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In this decade De La Hoya has done two notable things: 1.) He has become the most popular boxer of his era, transcending the sport as we know it; a boxer and a business mogul. 2.) He has lost nearly every major fight in which he has faced a top opponent.
Del La Hoya is not the fighter he used to be or maybe ever was. It is possible that his immense popularity coupled with a few signature wins have led both the boxing media and general public to rank him higher than his abilities would suggest. Since 1999, he has suffered defeat at the hands of FLoyd Mayweather, Felix Trinidad, twice by Shane Mosley, was KO'd by Hopkins, and we can consider his fight with the previously undefeated Felix Sturm a loss as well, because it seemed as though the only reason The Golden Boy was given that fight was due to the impeding super-fight with Hopkins, which was scheduled for the coming months (maybe it was a "tune up fight")
Last but not least, I found it very interesting to watch The Golden Boy's selection process for his opponent in his most recent fight. He seemed to be searching for small, quick, intelligent boxers to simulate a fight between his upcoming adversary (Mayweather). After tossing around many names, he narrowed it down to three, one of them being the junior welterweight IBF champion, Paulie Malignaggi. Now that got me excited. Malignaggi would have with out a doubt been a perfect simulation of Mayweather's style. Such a close simulation in fact, it would have been too close to the real thing and The Golden Boy would have found a big L next to his name after the final bell.
Of course Oscar's intelligence and business savvy prevailed once again, and now instead of watching a truly great fight (Malignaggi vs. De La Hoya) with a chance of a De La Hoya loss that would create the possiblity for Mayweather to have take on a different fighter (say Miguel Cotto), we are now subjected to two fights that (I think it is safe to say) you and I could have done without.
Excerpt from my piece on The Final Bell (http://finalbell.blogspot.com)
KillerJoe Boborelli
F-G.W.
Del La Hoya is not the fighter he used to be or maybe ever was. It is possible that his immense popularity coupled with a few signature wins have led both the boxing media and general public to rank him higher than his abilities would suggest. Since 1999, he has suffered defeat at the hands of FLoyd Mayweather, Felix Trinidad, twice by Shane Mosley, was KO'd by Hopkins, and we can consider his fight with the previously undefeated Felix Sturm a loss as well, because it seemed as though the only reason The Golden Boy was given that fight was due to the impeding super-fight with Hopkins, which was scheduled for the coming months (maybe it was a "tune up fight")
Last but not least, I found it very interesting to watch The Golden Boy's selection process for his opponent in his most recent fight. He seemed to be searching for small, quick, intelligent boxers to simulate a fight between his upcoming adversary (Mayweather). After tossing around many names, he narrowed it down to three, one of them being the junior welterweight IBF champion, Paulie Malignaggi. Now that got me excited. Malignaggi would have with out a doubt been a perfect simulation of Mayweather's style. Such a close simulation in fact, it would have been too close to the real thing and The Golden Boy would have found a big L next to his name after the final bell.
Of course Oscar's intelligence and business savvy prevailed once again, and now instead of watching a truly great fight (Malignaggi vs. De La Hoya) with a chance of a De La Hoya loss that would create the possiblity for Mayweather to have take on a different fighter (say Miguel Cotto), we are now subjected to two fights that (I think it is safe to say) you and I could have done without.
Excerpt from my piece on The Final Bell (http://finalbell.blogspot.com)
KillerJoe Boborelli
F-G.W.
Y'all musta forgot
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