Day 7: Exactly a week from today the wait will be down to a mere few hours and all the pre-fight hype will come to an end. As sweet as it’ll be to live in that particular moment in time, unfortunately we’re still days away, so, back to reality we go. (Dammit)!!! As we continue the countdown to the Oscar Dela Hoya/Floyd Mayweather Jr. mega fight, today’s installment takes a look at yet another possibility. The possibility of ‘father time’ entering the equation. How so? Try this on for size… Experience: Is It An X-Factor Or Is It A ‘LIE’ability? Much has been said about Oscar’s experience and the fact that his resume reads like a future hall of famer list. As true as it may seem, one thing that seldom comes up in this discussion is the fact that as a fighter builds such an impressive resume’, the wear and tear that he sustains, (like the resume’ itself), can never fade away. Think about it…12 Rounds with Felix “Tito” Trinidad…24 rounds with “Sugar” Shane Mosley…9 exhausting rounds with Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins…12rounds with Ike “Bazooka” Quartey…9 rounds with “Mad-man” Ricardo Mayorga. Shall we continue? No need necessary. If we were to consider all the hooks, jabs, crosses, uppercuts, and everything in between that Oscar’s body has endured it would be no secret that he carries a shell which exemplifies ‘damaged goods’. Now, you add that to a scenario where the fighter has only fought 15 rounds in the last 32 months and considering that there’s no way a fighter can substitute the ‘leather shock’ associated with getting hit in real time and suddenly an already stiff plot thickens. All of these liabilities typically culminate when the fighter is also upwards in age and at 34 Oscar is no spring chicken. So you take a man who’s been through the torches of boxing, he’s only fought a hand full of rounds in the last 3 years, he’s 34, and he has to overcome all of these odds against the man rated to be Pound for Pound…Somehow the advantages that Oscar received in the contract of this fight, (smaller rings, his desired weight limit, his desired glove type) become nullified. There is no true way to know how these odds will stack up at crunch time but the old adage states that “time is always waiting to happen while experience only comes a moment after you need it”. In this case, the ‘experience’ for Oscar came well before he needed it, and in the end this ‘experience’ could very well work against him, as opposed to working for him. Tomorrow’s edition of the countdown takes a look at who has the edge late in the fight in: ‘8 Is Enough’: “Who Has The Edge After 9”?
Golden Boy: Will Oscar’s Age Finally Catch Up With Him?
Posted by Tim Starks on Apr 28, 2007 15:27
