Al Bello/Getty Images

It’s been just a little over two days since the end of the fight that was supposed to save boxing and I still don’t know what to think about it.

First off, I don’t think boxing needs saving, just maybe a better way of selling itself to the mainstream again (a lovable fighter ala Oscar De La Hoya in his prime) and more boxers who want to showcase their skills rather than just fatten their pockets (the opposite of Floyd Mayweather Jr.).

Al Bello/Getty Images

Al Bello/Getty Images

Secondly, the whole event Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas seemed fixed in a WWE sort of way. From the press tour, to the reality show, to the father/trainer plot lines, to the hordes of celebrities in the seats, the event didn’t feel real.
The fans wanted blood and all they got was a little baby cut over Oscar’s eye.

Al Bello/Getty Images

It got bad at times as Oscar went nearly four rounds in the middle of the fight without throwing a punch. Makes it hard to see how he is sitting around still wondering why he didn’t win the fight. With both pugilists, there was never that sense of urgency or the true sense that these two fighters wanted to literally kill each other in the ring. This is the image that the UFC has become so successful at selling recently and why it has been trumping boxing in pay-per-view buys the last couple years.

Of course a lot of the hatred in sports is just to liven up the games and give the talking heads something to yap about leading up to the event. But this fight took it to a whole new level by starting publicizing the fight nearly six months before it took place.

Boxing “purists” wanted this fight to be a memorable one but the fact that neither boxer wanted to make a mistake and settled on the hope that they would win by decision rather than a knockout left many wanting more. There is a great chance it will happen and I hope so as well and both fighters realize the potential a true bloodbath could bring to the sport.

I guess the best way to describe the night would to compare it to going to a great club, sitting in the VIP section with no lines but the bar didn’t serve alcohol.
Many factors of the night were spot on, but we all wanted more and boxing had the chance to deliver, but to a degree failed.

Al Bello/Getty Images

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Typically post-event press conferences are just the coaches and top players talking about the game that took place minutes ago. Picture wise, these press-conferences can be pretty boring because it’s a guy sitting at a table with a microphone covering half of his body. However, every once in awhile you will get a memorable tirade such as those of Dennis Green or Jim Mora gave us in the past. Rarely though is it necessary for our photographers to shoot the press conferences. However, Saturday night (11/4/06) at the Mandalay Bay Events Center the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world broke down and cried for nearly 10 minutes.

I was editing for Ethan Miller, a staff photographer out of Las Vegas, just 10 yards or so from where the post-fight press conferences were taking place. Usually, photographers edit in a room in the back of the arena but for some reason when I got there I chose to sit with all the writers. We got lucky. As I started packing up for the night, Floyd Mayweather Jr. – the Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, or Roger Federer of his sport i.e. “the man” – walked on stage. Thinking he was just going to say how easy of a fight he had against Carlos Baldomir, I continued to pack up my gear. That is until I heard someone crying. I looked towards the stage and it’s Mayweather. I immediately grabbed Ethan and told him to get to work. Mayweather told the press “One more fight and I’m through. I don’t need boxing. I’m not in it for the money. It’s about legacy. I’m rich and I’ve accomplished what I want.” The he started to choke up and couldn’t talk for nearly 10 minutes. The press sat stunned not saying a word the entire time watching this larger than life figure at the top of his game – just 29 – say he is quitting on top.

Luckily for us, all the other photographers from the large news agencies were in the back finishing up their edits from the fight. That left Ethan as the only photographer capturing every moment of Mayweather spilling his heart out to the press. It made for some great photographs and a great lesson that I will continue to remember – watch the press conferences.