DE LA HOYA VS HOPKINS – THE FINAL PRE-FIGHT PRESS CONFERENCE
Interview with Bob Arum

By Ron Brashear
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist
Photos: Rod Long

Click on picture for larger view

LAS VEGAS, NV (IB – September 15, 2004) – We are now only three days away from the blockbuster showdown between “Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya (37-3, 29 KOs) and Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins (42-2-1, 1 NC, 31KOs) for the undisputed Middleweight Championship of the World. This fight will take place at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and will be broadcasted on HBO PPV (Pay Per View). This is one of those MUST SEE fights between two great champions putting it all on the line for a “Quest for History.”

Prior to the start of the press conference, I caught up with the promoter Bob Arum and here is what he had to say:

RB: Mr. Arum, how are the projected revenues looking for this fight?

BA: “Everybody is so ecstatic! The early buys are tremendous. There are virtually no tickets left at the gate and we are going to have 35,000 close-circuit seats here in Las Vegas. So we are all pumped up!”

RB: So you believe this event will surpass all previous non-heavyweight bouts?

BA: “That’s the way it looks.”

RB: If Oscar were to prevail in this fight, would you then want to see him set his sights on a rematch with Felix Trinidad?

BA: “That I don’t know. If I were Oscar, with all of his money, I would take a victory lap and say good-bye!”

RB: Oscar even appears to have a successful TV hit with THE NEXT GREAT CHAMP. Is there anything this guy can not accomplish?

BA: “That’s why they call him the Golden Boy.”
That’s what Bob Arum had to say but Bernard Hopkins had plenty to say and he definitely believes that Oscar will not be successful come Saturday night.

Bernard delivered a very firm message to the crowd. He spoke about overcoming his past, which included incarceration. “I have to reflect on where I came from to keep me sane.” Bernard went on to also state; “Come the day after the fight, you will not know the difference between Oscar and his trainer Floyd Mayweather when you look at them. Oscar will look like Floyd’s twin.” This was Bernard’s way of suggesting that Oscar will not have his GQ appearance the day after the fight.

When Oscar took to the podium, he was a man of few words, but was clear in his message, which was; “I bring stamina to this fight. I have trained eleven weeks for this fight and I am ready. All I want are those belts. They are mine!”

If you want to see and hear more of what each fighter had to say, including a poem read by Floyd Mayweather Sr. (you don’t want to miss this) Please double click on the video tab on our website.

You have just gone InsideBoxing.com

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