RSSOscar De La Hoya
Friday, March 09, 2007
De La Hoya-Mayweather Media Tour Ends
Last week “The Golden Boy” Oscar de la Hoya and the “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather completed an 11-city media tour—which included stops in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles—to promote their May 5 “The World Awaits” super fight at the MGM in Las Vegas and live on HBO Pay-Per-View. The nine-day tour brought out a horde of worldwide media outlets and thousands of sports fans in every city.
“I have never seen anything like it,” said Richard Schaefer, Chief Executive Officer of Golden Boy Promotions, the promotional company which is spearheading the historic bout. “Every city was packed with fans and covered by the media, giving us a true indication of the magnitude and significance of this fight.”
Cumulative results include more than 150 television cameras, 200 still photographers, more than 200 print writers, radio and web-based outlets. In addition, tour stops attracted over 20,000 animated fans, including extremely large turnouts in Washington, DC, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles.
Opening the tour to the public, each leg attracted droves of excited fans, as well as local sports stars and dignitaries, enthusiastically caught up in being part of the action. Engulfed in the warm receptions from each city, both fighters worked at feverish paces to greet their fans, take photos, and sign autographs, often times taking nearly an hour out of the fast paced tour to complete each request.
“The turnout was tremendous and a good indication that big time boxing is still alive and people are excited about May 5,” said the Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya. “It was hard not to take the time to meet and greet the fans who, from what I understand, began arriving hours before we got there to be a part of this historic tour.”
“It was great to see so many fans and members of the media come out to see us in each city and cover each event,” said Mayweather. “They have a lot to look forward to on May 5 and they will not be disappointed.”
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Wednesday, March 07, 2007
EEC - March 7, 2007
I can’t think of any more one-liners to put up here, I may have to stop soon…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- The Philadelphia Daily News is reporting that Anthony Thompson will be helping Floyd Mayweather Jr. train for his upcoming fight on May 5th against Oscar De La Hoya. Honestly, I think I’ve said that 50 times in the last two months.
What makes this interesting is that there seems to be a backstory behind it…
Thompson will be part of the camp for six weeks. Several years ago, Thompson was one of the fighters that helped prepare Oscar De La Hoya for his his September 04 bout with then middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins. Thompson spent three weeks helping De La Hoya get ready for Hopkins.
Additionally, the report noted that Hopkins was also in contact with Thompson, making him an offer to join De La Hoya’s camp. Thompson would have joined, if Hopkins would have contacted him earlier, but there was already an agreement to join Mayweather’s camp and he wanted to honor that agreement.
- Despite originally stating that he was going to consider retirement after his win over Scott Gammer last week, Danny Williams has now said that he will not retire and instead will continue on with his career in hopes of facing some of the top heavyweights in the division in the near future
“I have had so much positive feedback from people who said I showed glimpses of world class,” said Williams. My main goal is to get back to the top. I believe I can still compete with champions like (WBC king) Oleg Maskaev. I won the British Title again after coming off two loses against Audley Harrison and Matt Skelton and so I think I can do better next time coming off a decent performance.”
- Jim Lampley has issued a public apology to Candice Sanders in hopes of ending the whole damn thing:
“It is with considerable regret and deep embarrassment that I acknowledge having overreacted to a household dispute with Candice Sanders on New Year’s Eve. As a result of my anger, our dispute has become a matter of public discussion and speculation and I accept responsibility for that. To bring closure to this process, I am offering my full and unconditional apology to Miss Sanders and her family, as well as to all my friends, family and professional colleagues who have been unwarrantedly damaged by the events of that night. Miss Sanders feels very deeply and sincerely, as do I, about the rights of women and children. She will be a powerful symbol on their behalf, and I will thoroughly support and encourage her organized efforts in this regard. At the same time, I would encourage all to look favorably on Candice’s efforts and contribute wholeheartedly to the advancement of this cause.”
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Wednesday, February 28, 2007
EEC - February 28, 2007
The last EEC of the month! Ahhhh!
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Apparently Floyd Mayweather Sr. will now be helping his son train for his fight against Oscar De La Hoya on May 5th. We all knew it was coming…
- Alex Arthur has withdrawn from his fight against Alexander Hrulev on March 10th due to an arm injury.
- Audley Harrison released the following statement concerning his recent loss to Michael Sprott:
Firstly, I would like to say congratulations to Michael (Sprott) for his victory. To my fans, and anyone who cares for my well being, although I am disappointed to have lost, I am physically and mentally OK. As fighters, we aim to inflict maximum damage on our opponents, but at the end of the day it is a sport with a winner and a loser.
