Did Oscar Take a Dive Against Hopkins?

Listen to that voice in the background..... Somebody from the crowd is yelling "bodyshot" like 6x, then a few seconds later the same voice yells for "Oh o Oscar" then calls "Oscar" 2 more x. Was that his queue? Never even noticed that until now. Anyway, the older I get the more the action itself looks like a dive. The punch looks weak, the reaction looks fake, and his behavior in the aftermath all look really suspect. Bob Arum said he thinks Oscar took a dive, could be sour grapes for losing in court, but Morales said he took a dive too. Maybe he's just jaded about Oscar and the heritage issue, who knows. From a Boxing perspective, unless you're Roy Jones dropping white-hot heat on Virgil Hill's ribs, hooks to the side of the ribs don't really hurt. I've taken world class shots from fighters with world class power (a few classes above me too) and it sounds scary, but unless you're punching up like an uppercut and not hitting the side at a 3 o'clock angle, they just don't hurt. Hopkins hit him with his open glove (get a good copy and slo-mo it) and the only damage bearing knuckles that hit were the pinky side where the least amount of power is. You're supposed to hit with your fist two knuckles, often when hooking to the body (with palm facing your body) you'll hit 2 center and maybe a shade of a 3 but always avoid 3 and 4. Hopkins hit pinky if anything, but looked more open glove. Picture isn't the best, but I'll get a good clip. https://i.imgur.com/c1wzmBx.png So let's say Oscar took the dive, why would be do that? What's the benefit? Did he bet on Hopkins to win by KO in the 9th? I don't know the odds but it'll be something like 1500:1-1700:1. Regular odds were like -210 (DLH money line) so the odds weren't out of this world in disparity. To make a loss worth it you would need to put a couple of mill on the line and you can't do that at the window in Vegas back then. It would be a ton of work to wager that legit. Max bets across all casino's, too many moving pieces. Private broker, but that's pretty shady and could turn into blackmail down the line. I'm having a hard time finding the angle. What do you guys think, dive or legit?

Comments (20)

I certainly thought it was fixed. Watch a little bit before the round starts. Before the ninth. Listen when the camera’s in Bernard’s corner. Listen to what he says and his facial reaction. Btw, I don’t think that was Nazim shouting that during the round but I could be wrong. Either way doesn’t matter. But yeah, when you listen to Hop’s corner before the round, realize someone’s shouting body shot and Oscar, then watch that weak shot drop him like a sack of breaks...hmmm. Then they announce their partnership days later? That was something they must’ve been negotiating before they fought. That sealed it for me, Oscar had a lot of questionable decisions in Vegas. It’s fair to suspect foul play. Would it not have been easier for Hopkins to go out like that and save De La Hoya career and made them bag loads of money for a rematch so they fight was not fixed

8y ago

BLASTER1

FAKE fake fake.

8y ago

iamboxing

A sports writer at the time put it this way, "Oscar goes down and pounds the canvas with his right fist not able to get up until the count reaches ten! All of a sudden he is standing and flashing that Golden Boy smile of his." - source: http://www.doghouseboxing.com/DHB/KenH0123a08.htm

8y ago

Scopedog

I dunno, the punch looks kind of weak but it's hard to say just how badly it hurt without actually getting hit by it. I don't really see why Oscar would want to take a dive, it's not like he was hurting for money or anything like that, though there are some plausible theories itt. I suppose it's a possibility.

8y ago

AWolf

Dive? No it was a fake fight from beginning to end. Bernard is a terrible actor. He was the one making it obvious.

