Does De La Hoya have the most impressive opposition faced ever?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by bxrfan, Jan 23, 2011.


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  1. bxrfan

    bxrfan Sizzle Full Member

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    I mean, over the course of his career Oscar has faced nearly every style over six different weight classes through the course of sixteen years. He fought everybody. Chavez x2, Whitaker, Trinidad, Mosley x2, Hopkins, Mayweather, Pacquiao are all considered in the upper echelon of fighters. Then you have guys like Quartey, Vargas, Mayorga, Camacho, Leija, Molina, Hernandez, Campas, Castillejo, Sturm, Gatti, and many others. He ducked nobody (Yeah he didn't fight Forrest or Wright but are we really gonna go there after all the other fighters he's faced?)

    If you look at the timeframes that he fought these opponents at, it becomes even more impressive imo. Whitaker, Hopkins, Mayweather, and Pacquiao were all considered P4P #1 when he fought them. Trinidad and Mosley were undefeated. Molina, Leija, and Hernandez were all still pretty good at the time he faced them. Quartey was considered a pretty high risk/low reward type.

    The different styles that he faced were amazing in itself. He faced the defensive artist in Whitaker, the crafty Mayweather, the high energy of Pacquiao, the power punching Trinidad, the bigger Hopkins, the brawler in Mayorga, and many other style types. My question is, if not Oscar, considering the time the opposition was fought, the oppostion's ranking in history, and the different amount of styles faced, who has the most impressive opposition faced ever?
     
    bxrfan, Jan 23, 2011
    bxrfan, Jan 23, 2011
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  2. Meast

    Meast New Member Full Member

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    For a modern fight it's impressive yeah. He gets a lot of respect for going out of his way to fight the best around at the time.

    There's plenty of fighters from times past that have fought better opposition. There's many I could name but start with Harry Greb, Archie Moore, Robinson etc.

    You'll find they've all fought a large ammount of top fighters, many that are in the HOF and generally considered to be great.
     
    Meast, Jan 23, 2011
    Meast, Jan 23, 2011
    #2
  3. horst

    horst Guest

    He faced the most impressive comp of the modern era, but not of all-time. Good arguments could be made for guys like Muhammad Ali and Emile Griffith from the last half century, and from before that there are countless guys who had far longer, richer careers of fighting top guys on pretty much a round-robin basis.

    Emile Griffith is hard to top for comp faced though:

    Rodriguez
    Paret
    Dupas
    Charnley
    Archer
    Tiger
    Benvenuti
    Napoles
    Monzon
    Briscoe
    Antuofermo
    Minter


    And he fought most of those multiple times!!

    And he probably fought more top notch fighters than I don't even know about, those are just the ones that I am familiar with.
     
    horst, Jan 23, 2011
    horst, Jan 23, 2011
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  4. El Bujia

    El Bujia Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Archie Moore.
     
    El Bujia, Jan 23, 2011
    El Bujia, Jan 23, 2011
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  5. scartissue

    scartissue Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    IMO Fritzie Zivic and Joey Maxim fought the best opposition.

    Scartissue
     
    scartissue, Jan 23, 2011
    scartissue, Jan 23, 2011
    #5
  6. sportofkings

    sportofkings Boxing Junkie banned

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    Juan laporte end thread:good
     
    sportofkings, Jan 23, 2011
    sportofkings, Jan 23, 2011
    #6
  7. jaffay

    jaffay New Orleans Hornets Full Member

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    Oscar;s level of competition is very immpresive but not the best ever. Only Roberto Duran fought better rivals than him in last 30-40 years I think.
     
    jaffay, Jan 23, 2011
    jaffay, Jan 23, 2011
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  8. MAG1965

    MAG1965 Loyal Member banned

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    He fought great guys but didn't beat them all. Some of the guys he fought were overrated like Ike Quartey and Ruelas.
     
    MAG1965, Jan 23, 2011
    MAG1965, Jan 23, 2011
    #8
  9. lefthook31

    lefthook31 Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    Kind of a funny post here. Quartey and Ruelas werent overated. They were solid champions and ODLH fought and beat them both. DLH resume is very impressive for a modern fighter for sure. He was competitive in just about all his fights as well.
     
    lefthook31, Jan 24, 2011
    lefthook31, Jan 24, 2011
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  10. bxrfan

    bxrfan Sizzle Full Member

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    This isn't about who he beat though, this is about who he faced, and it's easily the most impressive list of fighters in the modern era.

    Sorry but my knowledge of people before the 50's isn't the best, were the fighters like the Black murderer's row, were their styles similar or different? I mean, I know guys like Archie Moore, SRR, and Griffith fought a lot of guys, but how different were their opponents?

    Like with Ray Robinson, he fought Fullmer, Basilio, LaMotta, etc. but these guys have very similar styles imo (i know he faced many more guys, like Gavilan, Zivic, Armstrong, etc.)
     
    bxrfan, Jan 24, 2011
    bxrfan, Jan 24, 2011
    #10
  11. El Bujia

    El Bujia Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    To reiterate, and keep in mind he fought many of these men multiple times as well:

    Muhammad Ali
    Ezzard Charles
    Rocky Marciano
    Charley Burley
    Harold Johnson
    Floyd Patterson
    Jimmy Bivins
    Lloyd Marshall
    Holman Williams
    Eddie Booker
    Jack Chase
    Aaron Wade
    Willie Pastrano
    Joey Maxim
    Eddie Cotton
    Shorty Hogue
    Clarence Henry
    Bert Lytell
    Cocoa Kid
    Teddy Yarosz
    Nate Bolden
    Bob Baker
    Oakland Billy Smith
    Leonard Morrow
    Nino Valdes
    Bobo Olson
    Henry Hall
    Johnny Romero
    Curtis Sheppard
    Bob Satterfield
    Yvon Durelle
    Yolande Pompey
    Ron Richards
    Fred Henneberry
    Big Boy Hogue
    Freddie Dixon
    etc.
     
    El Bujia, Jan 24, 2011
    El Bujia, Jan 24, 2011
    #11
  12. lefthook31

    lefthook31 Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    I think its pretty clear DLH looked to fight the best fighters of his era, even when they were washed up and he was washed up, and for that you have to commend the guy. As far as talent vs talent, thats going to take a boxing historian to clear that up. :p
     
    lefthook31, Jan 24, 2011
    lefthook31, Jan 24, 2011
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  13. Meast

    Meast New Member Full Member

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    SRR's top ten opposition (in no particular order)

    Kid Gavilan, Sammy Angott, Fritzie Zivic, Rocky Graziano, Jake LaMotta, Gene Fullmer, Carmen Basilio , Randy Turpin , Bobo Olson and Henry Armstrong (not to mention numerous other good contenders that would be good in any era)

    He was giving up a fair bit of weight in the LaMotta bouts (15-16 pounds in the first couple)


    I'd go into much more detail about these fighters styles but don't have much time at the moment. There's a good mix of brawlers, slick boxers and punchers in there...certainly a good variety.
     
    Meast, Jan 24, 2011
    Meast, Jan 24, 2011
    #13
  14. Meast

    Meast New Member Full Member

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    A very hard list to beat!
     
    Meast, Jan 24, 2011
    Meast, Jan 24, 2011
    #14
  15. lefthook31

    lefthook31 Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    Yes but can anyone break that list down and compare it to fights like DLH vs Chavez, or DLH vs Pac where one of the fighters was clearly way over the hill?
     
    lefthook31, Jan 24, 2011
    lefthook31, Jan 24, 2011
    #15
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