There was a better chance of seeing a knock-out in the stands. It was that kind of night.
Not that De La Hoya or Mayweather did not give everything they had; they both fought like lions, but the sad truth is that it was never going to be enough.
There's an old maxim in the boxing game, that styles make fights and unfortunately, the styles of these two men meant a knock-out was as likely as finding a woman with natural breasts on the arm of a ringside high-roller.
In the end, Mayweather won a split decision to take De La Hoya's WBC super welterweight crown, becoming a worthy six-time world champion in five weight divisions. Two judges gave the fight to the smaller, quicker Mayweather 116-112 and 115-113 while a third gave it to the pride of Mexican-Americans, 115-113.
The sell-out 16,200 crowd, who chanted "Oscar" with the fervour of a Hollywood wannabe yearning for an Academy Award nomination, was predictably enough not enamoured with the decision, altering its chant to "Bullshit" after Mayweather's hand was raised.
That was a harsh assessment because Mayweather, 30, proved again that he is one of the best defensive fighters to climb through the ropes. It was too much to ask of a 34-year-old De La Hoya, game as he was, to penetrate the defence of an opponent with speed, guile and a special kind of skill.
De La Hoya, who it must be said was the aggressor throughout, was understandably disappointed. "I felt I did what I had to do and I landed the harder, crisper punches," he said. "I didn't feel like I lost."
Floyd Mayweather Sr, who has had a bitter falling-out with his son and spent six years as De La Hoya's trainer, saw the fight differently to the judges.
"I thought Oscar won the fight on points, threw more punches and was more aggressive," he said. "My son had good defence and caught a lot of his punches, but I still thought Oscar pressed enough to win the fight. Usually, you've got to give it to the guy who throws the punches, don't you?"
The punch statistics did not support De La Hoya, however.
Although the Golden Boy threw 106 more punches (587 to 481), he only connected 122 times compared with 207 from Mayweather.
"I thought I was going to beat him by a bigger margin than they had, to be honest," Mayweather said. "I feel Oscar won four rounds out of the 12.
"He threw a lot of punches, sure, but I blocked them, man. He hit my arm a lot."
Mayweather stopped playing the villain, which he'd done with some conviction in the lead-up to this fight, and praised De La Hoya's staying power and his chin, but he could not quite bring himself to be all grace and modesty.
"I kept thinking, 'Damn, it's easy to hit him in the face. How did he beat all these guys, he doesn't move his head.'
"The whole time I'm thinking, 'Where's the left hook everybody's talkin' about?' But you know, he's got a great chin. He can take a punch," Mayweather said. Unfortunately for a crowd baying for blood, Mayweather doesn't punch hard enough to truly test that chin.
The night began as few have in Vegas since Mike Tyson's cocaine-fuelled demise.
Not since Tyson was at his most menacing have this many celebrities been ringside, from Leonardo DiCaprio to Sascha Baron Cohen, Michael Jordan to Denzel Washington, J Lo to Jack Nicholson to Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Mayweather, who has gotten under De La Hoya's skin at every opportunity in the lead-up to this fight, entered the ring wearing the colours of Mexico and wearing a sombrero. He was roundly jeered by a pro-De La Hoya crowd on Cinco de Mayo, a major Mexican holiday.
Once the bell rang, the fight played out as the Vegas bookmakers had predicted. De La Hoya charging forward, throwing punches but landing precious few. Apart from a few brief moments, the script did not much vary throughout the 12 rounds.
Inevitably, the talk afterward was of a rematch because this is, after all, a sport in which money talks loudest.
De La Hoya will make perhaps $US30 million ($36.5m) from yesterday's fight, while Mayweather will end up with about half that.
Mayweather said he would stand by his decision to retire.
"I came in on top, I'm going out on top," he said.
But, of course, he left a little room to negotiate, saying he would discuss his future with his advisers.
For his part, De La Hoya -- a shrewd businessman -- was not closing any doors.
"We'll see," he said when asked about a rematch. The greater question should be, What's the point?
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