Friday, May 04, 2007

Fight of the Century/ Boxing's Last Stand


Tomorrow night, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, two of the greatest fighters in boxing history will square off in what is being billed as the "Fight of the Century" by some and "Boxing's Last Stand" by others. Now I'm not the biggest boxing fan but I do like boxing and I like the big fights and, with this Oscar De Hoya-Floyd Mayweather matchup, it doesn't get much bigger than tomorrow night. What I think is interesting though, is that many people are saying if this fight tanks that the UFC will overtake boxing. Now I remember watching old UFC tapes in Mr. Graham's classroom, I watched the first couple of seasons of the Ultimate Fighter (UFC's reality show), and I still watch the UFC's "Fight Night Live" when it comes on Spike. UFC's popularity has no doubt risen in the past few years and it's kind of fun to watch although I like boxing better because they don't go to ground for five minutes and wrestle around. However to say the UFC is going to supplant a sport that produced Sports Illustrated's Greatest Athlete of All Time as well as ESPN's Sports Century Top Athlete in Muhammed Ali, as well as multiple other superstars like George Foreman, Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, Evander Holyfield, Marvin Haggler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roy Jones Jr., the two names fighting tomorrow night, St. Peter's own Al "the Quiet Storm" Seeger, and my personal favorite the "Itallion Stallion" Rocky Balboa, is ridiculous. I just don't see it happening. Boxing has survived two World Wars, the Great Depression, the emergence of pro football, and countless other things. Sure the UFC is quickly gaining momentum and boxing is going through quite a bit of a lull but when it comes down to it boxing is just like most of its participants, it's a survivor. I'll keep watching the UFC and I'll keep watching boxing but for my money, I'll take a big time boxing match over a big time UFC fight any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
My Prediction: Mayweather by a decision (Vegas judges have not been kind to Oscar)

Here's the tale of the tape for Saturday night's fight:
Date/Time: Saturday May 5th at 9:00 PM ET
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada/ MGM Grand Garden Arena
12 Rounds for the WBC Super-Welterweight Championship

Oscar De La-Hoya/ Floyd Mayweather
"Golden Boy" NICKNAME "Pretty Boy"
Los Angeles, CA. HOMETOWN Las Vegas, NV.
34 AGE 30
5'11 HEIGHT 5'8 and 3/4"
154 Ilbs. WEIGHT 154 Ilbs.
72" REACH 72"
38-4 (30 KO's) RECORD 37-0 (24 KO's)
Mayorga- TKO in 6th NOTABLE WINS Baldomir- W in 12
Vargas- TKO in 11th / Judah- W in 12
Gatti- TKO in 5th / Gatti- TKO in 6th
Quartey- W in 12 / Castillo- W in 12
Whitaker- W in 12 / Corrales- TKO in 10

1 comment:

JJBA said...

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