20 year anniversary of the awesome, controversial Oscar De La Hoya vs. Ike Quartey fight

Among these 6 matches, Whitaker and Sturm really beat DLH. The rest were close fights. DLH beat Mosley in their second bout.

 

Back then you just moved on and continued enjoying the sport. Nowadays we have way too many safe space needing men-children.

 

I felt Oscar clearly beat Whitaker who was content with landing weak punches. I also felt the Quartey fight could easily be argued for Ike.

 

From memory, Quartey did FA after that fight.

 

That's not what I said my friend. I said Whitaker was landing weak jabs, abd Oscar was landing the better punches and set the tempo of the fight. I thought Oscar clearly beat Whitaker.

I also felt that a very good argument can be made that Quartey won more rounds than Oscar.

 

I remember Lampley saying something similar about DLH needing to finish strong. And that when he came out for the 12th with guns blazing and delivered...he had, in effect, earned the win.

I’ve always felt, and still feel strongly that the that the opposite is true in the 12th. It’s actually Quartey’s iron will that impressed me as he’s badly hurt, then out on his feet, with Mitch Halpern leaning in seemingly ready to call it...and Quartey somehow summons the strength to not only stay in his feet...but to throw back the entire time. He guts it out, makes it to the finish line and for me...that was enough for him to inch out a very close, but well deserved win.

We also learned a whole lot about DLH in this fight. Up until that point in his career, he’d been a pretty good finisher once he had his guy hurt. But at the very highest level...he rarely closed the show. Even for his strong finish here in the 12th...he still comes up juuuuust short.

On one hand you gotta give him credit for fighting EVERYBODY in his career. But when he fought the greats of his era...it was always razor thin. I’ve always thought he was lucky to get wins here against Ike, and with Pea and Sturm. Then when Merchant presses him in the interview afterwards...he looked like a slime ball when he wiggled out of any rematch talk.

Oh well, this is a fight I always enjoy rewatching. I’ve heard people describe it as boring over the years and I couldn’t disagree more. It was a very evenly matched tactical battle fought at a high level. Each fighter clearly had respect for the guy across from him, but they took their chances too. I just think that Ike finishing the 6th a little stronger after they traded hooks and knockdowns edges this one out.

 

I think you're taking away from Quartey by saying DLH couldn't close the show at the higher level.

Quartey has never been KO. He was an elite fighter and not even DLH could KO.

 

I think both truths were pretty evident. Quartey, outstanding pro that he was...was probably at least a couple years removed from his prime. Plus he came into this fight after a particularly long layoff of something like 15-16 months. Even still it was a razor thin fight where he proved his mettle by pulling through the disastrous 12th.

DLH, on the other hand, could finish Vargas and Mayorga. But he never pulled out the caliber of win like Ray Leonard coming from behind to stop a prime Tommy Hearns in the 14th. Never closed the show like Sánchez did against an inexperienced, but game Azumah Nelson. If you’re objective about Óscar, he probably lost to Whitaker and Sturm...and maybe even Trinidad. Here against Ike...again it’s close and he hammers the nail in half way. Historically, I think the very best of all time probably find a way to win in this instance.

 

Nah.....Oscar did not clearly beat Whitaker. I don't think so. It was a close fight but Oscar won it because he was becoming a new superstar in boxing. It was this reason that help him win it and we all knew this. Besides, Whitaker annoyed the crowd and judges by pretending to get hurt and stumble in some rounds.