By Rick Reeno
Oscar De La Hoya is preparing to make his grand return to the welterweight division. De La Hoya has not fought at the welterweight limit since June 23, 2001, when he put a beating on an overmatched Arturo Gatti. The welterweight division is currently wide open and Oscar knows this too well. Oscar could have moved down to 154 pounds and faced Winky Wright, instead he chose to go down two weight divisions. This decision was strictly a business move, Oscar is a heavy favorite over any fighter at 147 and anyone moving up from 140. There would have been much more risk involved in a move to 154.
Lets take a look at the top 5 welterweights in the world; Cory Spinks, Zab Judah, Jose Rivera, Antonio Margarito and Kermit Cintron. Oscar will easily school Cintron who has never faced anyone even remotely close to the level of De La Hoya. Oscar is way too big for Judah or Rivera. Margarito has a good punch but his boxing skills are not good enough to beat Oscar, lets not forget that Oscar is strong enough at 147 to knock the slugging Margarito out.
The only opponent at 147 that could give Oscar even the slightest bit of trouble would be Cory Spinks. Spinks has the footwork, has the speed in his hands and at times is very elusive. The problem with Cory Spinks is that even though he holds all the belts and is recognized as the "man" at 147, he has never really won a clear cut victory over a quality opponent.
The three biggest winsin the career of Cory Spinks were against Miguel Angel Gonzalez, Ricardo Mayorga and Zab Judah. Gonzalez was past his prime to the point where he should haven never even been in the ring with Spinks. The fact that Gonzalez made it to the final bell only made Spinks look bad. Gonzalez was put there for one simple reason, to get Spinks a "spectacular" win and the win Spinks got was far from spectacular.
Spink's win over Mayorga is disputed by many to this day. The general feeling among some fans is that Mayorga was not given credit for two knockdowns and many feel that there were two points unjustly taken from Mayorga due to no legit warnings from the referee. If no points would have been deducted from Mayorga, the bout would have been scored a draw. The fight with Judah was another win that was somewhat tainted for Spinks because he was down and badly hurt by a smaller Judah in final round of the fight. The knockdown, combined with the fact that some had Judah winning a close decision, made Spink's "pound for pound" credibility look bad enough that he is fighting Judah again in February of 2005.
"Spinks is a great boxer, a great champion and he could be a possible opponent. It would be a great fight for the fans, I want the best fights out there". said De La Hoya
The real fight that Oscar is banking on is against Kostya Tszyu, a bout with Tszyu would make the networks enough money that the fight could actually stand a chance to happen. De La Hoya is a much bigger man than Tszyu. Oscar would weight 147, but more then likely come in weighing closer to 154 by fight time. Make no mistake, Oscar would be a heavy favorite to beat Tszyu.
"I would love Kostya Tszyu (as an opponent) , he is definitely someone I want to fight."
The problem with the entire welterweight division is that it never recovered from all the stars moving up to 154 and 160 pounds. The only name fighter to move up to the welterweight division was Zab Judah and was instantly the second biggest name at 147. This is a far cry from being the same welterweight division that saw Oscar take on Julio Cesar Chavez, Shane Mosley, Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad and Pernell Whitaker. Even at his advanced age, Oscar is a few levels above anyone at welterweight.
Oscar is the smartest "business" minded boxer in the sport, this career move clearly shows his smarts. Oscar saw his skills starting to fade and knew he was starting to lose a step or two. He decided that rather then retire, why not go down to welterweight where he can clearly dominate. It will be real interesting to see if any fighter at welterweight can provide him with a decent challenge.