Thoughts on DeLaHoya-Whitaker

Oh...

 

Whitaker failed a drug test in February I believe of the next year (10 months later), when he was scheduled to fight Ike Quartey (in April).

Whitaker wanted the rematch with DLH, even put out an add in the paper to lure DLH into the rematch, but Oscar had pre-fitted out his schedule with a bum of the month list that included Kamau, Charpentier, Camacho, Rivera and Chavez (again) in a move to say "I'm too busy at the moment, but we'll see later on". So Pea moved on to try and make a fight with Ike.

Arum didn't want the fight (obviously) and Oscar could make millions fighting nobodies, so there was no need to put it all on the line in a risky fight if he didn't have to. Arum's rhetoric of it being boring and no one wanting to see it again probably justified it in Oscar's mind to not go for it unless he had to.

Ring Magazine put out a cover imploring DLH to give Whitaker a rematch, but it wasn't to be.

Incidentally, it was DLH's reluctance to give Whitaker a rematch which gave him the nickname "Chicken De la Hoya" from Mike Katz.

Whitaker threw his latter career away with drug use, and he's only got himself to blame for that, but let's be clear, this was a clear duck by DLH.

BTW Rex, I don't think round 4 was a clear DLH round.

I also disagree somewhat that DLH didn't try and attack Whitaker like CHavez and Nelson did. He was more cautious sure, but he was also throwing ten punch combinations at him. Hard to keep on doing that when you land none of it....

 

Very interesting insight.

 

Yeah Rivera, Camacho and Chavez were bums atsch

Maybe if our man Pea could have kept it together he'd have gotten the rematch. Nothing was "pre-planned", if it was, blame Arum and not Oscar.

 

Whitaker won

 

They were cherry picks and maybe you're right, Arum generally is a master match maker at building up 'star' value through choosing the right opponents

 

Rivera was awkward and gave Whitaker hell. Why would Arum cherrypick a guy like Rivera for Delahoya ? That makes no sense at all.

 

In 97-98 Chavez and Camacho were. They were utterly meaningless fights.
Rivera was a journeyman whose claim to fame was holding his own against a high as **** Whitaker. Not really considered a genuine threat.

Some of those fights were already booked in before the Whitaker fight ended (at least as far as Arum was concerned). Pretty good diversionary tactics.

Whitaker should have had a clause in the contract for a rematch, of course, but who knows, perhaps the fight would not have got underway if that was the case....

 

I know this is off-topic but why does Oscar hate Bob Arum so much apart from their promotional feud? Did Arum do something wrong when he was promoting Oscar?

 

Wouldn't even call them cherry picks myself. Not like they had belts at the time or anything like that to exploit.

Just pure milkmanship.

Of course when you can get millions to fight those guys, it's kind of hard to take the harder option.

Credit to DLH, he eventually did take the harder path.

 

He had 21 fights when he fought Whitaker Name 2 Hall of fame fighters at 21 fights that had a tougher bout against a champ please.

 

Who beat Chavez from 94-98 besides Oscar (twice)? To say Chavez was irrelevant at 140 when Oscar fought him is just your bias shining through once again.

 

Randall for one ( or should that be two? Flip Homansky saved him from another loss)

Chavez was clearly on the wane, and not a serious threat at the time. Some people felt even Kamau had beaten him.....

I actually thought MAG beat him too and got dudded prior to thge DLH rematch.

 

He had 24 fights leading into the Whitaker fight.

But in any case, credit to him for taking the fight.

All the same, he knew Whitaker and CHavez were ripe for the picking when he fought them.

I can almost guarantee you he would have sat it out a while had they not looked ready for the taking beforehand....

 

Was Randall in 94? I thought it was mid 93.