Hopkins-DLH: the biggest fight that should'nt have happen

[Emon723]

Personally, the Hopkins-Dela Hoya fight in 2004 was a waste of time for boxing fans, experts were trying to compare it to Leonard-Hagler but its a foregone conclusion Dela Hoya is not gonna beat Hopkins, Oscar had no business fighting above 154lbs. Some more reasons:

It does not justified Hopkins' greatness beating a smaller guy, Dela Hoya even tried to sell the fight saying "he was my enemy, showing some anger" before their fight yet it was obvious there was deep relationship between the two, it was funny after their fight Oscar was pounding the floor mad at himself then suddenly get up and was like kissing Bernard's ass after.

Two other potential great fights were missed out because of this fight happening in 2004, Hopkins-Calzaghe and Mayweather-Dela Hoya earlier than their respective fights taking place, Floyd has been calling out Oscar and debut at 140 against Corley, and remember Hopkins beating Pavlik after the loss to Calzaghe, so he'd take on Jermain Taylor anyway.

Supposedly Mayweather beats Dela Hoya three years earlier, we might have seen Mayweather vs Winky Wright (whom he called out after beating Gatti) at 154 the following year.

[SCtrojansbaby]

Pacquiao vs Oscar was an even bigger mismatch IMO

[$Bullsfam$]

Pacquiao vs Oscar was an even bigger mismatch IMO

That was atleast a beatdown. In a big Hopkins fan but man was this a terrible fight. Made his fight with Calzaghe look like Gatti-Ward.

But Calzaghe would have never fought Hopkins who was middleweight champion. Had to wait for the speed to go


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[theproof]

I thought the judges had Oscar winning the fight at the time of the stoppage I couldn't figure that out.

[Scott9945]

I thought the judges had Oscar winning the fight at the time of the stoppage I couldn't figure that out.

Hopkins was well ahead on two of the cards. I've always been convinced that Hopkins carried him for half of the fight.

[soul_survivor]

It was a big money fight that made sense at the time. No way was Floyd going to fight Oscar in 2004, you do know how big he was at the time right?

I do agree that this fight doesn't really add to Hopkins greatness but it does add a meaningful name to a list of MW defences that are at times, slightly underwhelming.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

It was a mismatch,,

but i give huge props to oscar for taking that challenge,,

he could have just as easily fought vargas or mayorga, or judah but decided to go after a bigger p4p #1 middleweight kingpin ATG hopkins

that is why oscar is one of my favorite fighters,,, always gave us fans the big fights win or lose

[Anthony342]

He did fight and beat both Vargas and Mayorga though. I like Oscar as a fighter too.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

He did fight and beat both Vargas and Mayorga though. I like Oscar as a fighter too.

I meant a vargas rematch, and yes your correct that he did fight mayorga,,,

I was just meaning that he could have taken easy big money fights but instead took the biggest challenges with sturm and hopkins...

[JK1700]

Well, I definitely agree that it was a mis-match. Some people claim he wasn't in shape for the Sturm fight which is probably true, but regardless I think that fight showed that he didn't belong at 160. We can all agree that he should've lost that fight, I only gave him 3 rounds. However, the thing is, Oscar was the biggest name in boxing at that time, and Bernard needed him to build his own name. This is the reason why a lot of mis-matches happen. Hopkins was recognized as one of the very best in the world, yes, but beating "The Golden Boy" pushed him even more into the spotlight than he was before. Not because people thought he'd lose or that this was a really intriguing match-up, but because of Oscar's huge popularity at that particular time.

As for the fight itself, it was a real let-down. It did look like Bernard carried him to an extent, Oscar was just too small and because of the difference in power he wasn't willing to take enough risks to make it interesting. I don't think this fight delayed De La Hoya-Mayweather though. Floyd was still with Top Rank at the time and De La Hoya had a bad falling out with Arum when he left him a few years earlier. Considering how apposed Arum was to letting Floyd fight Pacquiao after he left, I tend to think he'd have been just as apposed to doing business with Oscar again. Plus Mayweather at that time had only just gone to 140 while De La Hoya was between 154 and 160. I think their fight happened at the perfect time for both of them. Not just because of the weight. Also because in the couple of years later Floyd's popularity increased a lot with the p4p#1 tag and Oscar re-rejuvenated his career with a spectacular knockout against Mayorga. Which was the first time that he looked really good in a while and helped increase people's confidence in him and add to the belief that he would be able to really challenge Mayweather.