The Floyd Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya fight, which took place on Saturday, May 4, 2007,  was billed as the "Fight to Save Boxing" on the May 7 cover of Sports Illustrated.

A fight between the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world and a 10-time world champion is definitely enough to get me excited about a fight, which usually doesn't take much. I got excited over the 1993 Jesse Ferguson vs. Ray Mercer fight. But, would this fight get the world excited about boxing again?

This fight was definitely going to be special. So special, that myself and two friends of mine left my daughter's brownie campout to watch the fight at a friend's house. Knowing the campground closed at 10 p.m., we left anyway, and when we got back at midnight, the campground was closed with no way to get in. We did eventually get in, but that's a whole other story for an entirely different article.

In the end, the fight was a lot of things; Pretty Boy vs. Golden Boy, pound-for-pound vs. crown-for-crown, big mouth vs. big smile. What it wasn't was the fight to save boxing.

One fight cannot, and will not, save boxing. Sure, De La Hoya and Mayweather was a fight of the two best known fighters of today, but it was also a fight of two totally different styles that lent itself to a marginally boring fight.

Adding to the fights lack of action was how HBO portrayed the fight. Looking at the punch stats, I don't think I was watching the same fight as whoever counted the punches, and if I had listened to Jim Lampley call the fight on the radio, I would have thought Stevie Wonder was fighting Muhammad Ali with De La Hoya playing the part of Wonder.

I scored the fight 116-115 in favor of De La Hoya. I used the old school method of scoring a fight; the aggressor wins rounds and you have to beat the champion. De La Hoya, the defending champion took the fight to Mayweather.

So what will save boxing?

We need to take a look at what made boxing popular prior to the turn of the century to answer that question.

My father was a huge boxing fan when I was growing up. I would always watch fights when he did. Two of the first fighters I remember watching were Danny "Little Red" Lopez and Salvador Sanchez. The images of these two fighting are etched in my memory. Lopez, bleeding, which was a Little Red trademark, fought hard and courageously against a younger Sanchez.

I remember watching Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran, Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns, MarvinHagler vs. Hearns, and the list goes on. Do you remember John the Beast Mugabi?  How about Rockin' Robin Blake and Donald "The Lone Star Cobra" Curry?

The names were memorable and so were the fights. The boxers were fighters first, entertainers second.

Today we get a lot of "entertainment" and not enough fighting. Cases on point: Prince Naseem Hamed and Zab Judah. The entertainment should be in the fight itself.

Although the heavyweight division in the '80s was in a lull following the Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman era, we still had Larry Holmes and his dominance of the heavyweight division. I remember Holmes defeating an over the hill Ali and destroying Joe Frazier's son, Marvis.

With all the great fighters and all the great fights I saw as I was growing up, the best thing about these fights were that we could watch them on ABC's "Wide World of Sports"… FOR FREE!

Amazingly, some of the greatest fights to ever take place were watched for free on regular television. But the realization of big time paydays on pay per view stopped that forever.

Could you imagine watching the Mayweather vs. De La Hoya fight on ESPN? No? Well, maybe that is exactly what boxing needs – the two biggest names in boxing today had to fight in a casino?

Fights in boxing's hey day were fought in large outdoor arenas for maximum gate revenue.?

In order to bring up the popularity of boxing to where it was in the '80s and '90s, big fights need to be shown on regular cable channels. No one wants to pay the $50 to watch two thugs with a grill and lots of bling fight, no matter who they are.

The other thing boxing can do to increase it's popularity is to promote it's up and coming fighters better. I remember watching many amateur fights on TV with my dad. I remember the head gear, the groin gear and the white gloves. Three rounds of action, never a dull moment.

How many amateur fights do we see today?

I remember watching Tyrell Biggs, Mark Breland, Pernell Whitaker, and Evander Holyfield fight in the Olympics or in the Olympic trials. Remember Iron Mike getting beat in the Olympic trials by Henry Tillman?  Today I couldn't tell you the name of one fighter on the U.S. Olympic boxing team.

To bring boxing back to it's heyday, we need to get away from pay per view fights and promote the country's amateur players. Man, I can't wait to watch Mayweather- De La Hoya II on ESPN!