De La Hoya-Mayweather not only has sporting drama but also family drama. Mayweather's father trains De La Hoya, and after first saying he'd never train someone to beat his son, he has agreed to do so, claiming the son has so disrespected him over the years that it will be a pleasure. "Who instigated this?" grumbled Floyd Mayweather Sr., not needing to name the person he believes is the culprit. As for that culprit, he replied, "My father can say whatever he wants to say. He's said he taught me everything I know but not everything he knows. I'm glad he didn't because then my record would be like his. He lost to one legend, Sugar Ray Leonard, but his other losses were to journeymen and cab drivers." Meanwhile, the father's brother, Roger Mayweather, will step in to train his nephew as soon as he's released from a Nevada prison, which will be in plenty of time to get young Floyd ready. It's a psychologist's dream as well as a fight fan's, and when one adds De La Hoya's Hollywood looks and star power and Mayweather's street cred image, it is the kind of attraction that will transcend sport. This is the kind of showdown in which the principals appear not only in Sports Illustrated and on ESPN but in People magazine and on E!. It has the kind of crossover appeal that will drive PPV sales to a record number even if HBO PPV decides to price the bout at $52.95, which would be a record . . . England's Ricky Hatton has little respect for Mayweather. After watching him dismantle Baldomir without taking any risks, the former 140- and 147-pound champion said of Mayweather, "He came in to the ring dressed like Russell Crowe and he ended up fighting like Sheryl Crow." . . . On the flip side, Roy Jones Jr. sees Mayweather as the winner largely because of the presence of Mayweather's estranged father in De La Hoya's corner. "If my daddy had brought me anyone [to fight], he would have gotten him killed," Jones said. "If Floyd has to run 100 miles a day to beat Oscar, that's what he'll do, because his daddy is in the other corner. This ain't got nothing to do with Oscar." . . . No one is yet talking about how the money will be split, but understand this: We're not talking 50-50. Mayweather will have a significant upside on the pay-per-view, but De La Hoya did 925,000 buys fighting Ricardo Mayorga last May while Mayweather barely reached 350,000 with Baldomir. As Reggie Jackson might have put it, "We know the straw that stirs the drink."
