One fought in the 1976 Olympics with his girlfriend's picture taped to his boxing shoe, the other dedicated his 1992 Olympic performance to the memory of his recently deceased mother. Both were chronicled by the media and the TV networks. They both won Gold Medals and flashed Pepsodent smiles. Both won several professional world titles and called the shots as to the path their careers would take. Some felt they were both condescending and, interestingly, both were promoted by Bob Arum. The parallels between Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya are certainly eerie. Here's another. Leonard and De La Hoya both followed two of the most popular and controversial heavyweight champions in boxing history. Leonard followed Muhammad Ali and De La Hoya followed Mike Tyson. Both Ray and Oscar were heavyweights at the box office as well. These two superstars had crossover appeal and drew more than just boxing fans to their fights. When they fought, the opponent didn't matter. Fans came out to see them. [details (http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=692)]

I agree on paper Leonard is the better fighter but i think is depends at what stage in their careers they would meet. The De La Hoya who beat Quartey i feel was probably the best Oscar De La Hoya. He had grown into the welterweight division by this time and was hitting hard enough to trouble any welterweight around. At Welterweight i`d give oscar a chance because of his left hand. Oscar`s left is his strong hand ( Oscar is left handed ) and i think he could hurt Ray with it.
I understand those who pick Leonard but i just feel that if this fight was reality it would be much more even than Rick`s article suggests!

Leonard would stop DLH. Too clean, too technically sound.

Leonard would stop DLH. Too clean, too technically sound.

Mooks gets it. :boxing: