The De La Hoya-Whitaker Fight

Haven't watched the fight in a long time. Last time I watched it had it for Oscar. Always felt Whitaker did a great job making him miss but didnt really make him pay. Oscar might miss a bunch but he still was landing something while Whitaker was just playing defense

Not the greatest fight so I haven't watched it in a while

 

I had Oscar winning a close one. I just felt Whittakers offense wasnt enough. Its hard to reward a guy for showboating and negativity.

 

Just dug up my scorecard from a few years ago:


1 - Oscar

2 - Whittaker (swing)

3 - Oscar

4 - Oscar (or draw: nothing round)

5 - Whitaker

6 - Oscar

7 - Oscar

8 - Oscar

9 - Whitaker + Oscar down

10 - Whitaker (swing)

11 - Whitaker

12 - Oscar (swing)

114 - 113 De La Hoya. From what I remember I’d have been happy with either man winning it but Oscar just stole it by a hair. The actual scorecards were far too wide tho.

 

I remember a very close fight, and yes, I would never call it a robbery here either. The same goes for De La Hoya-Quartey, another very close fight, a great battle with many rounds that were difficult to determine. In these cases a small margin for one fighter or the other is acceptable in my opinion. It's a different story for De La Hoya-Trinidad, in that case, I had a clear 7-5 for Oscar. I would have found a generous draw for Tito, but I don't know how his victory came about. Major robbery are different, but that, for me, is a controversial verdict.

 

I thought Hoya won it on his aggression/ youthful energy. Whitaker was brilliant in spurts, but wasn't offensive/ aggressive enough to win.
But the fight was very, very , close.

 

That fight did more damage to Oscar's career than any other because it was after that fight that his "people" decided to fire Jesus Rivero as trainer. Oscar was 8-0 with 6 by Ko with Rivero but, going the distance with Gonzalez, who was 41-0 at the time, and a close fight with Whitaker led to the change, as if there is some shame in a close fight with Pernell Whitaker. Oscar had many trainers after that but the only one that ever understood him as a fighter was Rivero. That change deprived Oscar of the chance of being a great fighter.

 

It’s been years since I saw it, I remember scoring it 113-113.

I think you could say this was that “one last great performance from a declined fighter” that Cus D’Amato talked about.

Whitaker declined rather quickly after 1995, perhaps due to his lifestyle. There was the disputed win over Rivera in the first fight, and then him just looking old and bad for 10 rounds against Hurtado before catching him on the ropes (nice job Mercante Jr, way to fall asleep at the wheel and let Hurtado almost get killed).

But Whitaker was able to put it together and fight on even terms with a great young fighter who also had a big height and reach advantage.

 

It wasn’t close at all.
Oscar missed a fair bit but Whitaker did little outside of posturing for effect when he did miss, and providing no offence of his own .
Watched it about three times and Oscar by several rounds every time. I’m surprised so many have this fight so close

 

close bout. one fighter could not deal with the other's circling motion and defense, while Whitaker could not muster enough offense to match that of Oscar's combinations. I gave it to Oscar on effort

 

I think Pernell was scared to mix it up with Oscar, and went into a defensive shell for most of the fight. A good defense is not enough

 

I thought Oscar won it by at least two points, likely three. I have always found Whitaker's performances to be overrated, this one especially.