Oscar de la Hoya Fighting Saturday…Yawn
April 29, 2008 by Michael Sedor
Filed under MMA-UFC
Image details: St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital Benefit served by picapp.com
It’s really hard to get excited about Saturday’s 150 lb. bout between Oscar De La Hoya’s tired, pragmatic, money-oozing sheen and The Contender graduate Steve Forbes‘ pleading payday-grabbing genuflection. No one expects a good fight. No one expects Forbes to have much of a chance. Boxing fans will watch out of obligation, thank HBO for gifting us a non-PPV look at the Golden Boy, and beg in our most Tiny Tim-like voice: “Please Sir, can I have another?”
Forbes must be thinking the same thing. Why else would he accept a fight at a light middleweight 150 when he’s ideally a 140 lb. light welterweight. Of course it’s partially the money but what fighter wouldn’t want to bring De La Hoya away from his customary third-row ringside, center-of-the-TV-during-every-big-fight perch?
It’s plausible for Forbes to believe that de la Hoya won’t bring the A-game he faced down Floyd Mayweather, Jr. with last year. He might even be convinced that Oscar’s HBO-24/7-exposed plush pre-Soviet Union Rocky IV lifestyle is accurate and that the chest loads of promotion money have made the Golden Boy soft. Maybe he thinks Oscar might confuse him with the other Steve Forbes, the one that’s the editor of Forbes magazine (seen above). Maybe De La Hoya has prepared twelve rounds of investment questions rather than a fight plan.
Maybe he wants to think this fight could be close.
Maybe he should remember that Oscar’s pretty, red, rosy cheeks will not be as plump and cherubic as his last Mexican-American Angelino opponent, the tiny underachieving Francisco Bojado. If Forbes equates the two that he is fooling himself. De la Hoya is only 35, he’s never left the game, he loves the game, and he’s got a Mayweather rematch on deck when he beats Forbes.
So will I show up? Maybe for the Sunday morning replay; I have live bands to see on Saturday night. The real question is will Steve Forbes show up and even if he does, does he have a chance?
What do you think dear readers? Can Forbes give Oscar a run and us a reason to watch? Will you be thanking gracious HBO with your steadfast viewing or will you find another way to spend your Saturday evening? Please feel free to comment below.
