Mayweather vs. De La Hoya

[exnihilo]

This was probably the most hyped fight in the history of boxing, and it certainly turned out to be fairly well matched. Unfortunately, this is a perfect example of why boxing is losing ground to MMA. The fight was somewhat indecisive, though Floyd was the better boxer and had more gas, Oscar landed the harder shots in general. If you weren't knowledgeable about boxing you probably wouldn't be able to call that fight either way. What this fight did have was two personalities, which is something boxing has been lacking as of late.

Most people want to see a fight with a decisive outcome, where there are clear cut winners and losers. The rules of boxing, with 24-36 minute fights being the norm (compared to 15-25 in MMA), the ability in boxing to have a "perfect defense" and the larger gloves result in slow, grinding fights with often inconclusive outcomes. Don't get me wrong, I like a good boxing fight, but this fight didn't do anything to disprove the people who think boxing is going to die.

 

[Bionic]

I thought it was a very boring showing. Neither of them were really strong enough to hurt the other. It seems that they focused mainly on speed rather than speed and power. And the hype and back-story were all totally bogus and was evident, to me at least, from the very beginning. At any rate, I totally agree w/everything you said.
Did you happen to hear when Larry Merchant made a stab at MMA saying something along the lines of..."Boxers have strategies and skill-sets not present in MMA." ? This was just a para-phrase but it was completely ridiculous and baseless. It was a prime example of someone speaking about a subject that they now nothing about.
I want to also bring something up that I did on another thread. It was about bringing the yellow-card into the UFC. I think as the sport progresses and guys start making more money, you are going to start to see guys doing the minimum amount necessary to pull ahead on the judges' scorecards and nothing more ala Roy Jones Jr. and Mayweather (in this fight.) Guys get too complacent and don't want to damage their pretty little faces. What do you all think?

 

[ersatz]

PBF's style isn't too exciting to watch and that coupled with his personality turn a lot of people off to him. Neither fighter seemed to want to stop his opponent but rather score a good shot and carry the round. This is why lots of casual fans like Gatti and Pacman because they will engage their opponent and try to finish the fight. They are technical fighters but they are willing to go for the KO and it makes for exciting fights.

This also translates over to MMA. Some fighters are content not to lose except possibly by decision so they don't take chances and the fight as a result can be very boring. I would like to see the yellow card implemented as well but it violates the rules set forth by many state athletic commissions so I doubt it will occur. Fighters already try to do the minimum to win. Lots of wrestlers are content to get a takedown and LnP for a decision. Or look at the Sanchez Koschek fight, neither wanted to engage or take a risk and the fight sucked. Same could be said for the Arlovski v Werdum fight. But since the UFC values winning more so than entertainment some will fight not to lose. At least with Pride they would bring back some fighters with seemingly horrid records but at least the fighters always took it to their opponent even if they lost.

 

[Rogue Drone]

I think Oscar did almost as well as he could. He's a excellent boxer and ring tactician who lacks the snap he once had. He delayed and abandoned his excellent left jab to set Mayweather back and flurry him for points, I say points versus damage because FM has a beautiful fast hip slip and arm cover defense that very few can penetrate.

Floyd Mayweather is a lousy boxer and an excellent fighter who relies on his blazingly fast hands to pay people back for what they give him. His weakness, which apparently no one has been able to fully exploit, is that he allows others to dicate the offense. De La Hoya had him timed and set back well, but lacks the hand speed and power to capitalize now in his faded form.

I don't follow boxing enough anymore to say if there's anyone at or near Mayweather's weight class who could, apparently not, being at 38-0. Mosley?

In fairness to Mayweather, he's not a natural at that heavy a weight, straight banging with a naturally larger stronger fighter would be a foolish strategy. Floyd has those fast hands, but he's lacking the power to finish at that higher weight.

The last fight I saw before this was Marquez_Barrera, that was a great one, much more exciting than last night's one.