Oscar De La Hoya
Oscar De La Hoya points towards the crowd before an official weigh-in for WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Robert Guerrero at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada May 3, 2013. Mayweather will defend his title against Guerrero at the arena on May 4. Reuters

It’s perhaps the elephant in the room, but former boxing champion turned promoter Oscar De La Hoya is blaming both Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao for the drop in boxing pay-per-view (PPV) numbers across the boxing landscape for their inability to make the fight which has been highly in-demand for years now.

In an interview with boxingscene.com, De La Hoya, who is the founder of Golden Boy Promotions, stated that both of the top pound-for-pound fighters are to blame with the falling PPV figures of late adding that the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao super fight needs to have for the health of not only PPV sales but of the sport itself.

“Absolutely. People are now fed up and they are tired. They are frustrated. If its not Manny Pacquiao and Mayweather who are going to fight, we are not going to buy pay-per-view. That's the fight that must happen for the sake of the sport,” De La Hoya said in the article. “I don't care who wins. I just want to see it happen because its going to be a great fight and it will attract more fans.”

In the worst-case scenario that negotiations between Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao fails once again, De La Hoya added that it’s the sports fans will be frustrated again although the retired 41-year-old boxer believes boxing won’t die and will eventually “reinvent itself at some point.”

According to multiple reports, PPV numbers are down for all boxing fights in 2014 including the Mayweather-Maidana rematch, which drew less than a million. The Pacquiao vs. Chris Algieri fight in Macau draw only roughly 300,000 in the U.S. It’s expected that other fighters’ PPV numbers have failed to reach their respective targets as well.

As with other millions of boxing of fans, De La Hoya wants the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight to happen in 2015 even saying via a social media post on Twitter that he’s willing to move the proposed Canelo Alvarez (Mexico) vs. Miguel Cotto (Puerto Rico) fight from the much-coveted date of May 2, 2015 during the Cinco de Mayo festivities.

The said development has further pushed the idea that the super fight between Mayweather (47-0-0, 26 KOs) and Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) will finally happen. After his win against Chris Algieri in his last fight, Pacquiao has called out Mayweather publicly. Mayweather, in recent weeks, responded by saying “let’s make it happen” specifically picking the May 2, 2015 date for the super fight.

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