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I was recently rewatching the De La Hoya/Mayweather matchup and I started to notice the things that both did well and didn't do so well. I was particularly focused on De La Hoya, since the idea of having, in my own mind, the strategy to beat Mayweather is more interesting that finding the strategy to beating Oscar. Especially since he lost.
What I noticed were three possible fight altering actions that Oscar implemented. He just didn't do them enough, and could have SLIGHTLY altered how he used these tools. I also thought of something I would have done if I were Oscar in that fight. (And no, it's not come into the ring in drag.....)
1. Jabs and feints! He needed to double his jab up, and even triple it at times. Against a fast guy, who potshots and waits to counter, ou don't give him enough time to potshot when you offset his rhythm and have him thinking even more defensively then he normally would. That's where feints come in. I noticed that when Oscar would feint on the inside, Mayweather covered up the body. Perfect time to drive him against the ropes (where he had success) with two solid left jabs. The most important punch by EITHER, in the majority of their fight.
2. Rope work. When he had Mayweather against the ropes, he did much better then he did in the middle of the ring. Easy to predict against a fighter like Floyd. But he would fall into the trap of Floyds shoulder-roll defense. You have to be able to time that. Double bodyshot on one side and then one shot to the other would work MUCH better then 7 blocked shots to the same side. It works at times for the judges, but that would be best for the later rounds, to hopefully steal a couple of late rounds. He also did that well, by flurrying at the end of each 3-set. He should continue that.
3. Rough tactics. He needs them. When he would stand back as Mayweather ducked down, he let valuable time slip away. He needs to force him against the ropes, even if that means bullying him around. When he would flurry and look impressive and land some good shots, he'd have elbows flying and forearms in Mayweathers face. He needs more of that. His defense was great that night, in general and was picking off Mayweathers shots for the most part. Forget what CompuBox said, De La Hoya wasn't really touched much. Not in a serious way. When you add to that with the fact that Mayweather never TRULY hurt De La Hoya, you get the impression that De La Hoya could take that risk to open up, in order to rough Mayweather up.
The JAB, is what would be key though. He controlled virtually EVERYTHING when he was jabbing.
The fourth thing I noticed was that for the few brief moments that he was on his toes, he was pretty successful. In fact, if memory serves, Oscar stunned Floyd in the 11th round while bouncing on his toes. If he could switch between being on his toes to staying flat footed equally, he'd have a better chance of making Mayweather weary of him, and have a better chance to win. Because when Mayweather didn't throw, when he was still testing the water and then waiting for De La Hoya to tire (which he really didn't do), Oscar won the rounds simply by outworking the timid Mayweather.
I believe Oscar COULD do this, if he's close to or the exact same fighter he was last May. Also, he has a fight coming up that could help us determine his chances currently. Not even sure he makes it to the September showdown, as Forbes is no one to sleep on. For the record, I had it 116-112 for Mayweather, I'm simply throwing this out there.
Just something else, the fight was built up SO big that some judge the fight too harshly. If you take the fight as simply a fight between two guys, take away the glammer and just look at the fight is if it's two unknowns, you have a pretty damn good fight. 'High speed chess' as Merchant correctly put it. With enough action within that chess match to have exciting moments. Not the greatest fight of all time, but I didn't expect it to be. I'm just saying. Anyway, Discuss.
What I noticed were three possible fight altering actions that Oscar implemented. He just didn't do them enough, and could have SLIGHTLY altered how he used these tools. I also thought of something I would have done if I were Oscar in that fight. (And no, it's not come into the ring in drag.....)
1. Jabs and feints! He needed to double his jab up, and even triple it at times. Against a fast guy, who potshots and waits to counter, ou don't give him enough time to potshot when you offset his rhythm and have him thinking even more defensively then he normally would. That's where feints come in. I noticed that when Oscar would feint on the inside, Mayweather covered up the body. Perfect time to drive him against the ropes (where he had success) with two solid left jabs. The most important punch by EITHER, in the majority of their fight.
2. Rope work. When he had Mayweather against the ropes, he did much better then he did in the middle of the ring. Easy to predict against a fighter like Floyd. But he would fall into the trap of Floyds shoulder-roll defense. You have to be able to time that. Double bodyshot on one side and then one shot to the other would work MUCH better then 7 blocked shots to the same side. It works at times for the judges, but that would be best for the later rounds, to hopefully steal a couple of late rounds. He also did that well, by flurrying at the end of each 3-set. He should continue that.
3. Rough tactics. He needs them. When he would stand back as Mayweather ducked down, he let valuable time slip away. He needs to force him against the ropes, even if that means bullying him around. When he would flurry and look impressive and land some good shots, he'd have elbows flying and forearms in Mayweathers face. He needs more of that. His defense was great that night, in general and was picking off Mayweathers shots for the most part. Forget what CompuBox said, De La Hoya wasn't really touched much. Not in a serious way. When you add to that with the fact that Mayweather never TRULY hurt De La Hoya, you get the impression that De La Hoya could take that risk to open up, in order to rough Mayweather up.
The JAB, is what would be key though. He controlled virtually EVERYTHING when he was jabbing.
The fourth thing I noticed was that for the few brief moments that he was on his toes, he was pretty successful. In fact, if memory serves, Oscar stunned Floyd in the 11th round while bouncing on his toes. If he could switch between being on his toes to staying flat footed equally, he'd have a better chance of making Mayweather weary of him, and have a better chance to win. Because when Mayweather didn't throw, when he was still testing the water and then waiting for De La Hoya to tire (which he really didn't do), Oscar won the rounds simply by outworking the timid Mayweather.
I believe Oscar COULD do this, if he's close to or the exact same fighter he was last May. Also, he has a fight coming up that could help us determine his chances currently. Not even sure he makes it to the September showdown, as Forbes is no one to sleep on. For the record, I had it 116-112 for Mayweather, I'm simply throwing this out there.
Just something else, the fight was built up SO big that some judge the fight too harshly. If you take the fight as simply a fight between two guys, take away the glammer and just look at the fight is if it's two unknowns, you have a pretty damn good fight. 'High speed chess' as Merchant correctly put it. With enough action within that chess match to have exciting moments. Not the greatest fight of all time, but I didn't expect it to be. I'm just saying. Anyway, Discuss.
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