How Great Was Oscar De La Hoya?

[REMOVE SHARK 55]

Very good on his day. Won his Gold as an amateur and he can say he fought them all as a pro and broke records in the sport. Definitely cemented his legacy. Despite some battles with his inner demons he has to go down as one of the smartest boxers in history (business wise). Gave Floyd his big break.

[Ringlife]

He was great for the sport, he fought the top guys in his division, lost some and won some.

[LacedUp]

a lot of fools on this thread... let me break it down for you in a timeline

92- gold medal olympian, turns pro under arum

93- in like his 4th fight he is fighting veteran jeff mayweather

94- invades 130 and beats molina and bredahl,, decent fighters especially for such a young fighter like oscar was

95- invades 135, blows away true world class fighters like ruelas, lieja, genaro

96- invades 140, absolutely destroys chavez in one of the biggest fights of the year.. chavez had been beaten by movers, but nobody and ever just blown him out and make him quit like oscar did..

97- invades 147 and fights his first true p4p opponent in pernell whitaker, defeats whitaker and dethrones the longtime welter champ..

98- arum milks oscar abit and has him fight camacho in dec 97, and chavez 2 in 98

99- oscar fights the top guys and unifies in the welter division, beats undefeated ike, and gets robbed vs undefeated tito.. also beats ova carr who is a legit contender at the time

2000- fights undefeated prime shane and loses in a super close fight, shane just had a little more in the tank down the stretch..

2001- blows out gatti and moves up to 154 and beats castellejo for a 154 belt

2002- long layoff, and comeback to unify 154 in a grudge match vs vargas.. vargas is roiled, beats up oscar early, but oscar shows great heart and comes back to stop vargas late

2003- gets robbed in the shane rematch

20004- goes all the way up to 160 and fights prime strum, gets a gift win, and then challenges the legendary hopkins for all the belts at 160

2005- sat out

2006- returns and shreds the wild man mayorga,, no one has ever blown out mayorga like oscar did...

2007- challenges the best fighter in the world floyd may weather, loses a close competitive decision

2008- fights manny, and drains himself making welter, and totally gets embarrassed.. retires


all in all, oscar fought nothing but the very best...

only fighter in history to fight 3 different guys that at the time were p4p #1.. hopkins, floyd, manny... No other boxer can even come close to that

also fought top 5 p4p guys like prime undefeated shane, prime undefeated tito, pernell...


To put that into perspective, he has fought more p4p guys than floyd, hopkins, and roy did combined....


No one goes thru oscar's schedule undefeated.. No one....

Gave the fans the biggest fights, year after year, for over a decade..

Never let networks or promoters stand in the way of making big fights


One of the greatest offensive fighters of All time..

A true warrior

Maybe not a top 50 ATG, but certainly a top 100 or so fighter in history

He was absolutely devastating at 135 and 140.. carried power all the way to 154....


If you don't think oscar is great then you really DKSAB

He has a remarkable resume. I remember after he fought Gatti he just wanted to move up and get another belt at another weight and went after Castellejo who was the real champ at the time.

The guy just wanted to fight the best time after time, he hardly ever took an easy night. Even Gatti who of course was out-classed was still a two time world champ or something.

I liked Oscar a lot. If he had had a good right hand througout his career, he would have won more. Especially the Mosley fights.

[jas]

pretty damn good fighter

great left hand

not disciplined outside the ring

[LacedUp]

Hagler? Serious?!?! lol

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

What about Hagler? You don't think he's a true ATG?

[Chrismart]

Great fighter. A respected fight also, seeked out the big fights.

[GoldenGloveLove]

His legacy is great.
His H2H ability at his best is great.

Love the jab and left hook when he was at his best. Great chin too. He could be cagey in an upright kind of way more than given credit for and he had excellent movement but he could also stand in and **** away with powerful guys too. People harp on his losses but almost nobody went through a roster of names like he did who did or likely could've done any better against all those styles and how good they were when he fought them.

[big_james10]

Always been a bit of a De La Hoya fan. I've always felt he was better than the boxing public have you believe. I hold him higher than guys that got wins against him in his prime like Trinidad or Mosley.
Anyway what are your opinions?

He lost to Trinidad, Hopkins, Mosley, Mayweather and Pacquiao, had disputed wins over Ike Quartey, Sweet Pea Whitaker an Felix Sturm and refused to go anywhere near Azuma Nelson or Winky Wright (maybe we can blame this one on his promoter, Bob Arum).

He wasn't great enough to ask the question, "How great was Oscar De La Hoya."

[GoldenGloveLove]

He lost to Trinidad, Hopkins, Mosley, Mayweather and Pacquiao, had disputed wins over Ike Quartey, Sweet Pea Whitaker an Felix Sturm and refused to go anywhere near Azuma Nelson or Winky Wright (maybe we can blame this one on his promoter, Bob Arum).

He wasn't great enough to ask the question, "How great was Oscar De La Hoya."

He refused to go anywhere near Winky Wright by offering him his biggest payday and having Wright turn it down? That doesn't make any sense.

[big_james10]

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 have news for you, rookie. Oscar received a gift score in every fight he fought in, even the ones he lost, because he was Oscar De La Hoya. Mayweather won nine rounds of that fight easily, fighting with gloves that Oscar picked for him and at a weight that Oscar chose.

If the Pacquaio/De La Hoya fight had gone 12 rounds,it would have been a split decision victory for Pacquaio because one of the judges would have given seven rounds to Oscar. Very similar to what judges do for Saul Alvarez now.