How Great Was Oscar De La Hoya?

[STEELHEAD]

i still chuckle when i recall oscars academy award winning performace
of him interpiting what a person would look like if they got KO'd by a body shot.
him laying face down on the canvas legs twitching. him laughing to himself. ahahahahah.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

i still chuckle when i recall oscars academy award winning performace
of him interpiting what a person would look like if they got KO'd by a body shot.
him laying face down on the canvas legs twitching. him laughing to himself. ahahahahah.

I assume you talking about hopkins fight..

Yeah, I always did think that looked suspicious, and could have been either a dive/quit job..

But on the other hand, I have been hit like that before, and it is paralyzing.. Unlike a headshot, your still fully aware of what's going on, but you can't breathe..

But I do think that fight was very suspect, especially considering hopkins joined golden boy shortly after

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Oscar's courageous challenge of Hopkins was not as courageous as it appears. Oscar put a catchweight clause in the contract that said Hopkins had to weigh 158 or less or loss millions of dollars.. Oscar wanted to win the middleweight title without fighting a full middleweight. Hopkins was so worried about not making 158 that he came in at 156 which is damn near a Jr. middleweight. I can't prove it but I think Oscar could have gotten up from the body punch that ended that fight but he knew Hopkins would just beat him up some more.

That last part is very well put...

Hopkins was about to show the world why they call him the executioner when Oscar went down..

[SeekDaGreat]

No he did not, it was soo close that mayweater only won by a close split.

Oscar was fare past his prime, and a alcoholic at that time, it would be like saying that Roy jones of today, is the same as 90`s royd.

Prime Oscar would punch floyds face in

I agree. 97-98 Oscar can hang and bang and possibly beat anyone from 140-154 today. FACT!

[boliodogs]

To Sugar Adams Ali, No problem my friend, even debating is fun as long as I don't get called names. Very smart boxing fans are not always going to agree with other smart fans on everything. There certainly is a good case to be made for Oscar being a great fighter. He made more money than almost any other fighter and he is a great promoter today so he has been good for boxing and boxing has been good for him.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

To put this in simpler terms

There are true atg fighters, and I don't think Oscar is in the same category as:
Ray robinson
Marvin hagler
Ezzard Charles
Roberto Duran

But he is better than most hall of famers
Camacho
Riddick bowe
Cotto (he will be hof one day)
Virgil hill
Terry norris



I tend to put Oscar on the same level as I do Wilfredo benitez..

They are like ying and yang to me.. Both straddling the line of hall of famer and atg..
Oscar was an atg offensive fighter, benitez was an atg defensive fighter..

Both fought all the big names, and both came up short vs the very best

Both had issues with alcohol and partying that robbed them of some of their prime..

That's kinda where I place Oscar

[baya]

To put this in simpler terms

There are true atg fighters, and I don't think Oscar is in the same category as:
Ray robinson
Marvin hagler
Ezzard Charles
Roberto Duran

But he is better than most hall of famers
Camacho
Riddick bowe
Cotto (he will be hof one day)
Virgil hill
Terry norris



I tend to put Oscar on the same level as I do Wilfredo benitez..

They are like ying and yang to me.. Both straddling the line of hall of famer and atg..
Oscar was an atg offensive fighter, benitez was an atg defensive fighter..

Both fought all the big names, and both came up short vs the very best

Both had issues with alcohol and partying that robbed them of some of their prime..

That's kinda where I place Oscar

who wins that match up in your opinion?

[Sugar Adam Ali]

who wins that match up in your opinion?

Very tricky.... It's a split decision no matter what, with people arguing about gifts/robberies for years after the fight...

I think in a 12 rounder Oscar wins a split decision

Benitez takes a 15 rounder..


It would look a lot like a mixture between Oscar vs Ike, pernell

[soul_survivor]

He didn't "win" the WBA middleweight strap. He got a gift. I don't think he beat Quartey either, but that fight splits a lot of people.

So, are you from the JMM school of boxing then? Quartey silenced himself in their fight, trying to be far too tactical in the early rounds while Oscar took it upon himself to win those rounds.

The Sturm fight is more debatable but you don't fight a legend like Oscar and expect to win by trying to coast, you have to BEAT guys like Oscar, scraping by is not enough. Sturm showed zero dog in that fight. It was the biggest night of his life and he let it slip by.

But even if you think of them as controversial or bad decisions, every single fighter in history has those, Mayweather with Oscar ironically or Castillo or maybe even Maidana 1. Ali with Norton a couple times, Mosley with...yep you guessed it, Oscar. See it works the other way too.

All i know is, Oscar was the leading welterweight of his generation ,was fun to watch, fought everybody, had a great hook and a very good jab, good power, great chin and he won championships all over the place. That's great.

If you can't even rate Oscar as great then you can't possibly rate the vast majority of boxers as great because less than 50 have ever achieved equal to or more than what Oscar did in his career.

[Mr.Fantastic]

To put this in simpler terms

There are true atg fighters, and I don't think Oscar is in the same category as:
Ray robinson
Marvin hagler
Ezzard Charles
Roberto Duran

But he is better than most hall of famers
Camacho
Riddick bowe
Cotto (he will be hof one day)
Virgil hill
Terry norris



I tend to put Oscar on the same level as I do Wilfredo benitez..

They are like ying and yang to me.. Both straddling the line of hall of famer and atg..
Oscar was an atg offensive fighter, benitez was an atg defensive fighter..

Both fought all the big names, and both came up short vs the very best

Both had issues with alcohol and partying that robbed them of some of their prime..

That's kinda where I place Oscar

Hagler? Serious?!?! lol

There are legends and then there is all time greats in which Oscar belongs in, and then hall of famer.