The big sports who paid $2,000 a pop -the highest list price- got a nasty surprise when they finally got their tickets in the mail recently. These fine customers expected to be sitting ringside on the floor of the MGM Grand Arena, rubbing elbows with the stars.
Stars from stage, screen and hip hop - not stars from another galaxy.
Most of the high-priced seats, while not in nose-bleed territory, should come with oxygen tanks and telescopes.
Put it another way: Three cheers for Golden Boy Promotions. Hooray, hooray, hooray for showing that it's okay to rip off the privileged.
According to Richard Schaefer, the CEO of the promotional company that is going to save boxing, 65 percent of the 16,200 or so seats at the MGM were priced at $2,000. He must have known something, because 100 percent of the tickets were gone within three hours of being put on sale.
The $2,000 price tag assured that the “biggest fight in history,” as egotistical Floyd Mayweather Jr. keeps referring to his upcoming clash with the greedy Oscar de la Hoya, would at least be the richest.
Money, money, money. If I wanted to write about finances, I'd have tried for the Wall Street Journal (wouldn't have made it, but that's academic). Money is what this fight is all about.
Front-row seats, I am told, are now going for up to $35,000 on the black market. De la Hoya could make well over $30 million, not a bad night's work for a somewhat over-the-hill 34-year-old pug, and that's not counting what his company could earn from the record $19 million plus gate and expected record pay-per-view bonanza that could produce, in all, a record $100 million gross.
“We want this to go down as the night that saved boxing,” yodeled Schaefer, an old Swiss banker.
His thought is echoed on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated: “The Fight to Save Boxing.” It is the first time in more than a quarter-century, or since Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney, that the magazine has deemed a fight preview worthy of its cover.
Maybe the only way to save boxing is to alienate its best customers as the means to thank them for helping to gild Golden Boy. Jose Sulaiman, the Alfonso Bedoya (“Badge, badge, I don't got to show you no stinkin' badge” from “Treasure of the Sierra Madre”) of the WBClowns, was heard complaining about the location of the sanctioning body's freebies. But if anyone is tempted to tear up a $2,000 ticket in protest against the seat location, let us not blame the so-called “villain” of this soap opera.
Mayweather could make maybe $12 million, but from the start he has said “it was never about the money - I'm rich, it's about legacy.”
For the guy in the black hat who showed up wearing $1 million worth of jewelry at this week's press conference, it's about satisfying his humongous ego, for which I salute him. The kid has pride. He's put in 20 years in this game, he reminds us regularly, learning and perfecting his trade and if he's not as good as he thinks, he's damn good and the best of his generation. In Oscar, he shrewdly has found a shortcut through Sugar Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Antonio Margarito and good old Al (as in “et al”). He beats de la Hoya, he doesn't have to fight all those tough opponents. If he wants to bail out, never to feel pain in his brittle hands again, the boxing world would gladly give him an extra round of applause and many would say good riddance.
If he loses, his legacy would be just another loud-mouthed boor who finally got his come-uppance. It's not going to happen, but there are many eager clients who want to see de la Hoya punish the braggart he calls “the brat.”
“He asked for it and he's gonna get it,” said de la Hoya, who has played his part well, the aggrieved and insulted hero.
Don't believe the hype. De la Hoya talks the talk and counts the change. He says it's the biggest fight of his career, but that's only if he means financially. He loses, so what? He's still going to the hall of fame as one of the best boxers of his generation, whose legacy will always be bigger than his talent. He loses, his sicko fans can always say, correctly, that he was a bit past it. In his prime, which he's not at the age of 34 and with a 2-2 record over the last four years, he was at the very least competitive - on those occasions when he wasn't dominant - against the finest practitioners in the game. Only while under the promotional aegis of the cautionary Bob Arum, unwilling to risk his Golden Goose, did he not seek out the best opponents. There is nothing Mayweather can do, and this includes administering a thorough beating, that can diminish de la Hoya's war record.
Of course, that record should not have him proclaimed as “the greatest of his generation,” as someone I doubt has covered boxing wrote in ESPN the Magazine. At equal weights, the over-under on de la Hoya lasting with Roy Jones Jr. might have been five rounds. And as far as selling tickets, even the diminished post-prison Mike Tyson was the undisputed champion.
Yes, if in his dotage de la Hoya beats the man generally regarded as currently the best pound-for-pound, it would be a nice feather in the cap. But he would still be measured by his bouts with Pernell Whitaker, Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad, Sugar Shane Mosley, the remnants of Julio Cesar Chavez and good old et al. Mayweather, if he loses, would become a self-hyped myth.
