Thursday, May 10, 2007

SOME HBO FOLKS GET PAID FOR BOXING, OTHERS JUST GET BOXED

Last week's fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. generated a record $120 million in pay-per-view revenue with 2.15 million purchases of the fight, HBO just announced.

The slugfest will be replayed Saturday night on the premium channel for people like us who refused to shell out the additional bucks.

Held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the fight of the century eclipsed a previous mark set in 1997 when Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield squared off for the second time.

Mayweather scored a split-decision victory and captured De La Hoya's junior middleweight title in the fight. Mayweather reportedly made some 20 million dollars off the deal, which pales in comparison to De La Hoya's reported 45 million windfall.

After the event, HBO Chairman Chris Albrecht was allegedly involved in a public beatdown of his girlfriend and was arrested by police and later charged.

Time Warner, HBO's parent, today forced Albrecht to resign in the wake of the incident.