I understand that boxing is referred to as the "Theater of the Unexpected," and that on any given night anybody can be beaten, but lately with the mismatches that are being made it's getting easier to predict and less fun to watch.

I understand that 2003 started out with some "upsets" but in my opinion Vernon Forrest just fought the wrong fight against tough brawler Ricardo Mayorga and Wladimir Klitschko just isn't all that good and was there for the taking by Corrie Sanders. These "upsets" are good for the sport and send the right message to all the champions not to relax because someone is always gunning for them. My problem of late has been the Pay-Per-View fights that have actually been mismatches.

Let's start with Jones vs Ruiz; now if Roy Jones, Jr. and John Ruiz had been at the same weight no one on this planet would have gone with Ruiz, but the fact that Ruiz is a heavyweight, people thought he had a chance of beating Jones if he hit him. Still, as lopsided a victory for Jones as this fight was, it was exciting because we never knew if -and when- Ruiz would land that one bomb. Bernard Hopkins vs. Hakkar was a joke, but in all fairness, we must attribute it to the sanctioning bodies, not to Bernard. Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Kevin Kelley was a fight that should have never been made or sanctioned. I know Kevin Kelley was a great fighter with a ton of heart but he saw his best days four years ago. The people who should be held accountable for these monstrosities aren't being penalized by the boxing public, in fact they are getting away with it by pulling the wool over the fans' eyes.

Not too long ago Shane Mosley wanted to make his debut fight in the Jr. Middleweight division vs. a tough but shot Ramon "Yori Boy" Campas whose best days at 154 ended the night Felix Trinidad damn near took his head off. When Mosley and his managers came to the table with this fight, HBO suits said "NO" and insisted "that he needed to go find a more competitive opponent." Mosley did just this when he got a match vs. Raul Marquez, a much tougher foe, which in retrospect was probably the right thing to do. Although Mosley was doing what he was supposed to do, the bout was stopped due to a clash of heads.

What is appalling to the "real" boxing fans around the world is the fact that the same Ramon Campas who was considered a "shot" fighter at Jr. Middleweight and not good enough to fight a guy who was making his debut in the weight class, now will be fighting the 154 Pound champion, on Pay-Per-View no less. Let's face it, the De La Hoya vs. Campas fight is a complete mismatch and should be a one-sided victory for De La Hoya, mostly because Campas has of late weighed as much as 190 pounds and will most likely lose all his strength in trying to making weight.

The bigger slap in the face is HBO using the excuse that the other reason why this card is going to be a Pay-Per-View event is because of Erik Morales vs. Fernando Velardez in the co-feature. When I saw the commercial saying that "now Morales is in for the challenge of his life" I doubled over with laughter.

Let me start out by saying that Fernando "Bobby Boy" Velardez is a good fighter with some skills and isn't afraid to get into a brawl, and makes for some exciting fights however, his record is 24-4 with 6 KOs. The 6 KOs are the biggest concern for me, this guy has nothing, I mean absolutely nothing to keep Morales off of him, and to boot he doesn't have a great chin. The only thing I will say that may help him is the fact that he has won 13 straight fights; however that's not going to help him when he's in the ring with Erik Morales, a guy who has a super sturdy chin and will bring it for 12 rounds. I wouldn't be surprised if Morales stops him inside of 5 rounds.

I can remember when fight fans called for a "Roycott" in 2001. In my book, Oscar De La Hoya is well overdue for a boycott of his own. Let's take a closer look at "Golden Boy" Oscar De La Hoya since he lost to Felix Trinidad in 1999, because I think he's one of the biggest shams in all of boxing. Right after Oscar gave the fight away vs. Trinidad he got back into the ring with a fighter named Derrell Coley who was 34-2-2 at the time, which is a good record but he was nowhere in Oscar's league, which Oscar proved by stopping him in 8 rounds with a thunderous body shot. Also brought into question was whether or not Oscar even made weight at 147 that night.

A couple of months later De La Hoya signed a fight with Shane Mosley who at the time was regarded as one of the best fighters in the world but also was a lightweight who had only two fights in the welterweight division at the time, which is the man reason De La Hoya took the fight. Well, he lost and the rest is history. After suffering the second loss of his career he retired in favor of a 'singing' career, and to be a star in other ventures.

When Oscar decided to come back who did he take his frustration out on? None other than the human punching bag Arturo Gatti, who was a smaller fighter again and actually gave Oscar a tougher fight than many thought he would be able to, before it was stopped in the 5th round. This fight took place before Gatti re-discovered that he could actually box.

Three months later Oscar took on his "toughest and biggest foe" to date or that's what the Pay-Per-View people would have you believe in Javier Castillejo, who for some unknown reason actually had a belt at the time. De La Hoya went on to an easy unanimous decision. Last year we all know what happened when Oscar beat a tough but shot Fernando Vargas in an eleventh round KO in a fight where both men actually fought evenly up until a left hook landed in the 10th round for De La Hoya.

Although many at ringside and watching on TV were fooled, I wasn't. This was the same Vargas that was dropped five times by Trinidad and once by Wilfredo Rivera; a guy who will never be the same because of Trinidad. Back to my point, all the above mentioned fights were PPV except the Gatti and maybe the Coley fight. Someone please feel free to explain this to me? I'll leave my e-mail address for you.

In closing, fight fans do yourself and boxing a favor and don't let HBO get away with this crap by wasting your money on this fight. We have to put a stop to these Pay-Per-View fights that aren't worthy of it. Pay-Per-View fights should only be huge boxing events not every time a perceived good-looking fighter decides to fight an average fighter.

I'll be the big man and tell you straight up, I don't like Oscar De La Hoya. I think he's a super talented fighter with not much heart, gets biased decisions from judges and is very delusional when it comes to his own greatness. I think Bob Arum is just as delusional as Oscar and is really only in it for the money. If you like De La Hoya, watch him fight another talented fighter like Shane Mosley in September or maybe later on Bernard Hopkins, if HBO allows their "Golden Boy" to get into the ring with a man like Bernard Hopkins.

In spite of it all I'm sure this fight will do a bunch of Pay-Per-View buys just because HBO can get away with it, but still doesn't make it right.