All the hype is done and it is finally fight time. Floyd Mayweather jr. starts his march to the ring sporting the colors of the Mexican flag and a sombrero. The broadcast team points out that Floyd’s uncle and trainer Roger Mayweather (The Mexican Assassin) useta enter the ring this way back in the day. I doubt that Roger had 50 Cent rapping alongside him though. Oscar De La Hoya makes his way to the ring looking serious as a mutha with Spanish music in the background. He shoulda gotten Cam’ron to walk with him..
Tonight’s judges are Chuck Giampa(Nevada), Tom Kaczmarek(New Jersey), and Jerry Roth (Nevada). In layman’s terms that’s Oscar, neutral, Oscar. The referee is Kenny Bayless (a brotha).. I’m guessing the NY Times will have a story on Monday about black fighters getting more breaks from black referees… Michael Buffer does his LGRTR (don’t wanna get sued) and Kenny Bayless says “what I say you must obey”.. Opening bell.
Here’s some the video from the fight. My round by round was done while watching the HBOppv broadcast. Rounds 1 thru 3:
ROUND 1
Mayweather starts by showing his speed. Oscar attacks the body. The crowd starts chanting Oscar Oscar.. It’s Vegas, Oscar’s town so you’re gonna get plenty of that. Mayweather landed more shots while Oscar chased him around the ring. The most talked about differences between the two fighters are clear from jump. Oscar is the much bigger man, Floyd has the speed. Round 1 goes to Mayweather 10-9. Mayweather leads 10-9
ROUND 2
Oscar starts round 2 as the aggressor. He’s throwing a lot of punches but I’m not sure how many of them are landing. Emmanuel Stewart just said what I said basically.. Oscar is stalking Floyd around the ring and the crowd starts the Oscar chants again.. Going to the body is clearly a big part of DLH’s game plan. A pretty uneventful round. Round 2 goes to De La Hoya 10-9. Fight tied 19-19
ROUND 3
Oscar starts the round by pumping the jab and going to the body. Oscar’s throwing punches in a flurry. Not too much damage done. Oscar better pace himself.. He tends to wear down late in fights.. Floyd takes charge of the round with defense and by sticking in moving. Round 3 goes to Mayweather 10-9. Mayweather leads 29-28
Rounds 4 thru 6:
ROUND 4
Oscar is walking Floyd down again to start the round. He’s still going to the body.. Floyd is landing the more effective punches but he’s not throwing enough imo. The team of Lampley, Stewart, and Merchant talk about Oscar wearing down in fights.. Oscar pins Mayweather against the ropes and lands 9 consecutive shots to Floyd’s body/elbow. The most action in the fight to this point. De La Hoya is bullying Floyd against the ropes..Floyd works his way back to the middle of the ring.. Oscar’s aggression could be stealing him some rounds. Round 4 goes to De La Hoya 10-9. Fight tied 38-38
Harold Lederman has the score 39-37 Mayweather.
ROUND 5
ODLH starts the round with a bounce in his step as he approaches Mayweather. Floyd lands a left and a right.. Lampley says the power punch stats are 29-108 for Oscar and 33-58 for Floyd. Floyd is finding the range a lot more frequently this round. Oscar gets Floyd against the ropes again but he doesn’t do much with the advantage. Mayweather is really starting to let his hands go. Round 5 goes to Mayweather 10-9. Mayweather leads 48-47
Harold Lederman has the fight 49-46 for Mayweather.
ROUND 6
Lampley reports that Floyd has out power punched Oscar of the last two round 34 to 20. I want to see the Comp-u-Box… I always hear about it, where is the damn thing? Floyd backs into a corner and Oscar takes off on him again. And again it looks like most of the punches missed or were blocked. Mayweather looks like he’s going for the knockout..Oscar does a good job of slipping the punches… This was a close round but I give the edge to Mayweather. Round 6 goes to Mayweather 10-9. Mayweather leads 58-56
We get a shot of Oscar’s wife between rounds.. Not bad, not bad. We get a shot of Floyd Sr.. Terrible. If I didn’t know any better I would say that the Predator caught Danny Glover in P2 and forcibly mated with him.
The good ole Comp-u-Box says through six rounds Oscar has landed 67 of 267 punches or 25%, while Floyd has landed 99 of 248 or 40%.
Rounds 7 thru 9:
ROUND 7
The round goes the first 15 seconds without a punch being thrown. Harold Lederman chimes in with his score, 58-56 Mayweather. Lederman says everytime Oscar and Floyd are staring each other down, Mayweather attacks first, right as Oscar is attacking Floyd first. ODLH is showing some urgency. Floyd is landing single shots.. He’s been pretty accurate tonight, I don’t know why he’s not throwing more. Another close round. This one goes to Oscar. Round 7 goes to De La Hoya 10-9. MayWeather leads 67-66
Mayweather’s corner tells him to “get a lil closer to the muthafucka”
ROUND 8
Oscar dominates the first minute of the round. Lefts, rights, head, and body..Good start for Oscar. The second minute of the fight goes to Mayweather.. As the broadcast team points out, Oscar has stopped throwing his jab. It’s been pretty effective for him and it holds Floyd at bay.. Not sure why he stopped. Oscar flurries at the end of the round but it wasn’t enough to steal number 8 in my book. Round 8 goes to Mayweather 10-9. Mayweather leads 77-75
Why doesn’t HBO show the ringcard girls? They could show them for a hot second.. Just so we can see the talent. I don’t get that. A cable channel that’s home to “CatHouse” can’t show women in a bikini..That makes a lot of sense.
