De La Hoya Takes Care Of Business
Unanimous Decision Over Forbes Sets Stage For Mayweather PPV Rematch
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 5/4/2008 7:42:00 AM
Oscar De La Hoya pounded out a unanimous decision against over-matched Steve Forbes. Now, “The Golden Boy” presumably awaits a bout the other Steve Forbes would be proud of: a lucrative September pay-per-view rematch against Floyd Mayweather.
In a homecoming of sorts, the Los Angeles-born De La Hoya easily took the measure of Forbes, the finalist of The Contender reality boxing competition series and a former IBF super featherweight champ, winning all 12 rounds on one of three judges’ scorecards. Raising his record to 39-5 with 30 knockouts, he captured 11 with the two others judging the bout before some 27,000 fans at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. that was televised on HBO.
The fight was De La Hoya’s first live match on the premium channel since 2001. It encores for the first time on HBO May 4 at 9:30 a.m. (ET).
Next, De La Hoya expects to get another shot at the undefeated Mayweather, regarded as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, come Sept. 20. Their encounter at 154 pounds last C
inco de Mayo -- won by Mayweather on a split decision -- was the biggest PPV boxing event of all time, clocking some 2.4 million buys and $134 million in revenue. The bout KOd some heavyweight matches from the PPV pantheon: the 1.99 million buys for the 1997 Evander Holydfield-Mike Tyson and the $107 million for 2002 Tyson-Lennox Lewis brawl.
Since then, Mayweather has lifted his profile, appearing on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, knocked out previously unscathed Ricky Hatton last Dec. 8 in a bout that generated 850,000 buys and $47 million in PPV revenue, and engaged in WWE’sWrestlemania 24.
For his part, De La Hoya , who has branched out into boxing management with his Golden Boy Promotions and won crowns in six different weight classes, claims this will be his last year in the ring: He wants a final bout after the Mayweather rematch.
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