Was De La Hoya Really That Skilled?

[Larry the boss]

Yea Oscar was very skilled an had some real
"DOG" in him

[boogbx]

Gold medalist and ATG.

I favor Linares heavily. Garcías closer to being a hype job than he is an ATG.

[BoloShot]

That's the part that concerns me about him. He leaves that chin in the air just asking for trouble. Also doesn't move his head, change levels and is pretty damn stiff.

Yeah, I've never seen someone with such a blatant disregard for the fundamentals be able to succeed when they're stiff and predictable. If you're going to be one note like him, you need solid fundamentals.

[pasawayako]

Yes he's very skilled specially at 147 where he's a beast but he has a very hard time against an opponent with faster hands and great footwork.(pac)

If dela hoya isn't really good he couldn't beat floyd.

[Dip_Slide]

Considering I'm yet to see Ryan cover his chin when throwing hooks, imma wager he gets his clock cleaned soon enough.

Yeah he's the type of fighter that's always gonna fail the eye test when percieved by people who boxed or know boxing. However the eye test doesn't correlate with actual in ring accomplishments a 100% of the time, but more often than not nonetheless. And he definitley failed my eye test a number of times.

Let's not jump into conclusions though and wait until we see him fight at a world class level.

[Mister Wolf]

Yes he was a gold medalist and a very good pro fighter. Could have been even greater if he didn't fall into drug and alcohol abuse.

[Shadoww702]

One of the best of his era. Please watch:

ODLH vs Ike Quartez
ODLH vs Felix Trinidad
ODLH vs Fernando Vargas

And my favorite:

ODLH vs Sugar Shane Mosley I

He put a boxing CLINIC on Tito. I had him winning like 9-3. Tito's white shorts were covered red...

[BoloShot]

Yeah he's the type of fighter that's always gonna fail the eye test when percieved by people who boxed or know boxing. However the eye test doesn't correlate with actual in ring accomplishments a 100% of the time, but more often than not nonetheless. And he definitley failed my eye test a number of times.

Let's not jump into conclusions though and wait until we see him fight at a world class level.

There's too much solid evidence from the past that people who lack head movement and can't use a proper guard always get caught eventually. He's asking for it. Yeah he's clearly got talent but guys who drop their hands like him have only succeeded due to their highly reflexive head movement. He's got years of experience on me but at least I've hardwired the reflex of throwing a hook and putting my opposite glove right to my chin. You don't do that someone will catch you eventually and most likely KO you.

[Shadoww702]

You know what, he had the looks and story to sell. A Mexican American gold meddle olympiast with good looks. It's true he doesn't look like a boxer, but he really is one. Underneath the glitz and the glamour, beats the heart of an assassin.

Roy Jones told Hopkins " stay at 160, u will beat all the trinidads and the de la hoyas of the world." He was spot on right.

Oscar had some dubious fights ( some duds, some great) what he did to gatti was pretty cool. And his 3 weight classes 3 knockouts was pretty cool. He threw everything at castillejo except for the kitchen sink. I think he floored him in the twelvthe. He also had the benefit of fighting a post- Trinidad Vargas. I'd say talent wise, him and Mosley are split down the middle.

In the Floyd fight what was up with his "it wasn't the night of the jab" excuse. In his book he revealed that he was so frustrated during the Floyd fight that he was hoping money broke his hand against his hard head, and that was the game plan? Lol

He won some he lost some, didn't carve out the perfect career his handlers wanted but none the less a hall of famer and fought the best level of competition most of the time.

Man he put a Boxing CLINIC on Pre Tito before he fought Vargas.

"For the first eight, maybe nine rounds, however, De La Hoya was boxing as masterfully as he ever had before or would again." "Then who ran shamelessly for the final three rounds"

I gave him nine rounds. Here's the full fight if anyone wants to see how bad Tito looked the first 8-9 rounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omzeANBGO2I

[bojangles1987]

Oscar had a lot of skill. Very good jab, great combinations, could do work inside and out, could go backwards and pressure.

He wasn't perfect or anything but he had lots of skills.