The MGM grand was filled to capacity this weekend for what was being billed as the “fight of the century” for the world welterweight title. The resulting match up seemed to live up to the hype as the crowd broke records, the results were challenged, and the fight itself was a back and forth battle of the titans. In the end the though, the people's favorite, Oscar De La Hoya, succumbed to the powerhouse and newly crowned champion, Floyd Mayweather.
The fight has been a sold out since the day the tickets went on sale and it generated $19 million just in live-gate revenue. Celebrity attendees included Tobey Maguire who had a box office knockout of his own this weekend despite his terrible performance, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, 50 Cent, and Academy Award winners Helen Mirren and Jack Nicholson.
The colossal amount of revenue earned topped the previous record of $16.
8 million which was brought in by the Holyfield-Tyson rematch. This fight, however, was very different as everyone left with their ears in tact. 
It was a fight in which De La Hoya was clearly the aggressor, throwing more punches, and frequently trapping Mayweather on the ropes.
Mayweather, however, took great advantage of De La Hoya's weaker left hand and dominated in the middle of the rink. The 39 year old De La Hoya was born East Los Angeles. He began fighting at an extremely young age and at eight years old was the youngest fighter to win first place in the Freewill games.
He quickly rose up through the amateur ranks and earned national recognition when he won the gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He had an impressive record in the amateurs with 223 wins, 5 losses and after the Olympics turned pro. He has had a career that has included 43 fights with only 5 loses and 30 knock outs.
He hosted a television show entitled The Next Great Champ for Fox Sports, released a Grammy Nominated CD through EMI Records, and has been the poster boy for several fitness and sports gear campaigns. But this bout was to the biggest endeavor of his fighting career. It wasn't an easy match for either fighter as they battled back and forth up until the bell marked the end of the final round, and then it was in the judges hands.
That's when the controversy began.It was announced to the crowd of 17,000 that in a split decision Floyd Mayweather was the new WBC super-welterweight champion. 
"Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather as he is dubbed came from a family of boxers and was trained early on by his father Floyd, Sr.
He earned an Olympic bronze medal in 1996, but his professional career shows what a true champion he is. With an undefeated 38 and 0 record Mayweather entered this bout to prove he is the best fighter of all time. He had won championship titles in both feather weight and light weight divisions and now as the welterweight champion he appears unstoppable.
But there was one more hurdle to overcome. 
After Mayweather was crowned, the Nevada Boxing Commission lodged an immediate protest over the card of a judge who had scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Mayweather. Richard Schaefer, the chief executive of De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, looked at the scorecard and was enraged.
The scores on the cards looked as though they were transposed, which would have given De La Hoya the victory. De La Hoya's scores were listed as coming from the blue corner, when he was actually in the red one. After recounting the score cards Schaefer did admit that "It seems to be an honest mistake, the scores are correct but the cards were mixed up.
” Both sides talked a little smack about the other each insisting that they were the better boxer. "I won eight rounds, Oscar won four." Mayweather said after the controversy was settled.
"I gave him a boxing lesson.” 
De La Hoya disagreed with the decision saying, "He ran from me all night. I pressed the fight and landed the harder punches.
If it wasn't for me there would not have been a fight.” "I'm a champion, you need to do more than that to beat a champion." Despite his disapproval, De La Hoya, always the gentleman, did say he respected the judges decision.
Don't feel too sorry for either fighter as each are taking home huge paychecks. De La Hoya earned almost 25 million and Mayweather capped out at 10. This does not include the substantial share they will receive from sponsorship and pay-per-view revenue.
Talk about million dollar babies. Who knew you could make so much money from getting the crap beat out of you. As the excitement around the fight clears, both men have touched on maybe retiring after this match up, but neither one confirmed those statements.
Either way it was an intense meeting of two legends that definitely provided the drama and excitement for the fight of the century.
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