The punch (of which I obviously didn’t see!) was a great shot, landed flush and it was sweet goodnight. But as Michael’s expressions showed, it was not in tune with the fight till then and it can be argued it was a lucky shot to some degree.
But that is boxing and no excuses; I ignored the cardinal rule of boxing, and paid the ultimate price (hands up at all times, or at least when in range).
After knocking him down and having such a good first round, I lost focus and went forward rather than sticking to the game plan. I dropped my hands to open him up, hoping to land a clean shot that would send him home. I was sinking in body shots to help soften him up and although he rushed me a bit in the 2nd round I felt it was just a matter of time before I landed a telling blow. (I broke the other rule of boxing here – don’t look for the knockout as it won’t come.)
That is pretty much it, plain and simple. I could mention many things that went wrong in camp or how I was feeling after the high of the Williams win, but it’s irrelevant as I got in there and was good enough to win.
Once again, the papers and critics are out in force, which is understandable and I almost can see their point that my career appears over. But we are talking about ME here and maybe I am delusional or just plain crazy, but I feel determined (maybe more so now) to rectify this loss and move on in my career.
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Friday, February 23, 2007
EEC - February 23, 2007
I seemed to have wasted all of the news on yesterday…
Weekend Fights:
Friday -
Spend Abazi vs Robert Guerrero - Copenhagen, Denmark - IBF Featherweight Title
Johnny Tapia vs Ilido Julio - Albuquerque, NM - Featherweight
Darnell Wilson vs Kelvin Davis - Scranton, PA - Cruiserweight
Saturday -
Chris John vs Jose Rojas - Tenggarong, Indonesia - WBA Featherweight Title
Silvio Branco vs Stipe Drews - Oberhausen, Germany - WBA Light Heayweight Title
Fernando Montiel vs Z Gorres - Cebu, Philippines - WBO Junior Bantamweight Title
Some Good Reads:
ESPN: ‘The World Awaits’ a huge fight, and buildup to match
FOX Sports: Triumph, turmoil were always in Tapia’s corner
Boxing Scene: When The Heart’s Not In It: Audley Harrison & The Great Pretenders
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Thursday, February 22, 2007
Oscar vs Floyd: Will This Be the End of the Golden Road?
I really can not remember ever rooting for Oscar De La Hoya to win a fight. He was the Olympic “Golden Boy” who was turning professional and was going to become the next Sugar Ray Leonard. The hype, the ever present smug smile were just too much for me to take. Things just seemed to come too easily for Oscar. Yes he rang up his winning streak and even captured the WBO junior lightweight title in 1994. Four months later he stopped Jorge Paez to win the WBO lightweight title. He beat the stuffing out of Lorain, Ohio’s Carl “Stuff” Griffith but by 1995 Oscar had yet to meet a serious challenge.
Finally the quality of Oscar’s opposition improved. He beat John John Molina, Genaro Hernandez, Rafael Ruelas and Jesse James Leija. In 1996 he halted Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez in a bloody affair to win the WBC junior welterweight title. Ten months later he met soon to be Hall Of Famer Pernell Whitaker for the WBC welterweight title. Although the scores were 115-111 and 116-110 (twice) for Oscar, a lot of people thought Whitaker had done enough to keep his title.
Continue reading "Oscar vs Floyd: Will This Be the End of the Golden Road?"
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
EEC - February 21, 2007
Think of this as the trash-talking edition of EEC…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- We all know about the blowup at yesterday’s Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr press conference. But did you hear some of the things they said about each other?
While De La Hoya was impressive with his remarks…
“I respect Floyd as a fighter, as the best pound-for-pound in the world.” said De La Hoya. “Come May 5, when I touch you, you’re going to hurt for weeks.”
Pretty Boy Floyd stepped his usual great trash-talking game up to a new level:
“I’m gonna bust his ass. I’m gonna do what I’ve done to 37 others,” Mayweather said. “I’ll bet you $1 million, $2 million, $3 million. Every dime in my bank account if you want. Right now. They kept me in the dark. Now they have to face me. I’m the top glove in the sport.”
- The most interesting remarks of the day however were made by Zab Judah during a recent interview with renowned boxing writer Tim Smith. What did Judah have to say regarding his upcoming fight against Miguel Cotto?
“I’m not Paulie Malignaggi. I’m Zab Judah. They must not know who I am,” Judah said. “Cotto is a little boy. He’s like my son. You know how it is when your son gets out of line and you have to give him a spanking to get him back in line. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to spank him like he’s my son.”
