it out and potshot him to death. Lord please let a slugfest break out at some point;

b) A controversial decision that goes the wrong way - nothing makes people lose faith in the sport more than a bad decision. All of the conspiracy theories have about the sport, that fights are fixed, the mob is involved, Don King influences everything (lol he's not even involved) will all be floated should the decision suck; or

c) Another Roger Mayweather ring bum rush - please keep this fool away from the ring during rounds. The last thing boxing needs is another crazy incident to ruin a big event (please no fanman, ear biting or even a wardrobe malfunction).

As far as a prediction goes, it's hard to imagine Oscar overcoming Floyd's speed when he couldn't overcome Shane Mosley's speed in two tries (though I thought he did win the second one). Like most people, I see Oscar having some moments early when he's fresh and Floyd's tight. I see Floyd making the necessary adjustments in the middle rounds and controlling it to the final bell. I think it will be an interesting fight though not anywhere near the league of Leonard-Hearns or Leonard-Duran I. Pretty Boy WU12 Golden Boy.

Kurt Emhoff is a true friend of No Mas, a boxing manager and aficionado. He's represented some of the best in the biz, including the aformentioned Cory Spinks, Winky Wright, Peter Manfredo, and a favorite of ours here in No Mas, Dmitriy Salita.