by Ron Robbins

Created on: March 02, 2007   Last Updated: May 14, 2007

On May 5th, Oscar de la Hoya (38-4 30KO), perhaps one of the most exciting, highest earning sports figures in the history of boxing, or any sport, will face off, hoping to defend his WBC Light Middleweight title, against the man widely considered to be the best pound for pound boxer in the world, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (37-0 24KO).

This is a very interesting match up, and I'm not jumping on the Mayweather bandwagon for this. Floyd apparently wants to retire undefeated after beating Oscar, and considers himself the best fighter in the history of the sport. While I agree that he's very amazingly talented, he has flaws, and Oscar is an experienced veteran. If you look at every opponent Oscar has faced, and it's an amazing list of fighters, none of his opponents have losing records. None of his losses, besides to Bernard Hopkins (knockout loss), were terribly one sided. He's not a guy who loses easily.

Floyd Mayweather is undefeated in 37 professional matches, proving to be one of the most talented, naturally gifted boxers perhaps in history. His speed is amazing, his defense is great, but it leaves many loopholes that I imagine Oscar is savvy enough to understand. He's also had the lesser opposition between the two. If Floyd keeps his left hand down as per usual, it's going to be a quick night. This is exactly how Oscar knocked out Jeff Mayweather.

De La Hoya's 5th professional win was a 4th round TKO over 23-2-2 Jeff Mayweather. While this was very early in Oscar's career, the similarities between the two Mayweathers in style and ring generalship are remarkable. Jeff was obviously no Floyd, as his record suggested, but he looked every bit the part. Their styles were obviously molded from the same gym.

On the other hand, Mayweather could come in, and decide to run around the ring, avoiding Oscar for the entire night, and land random shots here and there to build up points in a thoroughly dull, one-sided fight. That's what happened the last time I reviewed a Mayweather fight.

I was completely wrong about Floyd the night he stepped in against the undisputed Welterweight champion Carlos Manuel Baldomir, in his latest ring confrontation. I think Mayweather was exposed in a rather large fashion as far as marketability goes. Celebrities were leaving the arena before the fight was over; Tiger Woods, Charles Barkley, Winky Wright.

Mayweather does just not take the necessary steps he needs to excite his fans and create revenue within the sport that he's become an iconic symbol

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