Expert: Lian Shoemake - 1/18/2008

Question
After Floyd Mayweather defeated Oscar on may 5th 2007. Mayweather
claimed retirement. Then he Proved his greatness against hatton on Dec. 8th
07. Now since Cotto-gomez is happening and there aren't many other
choices, mayweather and oscar are almost final about fighting again on sep
13 or 20 of 2008. who do you see winning? will the fight be one sided floyd
again? will the fight get a lot of hype even though fans say no? what do you
see happening on sep 13 or 20 of 2008, between oscar "golden boy" De la
hoya v Floyd "money" mayweather jr.

thanx, Jordan

Answer
Hi Jordan,
Thanks for the question.

I'll preface my answers by saying that, as a boxing fan, I don't see any purpose at all for this fight, and I will not purchase it.
As for your questions, there is no reason to expect a different result. De la Hoya has been inactive since the last fight, and will have been off for about 16 months by the time the rumored rematch would occur. During that same time period, Mayweather will have only fought once, which was an impressive victory over Ricky Hatton.
Arguably, De la Hoya's best performance was 12 years ago, against Julio Cesar Chavez in their first fight. I see no reason to expect him to improve at this point.
If anything, Mayweather may be inspired by his own performance against Hatton and box more aggressively  against the aging De la Hoya, and perhaps pull out a decision in a one-sided beatdown, or maybe even stop De la Hoya.
I'm sure there will be a huge marketing blitz by HBO and Golden Boy Promotions in the hopes of replicating the financial success of the first fight. Again, it won't work on me, but there will always be those who will plunk down the $60.
I'll go with my current line of thinking and pick Mayweather to stop De la Hoya late in a fairly one-sided fight.

Thanks again for writing, Jordan!

Regards,
Lian