ROUND 9
Floyd controls the first minute and a half from the center of the ring. Stewart and Merchant question why Mayweather is considered a great fighter. Manny says he never considered him great..”He’s a good fighter”. De La Hoya flurries while Floyd is against the ropes. Floyd works it back to the center of the ring where he’s been dominant. Round 9 goes to Mayweather 10-9. Mayweather leads 87-84
More great words of advice in the Mayweather corner. “Whup his ass”. Oscar’s corner tells him to “double up on the jab”.
Rounds 10 thru 12:
ROUND 10
Hey, Harold’s back..All right.. Just kidding. I couldn’t care less. He has the fight 87-84 just like me.. Harold stop copying from my paper.. Larry Merchant has the fight 86-85 Mayweather… Lampley points out that Oscar threw 61 punches in the last round compared to Floyd’s 35. Merchant says from different sides of the ring, the fight looks different.. They must be shooting the fight from the “Floyd is winning side” for tv. The round is plodding along.. Floyd is winning the round by staying busy. Mayweather lands a nice right hand right at the bell. Round 10 goes to Mayweather 10-9. Mayweather leads 97-93
ROUND 11
The round starts with Lampley reporting De La Hoya landed 7 out of 62 punches in round 10 while Floyd landed 20 out of 44. Mayweather has pretty much parked it in the middle of the ring and is letting his hand speed takeover. I don’t know if Oscar’s tired or he just can’t find a way to get to Floyd. It looks like Oscar is getting frustrated by Floyd. Mayweather is starting to pick ODLH apart. Oscar does one of those flurry things again. Oscar lands a big right at the end of the round but it’s not enough. Round 11 goes to Mayweather 10-9. Mayweather leads 107-102
ROUND 12
The round starts with Lederman’s card looking just like mine. Oscar needs a knockout on my card and I would be shocked if he got it. The crowd starts a half-hearted Oscar chant. Floyd responds by pop shotting Oscar. DLH is throwing punches like crazy.. Mayweather is landing the cleaner shots. Merchant says “Cinco de Mayo is becoming May weather”.. The two end the fight throwing furiously. The crowd gives De La Hoya a big cheer. Round 12 goes to Oscar 10-9. Mayweather wins the fight 116-112
THE JUDGES
Tom Kaczmarek(New Jersey) scores it 115-113 for De La Hoya.
Chuck Giampa (Nevada) scores it 116-112 for Mayweather.
Jerry Roth (Nevada) scores it 115-113 for Mayweather.
The decision and post fights interviews:
POST FIGHT
The crowd is chanting bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. It’s a pro Hoya crowd so what else did you expect.
Floyd Mayweather: I’m happy..it was a helluva fight.. that’s what the fans wanted. I told the fans they was gonna get a good fight so we gave em a good fight tonight…..Of course I forgot to thank God for this victory and my team..team Mayweather. Al Hayman, Leonard Ellerbe..we got the best team in the world.. the best trainer in the world is Roger Mayweather pound for pound..c’mon over here Roger
Larry Merchant: Well only you were in the ring tonight..
Floyd Mayweather: This the best trainer right here.
Roger Mayweather: He whupped his ass.
Floyd said he still plans on retiring. We know how boxers do so we’ll see about that.
Jim Lampley: You really believe there’s any chance he’s walking away at the pinnacle of the sport after a victory like this?
Emmanuel Stewart: I told him that at the fighter’s meeting yesterday. NO. I mean he loves this limelight. He was born to be a fighter. He’s just beginning. Now he’s gonna get the attention that he craves. I hope he cuts down on some of his cussing cause he doesn’t have to do that. He is a role model whether he wants to face it or not.
I can only imagine that Floyd’s response to that would be “F-bomb, something something, F-bomb, something something.”
Larry Merchant: Oscar, you made a terrific fight.. Did you think you won it?
Oscar De La Hoya: I felt I won. I felt I landed the hard punches…the crisper punches. Everytime I would hit him it would hurt him and I was pressing the fight so I mean you gotta beat the champion decisively..If I didn’t press the fight there would be no fight.
Unless a boxer gets knocked out they never feel that they lost the fight. Oscar, you lost the fight.
Larry Merchant: How did you see the fight Floyd?
Floyd Mayweather Sr.: Well I’m just gonna be honest with you man. If you wanna call a fight by scoring, point system, I mean by who threw the most punches, you gonna have to give it to Oscar. But if you just going on a guy hitting a guy with single shots then you have to give it to my son. I mean my son..he had good defense.. he caught a lot of punches with his shoulder and his arms but uh it’s still about punches..it’s about a guy throwing punches..as long as a guy is touching you, he’s scoring.
Larry Merchant: So what you’re saying here is that you felt that because Oscar was pressing the fight and throwing a lot of punches and that Floyd jr. was throwing single shots and just blocking punches you could have seen Oscar getting the decision. Is that what you’re saying?
Floyd Mayweather Sr.: I thought the fight was a close fight but it’s just the way the point system go man. If you look at the point system man, who touches who the most….
Larry Merchant: Oscar or Floyd, who won?
Floyd Mayweather Sr.: Hey man, if you go by point system you gonna have to give it to Oscar. If you going by point system.
That is one screwy family. Who did you think Sr. was gonna say won the fight? The son that didn’t get him seats to the fight or a hotel room or the guy that ponied up for him? Exactly…
That wraps up my little coverage of the fight. You can check out how the big boys covered the fight below.
Dan Rafael and Kieran Mulvaney go round for round. Courtesy of ESPN.com
Doug Fischer wraps up the fight. Courtesy of Max Boxing
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