Swap ODLH's game plans from the Tito and Mosley fights...

Badly. Warring with Trinidad gets you killed. And Mosley was on Epo, he would have been finished late when Oscar gassed.

 

Oscar's chin was iron. I was so mad he didn't sit down more on his punches seeing how easily he was able to land. :-(

50/50 fight with Trinidad going to war, and he'd have outboxed Mosley IMO he did using half of the Trinidad strategy in their rematch.

 

Tito had nothing the night he fought Oscar. He looked dead, and he was never a sturdy fighter. Oscar was absolute iron; Hard to stop.

Never had any doubt Oscar could have stopped Tito within 4 rounds in their fight. He let it slip. So clearly the better man, but didn't have the stronger heart. Still won 9 rounds, but he missed his shot at an epic victory.

Tito might have more power, but Oscar had power, better speed, and the better chin by a long shot. He'd have been fine in a firefight with Trinidad, if not win it outright by sensational stoppage. Just the better equipped fighter.

Against Mosley, he had the right plan. I don't think Oscar can outbox that version of Mosley without a good, sharp, hard right hand. Mosley too fast, too sharp, to be outboxed by a one handed fighter.

 

The reason De La Hoya lost to Trinadad is that he let off the gas too soon.
The reason he lost to Mosley was because, Mosley was better than him.

 

Oscar had a perfect fight plan against Tito, for some bizarre reason the judges didn't see it. He boxed his ears off in that fight and only lost the final 3 rounds. Oscar was tough, he could've slugged it out with Tito if he needed too. He lost a poorly judged decision. In Mosley 1 he was outpointed by a machine who just didn't let up, everything he did was ineffective. He did better in Mosley 2 and was again the victim of a poor decision, oddly the margin was wider in Mosley 2 than in the first fight which Mosley clearly won.
DLH V Mosley 1 was the last time we saw the greatness of Sugar Shane Mosley. We saw glimpses, but never the same again.

 

Oscar respected Trinidad's power and at the same time was more content on proving that he was the better boxer. I don't think he wanted to show that he was the better fighter because he didn't stand in front of Tito and fight him. That fight was a war of words with lots of Latin pride too. I think the decision ranks among the worst of all time even when you consider that he kinda gave Trinidad the last rounds. If he stood and traded with Tito he might have sealed the deal although I think both men might have gone down. Tito looked to be the more fatigued fighter but still had power to turn ODH's head with some big shots near the end.

Against Shane, I think there's potential for a closer decision or Oscar gets stopped late if he tries to stay on his bicyle with him. If ODH uses more footwork and stays on his bike, Shane would do the same to out-land him. He was faster on his feet and I believe he would have caught up to Oscar.

 

I thought Trinidad beat Oscar by one point. I was sorely depressed by the first Mosley/DLH fight. Both fights sucked, really. Especially Mosley/DLH; two guys used to walking over people petrified at the thought of fighting live opposition.

 

De La Hoya won that fight, but he ran the last 4 rounds because he had too. Trinidad would have overpowered him.

 

Had he stood and thrown heat then? Quite possibly.

Had he come out for bell 1 looking to murder Tito, he would have, sensationally. The game plan was to box, however, and it worked; Tito couldn't touch him. So, Oscar never did step up the throttle.

His mistake. When you can't miss a guy and he's missing you, and you have the better chin and speed, finish him.

 

Correct.

But this falls under the category of being an opportunist. The non-opportunist is given a silver platter and doesn't do anything with it. Whole different ballgame with the opportunists and what a ton of problems they present because of their conviction and ability to end fights when that window is present.

 

Pertaining to the thread;

It was a footwork matchup for both fights. Against 1 opponent he had the better legs and against the other guy, he did not. He had much the better wheels than Felix and could turn him and make things easy. With the Mosely match, it was the other guy that had much the better footwork. It was up to Oscar to overcome that disadvantage and he didn't.

I thought both of these bouts were easy to predict at the time and Mosely was a live underdog in there. Most folks thought Oscar would overpower him but I sure didn't.

 

Going to war with Trinidad may have worked with his quicker hands and feet, but he may have lost out as Tito is the better puncher

Boxing Mosley was always the way to go and is why most people had him winning the rematch but brawling lost him the first fight