Was the Mayweather - De La Hoya fight worth $60? Well, I obviously thought so. In truth it was an interesting bout rather than a great one. As such it could not live-up to the hype and will doubtless be seen as another disappointment for boxing. But it shouldn't be a great surprise the fight proceeded the way it did.
1. Mayweather fighting at 154lbs for the first time, and consequently unlikely to have the punching power to threaten to knock de la Hoya out.
2. de la Hoya is 33 and had fought just three times in 32 months. Was he really likely to have the energy and stamina - or even the desire - to rip it up, march to the sound of the guns and start a brawl?
3. That strategy would have been risky for de la Hoya. Notwithstanding his weight advantage, he didn't want to press forward too much against such a great counter-puncher. So he equivocated. When he remembered to lead with his jab he did so, but he didn't do enough to dictate terms. That one judge actually gave him the fight - impressed doubtless by windmilling flurries of punches that caused precisely zero damage - was a travesty that can't have shocked anyone.
4. If that was how de la Hoya was going to fight there was no incentive for Mayweather to do much more than demonstrate that even at this weight his handspeed is really in a different class. Punch and move; hit and run. Apart form a coupld of rounds in the middle of the fight this strategy worked perfectly.
5. Of course it didn't give the crowd the rumble they'd wanted. But as Jim Lampley rightly said, there's a problem with fights involving th best pound-for-pound boxers in the world: the incentives are always set up for them to avoid a tear-up. They can, by definition, outbox their opponents so it's crazy to risk a brawl during which any puncher has a chance to land the blow that ends it all. This was true, Lampley said, of Roy Jones Jr at his best too.
6. The contrast between Mayweather's punkish posturing outside the ring -though I loved him wearing Mexican colours and a sombrero as he entered the ring, mocking de la Hoya - and his boxing style is so stark it's funny. But a fighter blessed with such exemplary defensive skills is never going to capture the public;s imagination, especially if, when he attacks, he tends to do so with single punches rather than combinations. There's lots to admire in Floyd Mayweather but less to fall in love with.
7. Despite that, the contrast in styles made for an intriguing fight. I thought de la Hoya won just four rounds and in the last three Mayweather began to give a masterclass. I'm not sure, having seen this fight, that Ricky Hatton - bless him - should want to get in a ring with Mayweather. (Assuming he beats Castillo next month; not a given).
So, not a night to save boxing but a pretty decent night anyway.
Do you have any opinions on the emerging boxing vs MMA debate?
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I think MMA(UFC) right now is challenging boxing in terms of pay-per view buys..
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