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I think that Oscar De La Hoya is very overrated.
If you look at his legacy, you’ll see that he lost most of his big fights, and his best wins have asterisks over them. If you go through his big fights one by one, you’ll see that his legacy really isn’t anything special.
His first win over Chavez is marred by the preexisting cut; Chavez’ face was a mask of blood by the end of one round. A great win on paper, but in context, not really.
The ‘win’ over Pernell Whitaker is extremely controversial, with many people (myself included) thinking that Pernell won that fight. The surprisingly wide judge scorecards leads me to believe this was an intentional robbery. I could legitimately see this being scored 7–5 either way, but the judge scorecards were clear BS. So, the win that made Hoya the p4p king (over an old man) may have been illegitimate
The 2nd Chavez win is good, but not great. Chavez was 36 and had been in over 100 gruelling fights. Again, Hoya gets undue credit for beating up an old man. At least he actually definitely won this one.
The Ike Quartey win, like the Whitaker win, is impressive… if you actually think that De La Hoya won. Which I, along with many others, do not (I gave it to Quartey by a single point).
In the biggest fight of his career to that point, against Felix Trinidad… De La hoya blew it. He just didn’t throw enough punches in the last third of the fight, and threw the fight away. Again, controversial scoring (I actually called it a draw), but in what should have been the biggest win of his career, Oscar threw the fight away with both hands.
In the next big fight of his career… Oscar lost again! This time to Shane Mosley, and this time I think he lost pretty clearly. Prime for prime, against a top-level opponent, in one of his career defining fights, he lost.
He won over Arturo Gatti. Fair enough, I guess. Gatti’s wars with Ward make some people hold him in higher esteem than he deserves to be held in. He was a tough as nails brawler who was always gonna lose to a good boxer. Oscar proved he is at least a good boxer.
The win over Fernando Vargas is the best example of Oscar having a clear, uncontroversial win over a solid opponent. Credit to him for this one.
Then, he fought Shane Mosley again. This is the other big piece of credit I give to Oscar. He was blatantly robbed by the judges in what I view to be one of his career-defining wins. Credit to him. Still, this was coming off of Mosley losing to Forrest, so it dampens the win a little.
He made an ill-advised move up to middleweight, and couldn’t even beat Felix Sturm without the help of the judges. That’s just embarrassing.
I don’t hold it against Oscar too much that he got knocked out by Hopkins, because he was a natural 130–147lbs guy fighting against an all time great 160lbs champ. Still, a big fight for Oscar, a big loss for Oscar.
After this, his useful career was basically over. He had two more big fights, and surprise surprise, he lost them both!
To be fair to him, he gave a better account of himself vs Floyd than many of Floyd’s previous opponents had, and losing to Floyd Mayweather at the pinnacle of his career when you’re getting a little old and past it yourself doesn’t count against you too much. Regardless, yet another big fight, yet another big loss.
The Pacquiao fight is a case of an old man not knowing when to cut his losses and retire. He was in no condition to keep fighting at the elite level, and he got beaten from pillar to post. Unfortunately for Oscar, his horrible last outing is how most people are gonna remember him in years to come.
So overall, Oscar De La Hoya does not leave a very impressive legacy. He has some wins over good but not great opposition like Genaro Hernandez, Oba Carr, an old Camacho and Arturo Gatti. He has one legit win over very good opposition (Vargas), and one robbery against a great opponent (Mosley). Other than that, he lost, lost and lost (Mosley, Trinidad, Hopkins, Floyd, Pacman), and his best wins have massive asterisks over them (Chavez, Whitaker, Quartey).
If you look at his legacy, you’ll see that he lost most of his big fights, and his best wins have asterisks over them. If you go through his big fights one by one, you’ll see that his legacy really isn’t anything special.
His first win over Chavez is marred by the preexisting cut; Chavez’ face was a mask of blood by the end of one round. A great win on paper, but in context, not really.
The ‘win’ over Pernell Whitaker is extremely controversial, with many people (myself included) thinking that Pernell won that fight. The surprisingly wide judge scorecards leads me to believe this was an intentional robbery. I could legitimately see this being scored 7–5 either way, but the judge scorecards were clear BS. So, the win that made Hoya the p4p king (over an old man) may have been illegitimate
The 2nd Chavez win is good, but not great. Chavez was 36 and had been in over 100 gruelling fights. Again, Hoya gets undue credit for beating up an old man. At least he actually definitely won this one.
The Ike Quartey win, like the Whitaker win, is impressive… if you actually think that De La Hoya won. Which I, along with many others, do not (I gave it to Quartey by a single point).
In the biggest fight of his career to that point, against Felix Trinidad… De La hoya blew it. He just didn’t throw enough punches in the last third of the fight, and threw the fight away. Again, controversial scoring (I actually called it a draw), but in what should have been the biggest win of his career, Oscar threw the fight away with both hands.
In the next big fight of his career… Oscar lost again! This time to Shane Mosley, and this time I think he lost pretty clearly. Prime for prime, against a top-level opponent, in one of his career defining fights, he lost.
He won over Arturo Gatti. Fair enough, I guess. Gatti’s wars with Ward make some people hold him in higher esteem than he deserves to be held in. He was a tough as nails brawler who was always gonna lose to a good boxer. Oscar proved he is at least a good boxer.
The win over Fernando Vargas is the best example of Oscar having a clear, uncontroversial win over a solid opponent. Credit to him for this one.
Then, he fought Shane Mosley again. This is the other big piece of credit I give to Oscar. He was blatantly robbed by the judges in what I view to be one of his career-defining wins. Credit to him. Still, this was coming off of Mosley losing to Forrest, so it dampens the win a little.
He made an ill-advised move up to middleweight, and couldn’t even beat Felix Sturm without the help of the judges. That’s just embarrassing.
I don’t hold it against Oscar too much that he got knocked out by Hopkins, because he was a natural 130–147lbs guy fighting against an all time great 160lbs champ. Still, a big fight for Oscar, a big loss for Oscar.
After this, his useful career was basically over. He had two more big fights, and surprise surprise, he lost them both!
To be fair to him, he gave a better account of himself vs Floyd than many of Floyd’s previous opponents had, and losing to Floyd Mayweather at the pinnacle of his career when you’re getting a little old and past it yourself doesn’t count against you too much. Regardless, yet another big fight, yet another big loss.
The Pacquiao fight is a case of an old man not knowing when to cut his losses and retire. He was in no condition to keep fighting at the elite level, and he got beaten from pillar to post. Unfortunately for Oscar, his horrible last outing is how most people are gonna remember him in years to come.
So overall, Oscar De La Hoya does not leave a very impressive legacy. He has some wins over good but not great opposition like Genaro Hernandez, Oba Carr, an old Camacho and Arturo Gatti. He has one legit win over very good opposition (Vargas), and one robbery against a great opponent (Mosley). Other than that, he lost, lost and lost (Mosley, Trinidad, Hopkins, Floyd, Pacman), and his best wins have massive asterisks over them (Chavez, Whitaker, Quartey).
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