ABS-CBN TO TELECAST DE LA HOYA-FORBES 'HOMECOMING'
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 01 May 2008
The giant Philippine broadcast network ABS-CBN will telecast the junior middleweight battle between ?The Golden Boy? of boxing Oscar De La Hoya and former super featherweight champion Steve Forbes on Sunday (Manila Time) over its pre-eminent Channel 2.
Titled ?Homecoming? the twelve round showdown marks the return of De La Hoya to HBO for the first time in years and headlines the inaugural event at The Home Depot Center?s 27,000 seat soccer stadium.
Buoyed by the tremendous ratings for its boxing coverage beginning with the highly successful ?Moment of Truth? in Cebu last year in which The Dream? Gorres was clearly robbed of the WBO super flyweight title against Mexico?s Fernando Montiel which rated over 30 percent on prime time and its April 6 ?Invasion? fight card at the Araneta Coliseum which also broke the 30 percent ratings mark in the Gerry Penalosa-Ratanachai Sor Vorapin main event, ABS-CBN has tied up with Golden Boy Promotions to bring in the big fights on a regular basis.
Some ten days ago Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schafer told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today that 25,000 tickets had already been sold reflecting the remarkable popularity of De La Hoya who is a native of Los Angeles.
The fight is considered by the experts as a prelude to a rematch with undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr which was the highest-grossing fight in history.
There are several subplots in the De La Hoya-Forbes battle. For one, the former six-division world champion will be making his 31st appearance on HBO, hoping to thrill fight fans who have supported him since he was an amateur boxer in East Los Angeles who went on to win an Olympic gold medal and become a national hero. It also marks the return of Floyd Mayweather Sr as De La Hoya?s trainer after Freddie Roach handled the job in the first Floyd Mayweather Jr fight.
Steve Forbes (33-5, 9 KO?s) may be the heavy underdog but has vowed to engage De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KO?s) in a dog-fight, his confidence boosted by a split-decision win over highly-touted Francisco Bojado last October.
Forbes has never been knocked down in his pro career over eleven years and interestingly will be handled by Floyd Mayweather Sr?s brother, Jeff Mayweather. The weigh-in will be held on the main stage at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles in an event open to the public.
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