8y ago

Jd903e

100 pct he took a dive.....and ive been a looong time fan,since the Olympics

8y ago

R_Walken

I’ll give Oscar the benefit of the doubt that it wasnt a straight up dive but you never know But as a B-hop fan at the time and Oscar hater I f.ucking loved it Oscar looked like sh.it the fight before against Sturm and shouldn’t have won ( that was a robbery) and only got that decision because of his name and because the B-hop fight was already next in line for all the straps I believe I’ll chalk it up to at that point that it was strictly about the money for Oscar . so while a younger Oscar may have tried to dig deep and recover this Oscar knew he stood no chance against B-hop and just called it a day. The thing to me that’s suspicious and can lead to believe that it could have been a dive is B-hop joining GB right after as a partner definitely to much buddy buddy going on so maybe there was a silent agreement that B-hop takes it easy on Oscar and for both to make a sh.it load of $ without having to go to war

8y ago

Vasyls_dad

Looked like it to me as it happened. Still looks like it now. I think Oscar was realizing he was gonna get Titoed. In his view, better to go down from a body shot than a head shot.

8y ago

True_That

It looks like a dive, but I know one thing. Oscar took a fist up his bunghole by one of those girls. Lol

8y ago

Luilun

Looks like that

8y ago

FinitoxDinamita

I thought it was a dive watching it live and i still have no doubt in my mind that it was some fake bullsht. Dont fkin tell me that a little love tap downstairs is gonna KO Oscar and have em rolling around the canvas like he was shot. Man gtfo here with that lmfao oscar sucks at acting. They made a deal from the get go. The plan was to make oscar look good for the first 8 rounds or before getting knocked out by a fake body punch. And Hopkins joins GBP right after and everybody wins. Oscar held his own in the fight before getting hit by a fake tap, i mean punch.

8y ago

sbbigmike

I certainly thought it was fixed. Watch a little bit before the round starts. Before the ninth. Listen when the camera’s in Bernard’s corner. Listen to what he says and his facial reaction. Btw, I don’t think that was Nazim shouting that during the round but I could be wrong. Either way doesn’t matter. But yeah, when you listen to Hop’s corner before the round, realize someone’s shouting body shot and Oscar, then watch that weak shot drop him like a sack of breaks...hmmm. Then they announce their partnership days later? That was something they must’ve been negotiating before they fought. That sealed it for me, Oscar had a lot of questionable decisions in Vegas. It’s fair to suspect foul play. Oscar was in promoter mode, he dived to lure bhop to Golden boy to get a piece of that bhop Roy 2 pie, if I'm remembering correctly Roy got koed thereafter though

8y ago

lakerstekkenn

I think Hopkins corner"s game plan was to attack Oscars body, because they knew something and Oscar wasn't really a strong big fighter for his size and only had real susses with smaller opponents and for actually being 5"11, people ask like me, why couldn't he fight at middle weight and super middle weight and Hopkins and his team believed, Oscar was very weak strength wise, because Trinidad had no problem moving up in weight, to actually take Hopkins and Roy Jones deep into their championship fights and even going all 12 with Roy, and win the middle weight title earlier. Body shot shout, was letting Oscar know what's coming and we know your body is weak and your core strength abdominal muscles are not going to take this bod shot. Also these fighters are so heavy handed and hit so hard, because of their constant training to develop punching power they generate so much force that a simple looking body shot that we would land, is actually ten times more powerful when they land the same punch, it's like me throwing a right hand and landing on you and then Roy Jones hitting you with the same right hand and let's say he holds back, my right would hurt but his right even held back could brake bones in your face and knock you out or even kill you.

8y ago

IMDAZED

8y ago

LarryX

seriously did ya'll not realize that was Hopkins trainer talking?

8y ago

Young_Money

We don't know that, it could very well be a rolling pin. That is true. I was quick to post without knowing the full facts. I think we can agree that something was indeed inserted.

8y ago

LarryX

That was Nazim telling Bernard to take him to the Yard

8y ago

McNulty

What we do know is Oscar took an eggbeater up the butt. We don't know that, it could very well be a rolling pin.

8y ago

Mammoth

It was real, bro.

8y ago

Young_Money

What we do know is Oscar took an eggbeater up the butt.