"ODD COUPLE OR DYNAMIC DUO?" By Jeff Mayweather

Well, sometimes opposites attract in all walks of life; friendships, relationships and even Ring Generalship. Such is the case when it comes to the Mayweather and De la Hoya Show, which last night got rave reviews even from the most critical of critics.

Oscar de la Hoya: young, good looking, mild mannered, gracious and very refined; humble, quiet, soft-spoken, no checkered pass. He is non confrontational and at times appears as though his whole entire persona has been scripted. Wealthy beyond his dreams, and can you believe he's the Fighter. Now, only if Floyd's name was Oscar, and Oscar's name was Felix it would have been life imitating art, as in the Odd Couple show, but enough confusion already, let's get to the other half of this story.

Extremely flamboyant, checkered pass, very street wise and confrontational; says whatever is on his mind no matter whom it may offend. He is a strong disciplinarian, with a cutting edge attitude; colorful and funny, outgoing, witty and quick to tell you what's on his mind. Can be considered brash, cocky, uncut and raw; he's as real as real can get, he's the Trainer, Floyd Mayweather, Sr. Yet these two opposites have teamed up to be one of the best tandems in all of Boxing.

On September 14th they made a statement heard around the world, as Oscar unified two thirds of the titles by knocking out Fernando Vargas, his long time rival, 48 seconds into the eleventh round. With it came praise for both Oscar and Floyd, as Floyd boldly predicted that Oscar would knockout Vargas.

Oscar kept his composure and his image intact as he quietly but confidently stated his case by saying "I will do my talking with my fists inside of the ring come September 14th." Floyd is great for Oscar in the sense that Oscar can keep his image clearly unfazed, while Mayweather takes center stage and is ready to take on all comers, even Fernando Vargas himself, the media, the critics and all the nonbelievers. Who would dare to be a Fernando Vargas fan?

Oscar calmly sits back and takes it all in stride without ever having to say a word. Oscar's been at this game a long time and knows exactly how to play his part. His ability has always been his voice of reason, but this time around it was totally different from any of his previous fights. The guy coming out of the other corner had genuine hate and animosity towards him. Under these circumstances I think it would be hard even for a man like Oscar not to share his dislikes and resentment towards Fernando as well. In steps Floyd, who loves confrontation. Bingo! Problem solved, no kink in the De la Hoya's armor.

I think it makes for a great team. They have the utmost respect for one another, a supreme belief in their abilities as fighter and trainer, and they appear to feed off one another's energy. Even though Floyd has only been with Oscar for three fights they have all been pretty big. Capturing two world titles in three fights would indicate that the chemistry seems to be working. Together they have already overcome two major hurdles.