DE LA HOYA VS HOPKINS – HOW CAN IT NOT BE BIG?
By Ron Brashear
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist

(IB – August 26, 2004) – To keep this story simply stated, “It doesn’t get much better than this folks!” On September 18th Live from the MGM Grand, and broadcasted on PPV on HBO, boxing is putting on a Championship bout of historic proportions. So much so, that even if you were not a boxing fan, you must seriously consider paying to see this fight – it’s that good…

The “Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya (37-3, 29 KOs) is attempting to take on a TALL ORDER when he steps into the ring against Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins (42-2-1, 1 NC, 31KOs) for the undisputed Middleweight Championship of the World. There will be a total of four belts on the line (WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO).

Here is what we know so far:

A: This fight is expected to be so big that the Promoter feels comfortable charging $1700.00 for a ring side seat and totally expects ring side seating to be a sell out. Only time will tell if it becomes actually this big or not.

B: This fight is expected to be so big because it even has boxing’s biggest draw as an underdog for the 1st time in his career in De La Hoya. At the time of this writing, Oscar has betting odds available as +170 while the Hopkins betting line is reflecting -200. In essence, Hopkins is a 2-to-1 favorite to defeat De La Hoya.

C: This fight has an eight-time world champion in six different weight classes in De La Hoya going up against a dominant “Pound-for-Pound” candidate that has successfully defended his Middleweight title an astounding 18 times in Hopkins.


Here is what is uncertain:

A: Does Hopkins, who is knocking on Forty’s door in age, still possess enough in his legs to cut the ring off on Oscar, and land punches in combinations?

B: Is De La Hoya in the type of physical shape to have enough stamina to keep Hopkins off of him for twelve full rounds?

I truly believe the victory lies within these two questions. So a major contributing factor to the outcome of this fight will be conditioning. Given this, the trainer’s role will be very vital in the preparation of these two great champions. We already know both of these guys possess the heart and the desire to be great. Only problem on this night is whether or not there is enough gas (perhaps even Ethyl) left in their tanks to do what their heart, mind, and bodies want to do.

I see this fight an even match up – a toss up. Either fighter truly has the potential to come out victorious on this night of boxing. Both of these boxing champions are already cemented into the Hall of Fame as future inductees, regardless of what happens on 9/18/04. What’s at stake is how far ingrained into the history books does one of them go after this night?

Nevertheless, if you are true sports fans, it’s hard to imagine that you will not be tuned in to see how this fight unfolds. So its either you have an arrival in Vegas and watch the fight live, or you pick up your phone and call your cable operator. With these two champions fighting each other, the worst that could happen is that you end up paying to see a great fight!

You have just gone InsideBoxing.com

Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@brasheargear.com