De la Hoya is not interested in feathers; he's after the scratch. This promotion caps his drive to make Golden Boy a major player in an arena where is biggest rivals are old men, Arum and Don King. It is cash, not trash from Mayweather's mouth, that motivates the Golden Boy. He says “we're promoting like no one hs ever promoted” and all you have to do is look at the nondescript pay-per-view undercard to see that boxing's Midas doesn't allow even his “partners” to touch his gold. For $55, a televiewer should be given more than a Rocky Juarez tuneup and a meeting of two unknown prospects. The former junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma, one of Golden Boy's fighters, asked to be on this card. Someone like Ike Quartey or Vernon Forrest would have made for a nice match. Or Joan Guzman, one of the finest boxers around but unknown to the general public, could have been given some valuable exposure.
That, however, would have meant extracting some of de la Hoya's take, and it has long been like pulling teeth to negotiate with Oscar - just ask his “partner,” Mosley, who was so incensed at an offer from Oscar for a rematch after first beating the Golden Boy that, on principle (yes, even in boxing), he took much less to get himself whipped by Vernon Forrest.
Let's face it. Oscar is greedy. It makes him a good businessman in a cut-throat business. And with the expectations of a $30 million payday, business is very, very good.
During the negotiations, Mayweather gave de la Hoya anything he wanted, from weight limit to choice of gloves, just for the chance to share center stage in what and put his 37-0 career into the conscience of the general public. Boxing is an incredibly shrinking pastime, and there are those who would say “hallelujah!”, but it is not dying.
Overseas, in Europe and Asia, it is thriving. Over here, it is always on the cusp of revival. Someone out there, maybe in Manassa or Brockton, Louisville or Detroit, is even now building the muscles that will help him pick up the sport. There will be big fights again, maybe not for a while, but then, this isn't that big a fight, either.
This is not a great confrontation that has captured or captivated the country the way such clashes as Jack Johnson-James Jeffries, Jack Dempsey-Gene Tunney or what Budd Schulberg identifies as the No. 1 fight of all time, the rematch between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. In my lifetime, the biggest fight has to be the first meeting between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, two undefeated claimants to the heavyweight title.
This could easily be boxing's latest sad example of the slipping icon being overmatched against the younger stud. No, it is nowhere near as hopeless, say, as Muhammad Ali's pathetic attempt to come back against Larry Holmes, another tasteless exercise in making money. Unlike that 1980 mismatch, the old guy does have a chance, several in fact, of winning. Mayweather is not a “mortal lock,” as Willie Sneakers used to say at the track.
On ESPN.com, a reader poll picks Mayweather by only 53-47 percent. Stranger, over on fightnews.com, where one would think hard-core boxing fans would know better, an amazing 62 percent think DE LA HOYA is going to win - and 42 percent think he's going to knock out Pretty Boy. The odds on Mayweather have declined, as expected, from minus $2.20 (how much one has to bet in order to win $1) to minus $1.70 in some precincts. Anything less than minus $2 seems to be a bargain. People love underdogs and de la Hoya is not only a live one, there probably are many out there who will wager with their hearts, rooting for Oscar and/or hoping Mayweather gets his mouth shut.
It's possible. Mayweather could hurt both hands and become virtually defenseless. That's what his father was talking about while still de la Hoya's trainer. Months ago, Floyd Sr. was saying his son's hands might not be able to stand up if he had to use them often to keep off the bigger, stronger and more powerful puncher. De la Hoya demanded the use of Reyes gloves, which offer hands less protection than Mayweather's preferred Japanese-made Winning gloves. I worry that the reason that the 37-0 Mayweather, at 30, says this is going to be his last fight has nothing to do with his proclamation that he's already done it all, but an acknowledgement that his hands are on their last legs.
The hands bothered him in his last start, a boring 12-round decision over the ordinary Carlos Baldomir. Floyd has had fewer problems since Rafael Garcia took over wrapping his hands six years ago, but there was some pain, obviously, from the way he did not keep punching Baldomir last November, causing many fans to leave in the tenth round.
Unless there's a fluke - punches to the elbows, say - it seems unlikely that de la Hoya will be able to dictate to a defensive genius who's footwork is far, far superior. Freddie Roach, the esteemed trainer who replaced Floyd Mayweather Sr. in Oscar's corner, said he was shocked that someone who's been around as long as de la Hoya, especially someone who's had such success, going back to an amateur career that culminated with a 1992 Olympic gold medal, knew so little about cutting off a ring.
Roach said de la Hoya quickly learned in camp, but old dogs and new tricks don't go together in the heat of battle. Besides, it is not de la Hoya's nature to stalk, to hunt, to attack. If he goes after Mayweather, it is likely that he will be running into a slicing machine. De la Hoya thinks he's quick-handed; he's going to be more surprised than Mayweather will be at the speed of the opponent.
