De La Hoya-Mayweather boxing match

"De La Hoya vs. Mayweather: The World Awaits to Be Bored" was a boxing super welterweight superfight which took place on May 5, 2007, at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada between six-division world champion Oscar De La Hoya (38-4, 30 KO) and undefeated four-division champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (37-0, 24 KO). The match was one of the most lucrative boxing matches ever, with over $120 million in generated revenue.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. won by split decision over Oscar De La Hoya in 12 rounds, capturing the World Boxing Council (WBC) light middleweight title.

Details

The fight took place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada under the promotion of Golden Boy Promotions. It was contested at 154 pounds, with De La Hoya defending his WBC light middleweight championship.

Tickets sold out three hours after they went on sale on Saturday, January 27, 2007. With the sellout, the bout generated over $19 million in live gate, shattering the previous record of $16,860,300 set by the November 13, 1999, heavyweight championship rematch between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis at the Thomas & Mack Center. [http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2747601 ESPN - Roach named to train De La Hoya - Boxing ] ]

The fight was televised on HBO Pay-Per-View, with the cost to watch the fight at $55 in the U.S. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1615178,00.html Will the De La Hoya-Mayweather Fight Save Boxing? - TIME ] ]

Judges Jerry Roth (115-113) and Chuck Giampa (116-112) scored the fight for Mayweather while judge Tom Kaczmarek had De La Hoya winning, 115-113.

Hype

As part of the buildup for the fight, HBO produced an unprecedented four-part prelude. The series, titled "De La Hoya-Mayweather 24/7", aired installments on the final three Sundays of April, with the fourth installment which came on Thursday, May 3, two days before the fight. The series focused on each fighter's training and preparation for the bout.

An interesting subplot to the fight concerned whether De La Hoya would be trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr., the estranged father of De La Hoya's opponent. Mayweather Sr. had served as De La Hoya's trainer since 2001 . Mayweather Sr. announced his willingness to train De La Hoya after initially declining to oppose his son, but demanded a $2 million fee in light of the enormous revenue to be generated by the fight. De La Hoya declined to meet Mayweather Sr.'s demands, making a counteroffer of $500,000 guaranteed plus an additional $500,000 contingent on De La Hoya winning the fight. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2007-01-15-de-la-hoya-mayweather_x.htm Mayweather Sr. wants raise to train De La Hoya vs. 'my son' - USATODAY.com ] ] Ultimately, the sides were unable to come to an agreement and De La Hoya hired the highly-respected Freddie Roach to be his cornerman instead.

Although Mayweather Sr. reunited with his son at the start of Floyd Jr.'s training camp, he had no official role, as Floyd Jr. opted to retain his uncle, Roger Mayweather, as his trainer instead. Mayweather Sr. left the camp by the end of April, upset over not being chosen as trainer and by comments made by his son and his brother on the "24/7" show.

Fight earnings

The De La Hoya-Mayweather fight set the record for most PPV buys for a boxing match with 2.4 million households, shattering the previous record of 1.99 million for Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson II. Around $120 million in revenue was generated by the PPV. Factoring in the percentages, Oscar De La Hoya ended up earning $52 million for the bout, the highest purse ever for a fighter. The previous record was $35 million, held by Tyson and Holyfield. Floyd Mayweather earned $25 million for the fight. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2865349 ESPN - De La Hoya 'ecstatic' that fight was richest ever - Boxing ] ] [ [http://www.hbo.com/boxing/events/2007/0505_delahoya_mayweather/news/instant_update.html Hbo: Boxing: Event: Hbo Pay Per View: Oscar De La Hoya Vs. Floyd Mayweather: Cinco De Mayweather ] ]

eptember 20th rematch

De la Hoya and Mayweather were scheduled for a rematch on September 20th, 2008. However, unlike the first fight, the fight would have been contracted for 147 lbs. or the welterweight limit. The first fight was contracted at light middleweight or 154 lbs and de la Hoya's WBC junior middleweight title was on the line. However, Mayweather would have come in as champion and defended his WBC/The Ring welterweight titles. De la Hoya's last fight against Stephen Forbes (33-6) was on May 3 with Floyd's father: Floyd Mayweather, Sr. as his trainer. De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) dominated and won a unanimous decision over Forbes, winning decisively - 119-109, 119-109 and 120-108.

The rematch never did take place due to Mayweather's retirement. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/7441343.stm BBC SPORT | Boxing | Mayweather announces retirement ] ]

References