Thoughts on DeLaHoya-Whitaker

I just rewatched this fight again recently, and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on it.

For starters, I give DeLaHoya credit for taking this fight. Remember, this fight was agreed upon before Whitaker had looked bad against Hurtdao. It was DeLaHoya's first fight at 147, and even though Whitaker was past his prime, he was still hugely experienced and had one of the most notoriously difficult styles in modern boxing history. IMO, this is exactly the kind of fight managers or promoters typically steer a young fighter away from. I also think the case could be made that this win to be the biggest official win of DeLaHoya's career.

Having said that, I find both fighters' performances to be disappointing. DeLaHoya fought very tentatively and never made an all-out effort to unload on an aging Whitaker the way fighters like Chavez and Nelson had against a younger Whitaker. The fight also exposed DeLaHoya's ineffectiveness as a right-hand puncher IMO. On the flipside, I felt Whitaker was content to just keep the fight close and make DeLaHoya look bad, but never really stepped out and made a concentrated effort to win the fight. He even gave away the last round, which was a frankly baffling and stupid choice IMO.

Neither fighter was particularly accurate or effective with their punches. DeLaHoya managed to sneak in some good powerpunches here and there, but most of his punches missed or only partially landed. Although Whitaker was credited with "outlanding" DeLaHoya by Compubox, I didn't see him as having a substantial advantage in that regard. He did score a few good left hands in the later rounds, but I felt he fell short with a lot of his jabs. Ultimately, I don't think Whitaker's jab was consistent or accurate enough for him to be credited with "outboxing" DeLaHoya.

As far as the scoring goes, I thought DeLaHoya won five rounds clearly - 2,3,4,8 (IIRC), and 12. Whitaker obviously won the 9th when he was credited with a flash KD, but I felt most of the remaining rounds were close and indecisive, although I gave Whitaker the edge in a few of them. Ultimately, I believe a close win for DeLaHoya would've probably been a fair result.

I will also say, I think Whitaker's behavior in this fight was very strange. Round after round, his cornermen kept trying to tell him that he needed to step up the pace, but Whitaker acted like he was in another world. At one point, Whitaker started chanting, "I feel you, I feel you" over and over, and his cornermen were just like, "Uh, yeah, we feel you too." His clowning during the fight itself was also very strange and even cost him a couple close rounds IMO. I hate to say it, but it looked to me like Whitaker's brain was already addled by coke at this time.

Thoughts?

 

Whitaker failed a drug test after his next fight, just a few months after the DeLaHoya fight.