Some strategists believe de la Hoya will best be served by staying back and making Mayweather, who loves counterpunching, perform the uncomfortable task of leading. These planners think Oscar's height advantage - 5-10_ to 5-8 - will make it awkward for Mayweather to jump in and land combinations and get out safely before being countered. This was one of the prime reasons the 5-9 Mosley had so many problems with the 6-foot Forrest - he couldn't throw four-and-five-punch combinations.
Mayweather is smart enough to land one or two and move back out. He is very accomplished at staying “in the pocket,” making the opponent miss and then countering. And disappearing again. Even if de la Hoya occasionally gets Mayweather's back on the ropes - a position from which the younger man loves to work - he will discover that no one, perhaps since Willie Pep, has better moves at escaping. This was one of the things the late Eddie Futch loved about Mayweather from the start.
It could be a dull contest but one in which Pretty Boy will be able to save a lot of wear and possible tear on his hands. As Mayweather slyly pointed out repeatedly in the long buildup, Oscar usually proclaims himself “in the best condition of my life” before every big fight, then fades at the end. No one in boxing is ever in better shape than Floyd Mayweather Jr., who would interrupt an orgy to go for a five-mile run. He loves the gym, he loves the road and, most of all, he loves being undefeated.
Every way I look at it, I see Mayweather winning. Inside, outside, he is the superior boxer. De la Hoya's big chance is his left hook, but Floyd knows that. It is unlikely that Oscar will have too many open shots with it. Oscar, a southpaw who fights from an orthodox stance, is basically a one-handed fighter (one hand is better than none, however….). I can't see a one-handed fighter outboxing Mayweather.
There is a worry that de la Hoya, whose knockout by Bernard Hopkins did not convince everyone (especially Bob Arum), may get so frustrated he might be tempted to pull a “Poopoo) and quit like Popo, Acelino Freitas, did last week. Don't think so. Oscar's silk sheets undoubtedly have a lot more starch than the Brazilian's. He is a competitor. And as long as he is standing, which should be all 12 rounds, he is going to believe that one left hook could turn the tide. Or maybe Uncle Roger Mayweather will snap again and rush into the ring, getting Pretty Boy disqualified.
Of course, there's another way Mayweather could lose. Any two of the three judges - Jerry Roth and Chuck Giampa of Nevada and Tom Kaczmarek of New Jersey - could have a bad night. Me, I wouldn't worry about the judges. It shouldn't be close.
PLOT TWIST: Speaking of Uncle Roger, who didn't cross the line of good taste that most of his family members have long erased, he jumped across, at the ritual final press conference by disgracefully insulting Freddie Roach. What if Roger, whose license was suspended for a year by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (he was also fined $250,000) for running into the ring when Zab Judah fouled young Floyd, had physically gone after Roach? The Nevada commission would have had to ban him and perhaps reunited Little Floyd with his father in the corner. Big Floyd, presumably, then would have had to give back to de la Hoya the four tickets he received from Oscar.
PENTHOUSE: Juan Diaz should not be penalized because Poopoo Freitas quit again. The Baby Bull fought well and he fought valiantly, especially in the early going when Freitas still had the illusion he could win. Now Diaz should do the right thing and go after the real lightweight champion, Joel Casamayor. That would be a match where both contestants were trying….Also, hurrah for Jin Mosley, Sugar Shane's bride, for getting accreditation to Benn Schulberg, one of boxingtalk.com's bright young stars; Benn's other task fight night will be to escort his 93-year-old dad, the great Budd Schulberg, around - finally, Golden Boy did the right thing and came up with a credential for the legendary writer….I hope they also took care of accrediting Steve Farhood, the ShoBox analyst, former Ring magazine editor-in-chief, Boxing Monthly correspondent, maxboxing.com columnist, vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America and…hell, he's Steve Farhood.
OUTHOUSE: Poopoo Freitas. It was bad enough that he quit again. He raised many shackles when he ran out on Diego Corrales when the tide turned against him - violence is okay as long as he isn't the one suffering. But against Freitas he did it again after the eighth round with his trainer, Oscar Suarez, imploring him - according to the HBO translation - to continue. “The fight's not over, the fight starts now,” said Suarez, who later would try to absolve Freitas by claiming he stopped the bout. But it was more than just quitting this time. Freitas's corner lifted him up and paraded him around the ring, as he grinned and pounded his chest as if on a victory lap. The sorry explanation was that it was to celebrate his career. Bull….By the way, if this fight is so big, how come the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America, Tim Graham, is covering ice hockey?
M
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