Is Oscar De La Hoya an all-time great?

[lparm]

It is correct for the most part. But it does nothing to explain why Oscar shouldn't be granted all time great status. There have been literally thousands and thousands of professional fighters. deLaHoya's record, acheivments and competition rank among some of the very best of all time.

As I said to the public DLH is an ATG but to boxing fans who revere the greats as supermen I can't honestly believe a true fan of the sport would list DLH in the top 100 all time. I'm sure if you're a big DLH fan then you will always argue his claim but if you're realistic about it then you see the flaws and massive holes in the resume of a would-be ATG who never lived up to Arum's promise of the next SRL.

[larryx]

I'll be surprised if HBO picks up that rematch, honestly.
Unlike Hopkins, he wants to retire. Slappy thinks Dawson hasn't done enough to earn him the fight. I would like to see it though. Please don't bring the age up, its not like someone is putting a gun to Hopkins' head to keep fighting.

so how has he earned a fight with hopkins??????????

[Mr. Fantastic]

so how has he earned a fight with hopkins??????????

Hopkins has lost, Calzaghe hasn't.

[JAB5239]

The difference between DLH and Tyson, Hop, Hagler, RJJ, Manny, Floyd,etc is simple.....they all had legit claims to being the best in their divisions, all of them at one time or another beat anyone with a claim. DLH lost to every fighter that had a claim to being the division's best, every time. That's the difference.

That doesn't make you any less a fighter, it just means you fought in a very tough era with great competition. Sam Langford never won a championship. Should we dismiss his greatness as a fighter? Not to many people rate Charley Burley as a better fighter than Ray Robinson. He never came close to the same accomplishments as Ray. Is he not an all time great?

[larryx]

Hopkins has lost, Calzaghe hasn't.

hopkins has fought real fights..calzaghe hasnt

[IMDAZED]

I acknowledged that you had a point there.

To be fair though I think Oscar did actually do that, twice. He just didn't get the decision.

Who Tito? A prime young fighter running for his life? When has a fighter been that far ahead and had to RUN? Usually they either coast (continue doing what they were doing before)...or they go for the KO! Unless...they aren't that far ahead...or worse.

And there was supposed to be a rematch, remember? Well, only one of them wanted it. The other didn't want to avenge the "robbery."

[Dan...]

To lparm and IMDAZED: Does your opinion change if De la Hoya gets the decision against one or both of Mosley or Tito?

[larryx]

Hopkins has lost, Calzaghe hasn't.

you are contradicting yourself..you said all great fighters have lost..when talking about oscar and floyd..now you flip flop with joe and hopkins?????????

[lparm]

And when that didn't work he'd try to make them LEAVE their division for something more comfortable. Funny how he can get down to 150 and 147 for Forbes and Manny but couldn't do it for Floyd. Funny how he could go to 160 for Sturm but made Hopkins weigh an anorexic 156 for their fight. And lost. Lost, lost, lost. When did he ever beat the best in his division? When?

An article in TheRing after the Hopkins fight was telling, DLH said everytime he moves up in weight he loses his advantage which he said was speed. So by making Floyd and Manny move up to fight up by dangling the $20 million carrot in front of them is for one reason and one reason only. He wants the small guys to suffer the same fate he did against the bigger Hop, I hope Manny beats him and finally ends all this talk of the ATG wannabe DLH.

[IMDAZED]

To lparm and IMDAZED: Does your opinion change if De la Hoya gets the decision against one or both of Mosley or Tito?

If he beat Tito decisively...YES. But he didn't.

Mosley...no. The Mosley he fought had been battered by Vernon Forrest and then got his lunch money taken away by Winky in the fight right after Oscar.