“I’m going to ask Top Rank to have my belt made up ahead of time,” Judah said. “I’m going to get me a float and I’m going to ride in the parade. I’m going to have all his Puerto Rican fans cheering for me at the fight and at the parade.”
Some Good Reads:
Boxing Scene: “Baby” Joe Mesi - The Big Gamble
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Tuesday, February 20, 2007
De La Hoya, Mayweather Trade Shoves at Press Conference
Reports are coming out that Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather exchange words and shoved each other during a pre-fight press conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City…
Mayweather apparently got right ino De La Hoya’s face in began shoving him while talking to him. A short while went by until De La Hoya shoved Mayweather back and everyone gathered to try and separate the two.
I’ll try and have more information on this when I get it…
Monday, February 12, 2007
EEC - February 12, 2007
Not a lot on the whole news front today but there’s still some interesting notes…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- One of Shane Mosley’s next opponents may very well be Miguel Cotto. Cotto’s scheduled June bout against Antonio Margarito is now all but officially cancelled since Margarito signed a contract to face WBO mandatory challenger Paul Williams.
- It seems that Bernard Hopkins is picking his fellow Golden Boy Promotions associate, Oscar De La Hoya to defeat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May…
“Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather will be the first time in history that a fighter’s name gets changed after the fight, from Pretty Boy to Ugly Boy. I’m just telling you how I feel. The opposite of pretty is ugly. There ain’t no in-between. I’m just telling what’s going to happen,” Hopkins said.
- Hasim Rahman has pledged to donate a percentage of the rest of his career earnings to the family of an injured Baltimore detective who was struck by a vehicle driven by Rahman’s brother Karim during a chase from police in which Karim also robbed a convenience store.
Some Good Reads:
The Sweet Science: This Day in History (February 12, 1974)
MaxBoxing: Still Sweet
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Thursday, February 08, 2007
Sugar Ray Leonard to Train Manfredo
Sugar Ray Leonard announced earlier today that he would be training Peter Manfredo Jr. for his upcoming fight against Joe Calzaghe on April 7th.
Leonard is taking the place of Freddie Roach, Manfredo’s usual trainer who has opted to instead train Oscar De La Hoya for his showdown against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5th.
Even though he has never been a trainer before for such a big-name fighter, Leonard was confident that he would do well…
“I’m not a trainer, but my skill is in tactics and strategy,” said Leonard, whose only previous cornering experience was for his brother.
Calzaghe was quick to make it known that having Leonard is his corner isn’t going to help Manfredo any when it comes time to lace up the gloves:
“I don’t care who he has in his corner, he isn’t going to beat me, it’s as simple as that,” said the undefeated 34-year-old.
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens here. This might be the beginning of a new career for Leonard. Who knows - What happens if De La Hoya beats Mayweather and Oscar decides to continue fighting? Would he dump Floyd Mayweather Sr. completely and ask Roach to stay on. That could lead to Manfredo sticking with Leonard.
So many interesting storylines going on right now involving a circle of fights…
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Wednesday, February 07, 2007
EEC - February 7, 2007
Be sure to check back later today for the debut of the KO Corner Divisional Rankings for the month of February…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will embark on an 11-city media tour to hype up their May 5th showdown which is expected to be the biggest fight in boxing history.
The schedule:
Feb 20 - New York City
Feb 21 - Philadelphia, Washington D.C.
Feb 22 - Chicago, Detroit
Feb 23 - Miami
Feb 26 - Houston, Dallas
Feb 27 - San Francisco, Las Vegas
Feb 28 - Los Angeles
- BBC Sport is reporting that Sugar Ray Leonard believes Ricky Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya can both beat Floyd Mayweather Jr…
“The Ricky Hatton that beat Kostya Tszyu in 2005 can beat Floyd Mayweather. He was so focused and in such good physical shape that he would have given anybody at that level a tough time,” Leonard said.
And in regards to De La Hoya…
“Originally, I thought, hands down, Floyd Mayweather would be victorious,” said Leonard. But I’ve changed my mind since then. I’ve been analytical, observed things from a fighter’s stand-point and I think Oscar de la Hoya’s stronger and he’s bigger.
“I don’t think he’s faster because, without question, Floyd Mayweather is super-fast. But I think Oscar de la Hoya has enough of the proper physical attributes to take Mayweather to the limit.”
Some Good Reads:
Boxing Scene: Floyd Mayweather Sr - Chits and Bits