26 years ago today: Óscar "The Golden Boy" De la Hoya vs. Isufu "Bazooka/Ike" Quartey

Brand new upload from TR:

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Brains in each corner: Roberto Alcázar vs. Daniel Oko Odamtten

Records as of fight night:
De la Hoya 29-0 (24)
Quartey 34-0-1 (30)

Common opponents as of then: none, actually, professional or amateur (eventually they would both have shared blows with Fernando Vargas and Oba Diallo Carr, the latter of whom Ike had already defeated in '96 but De la Hoya wouldn't face until later in '99)

Amateur records:
De la Hoya 223-5. Olympian in '92 representing the USA, won a gold medal.
Quartey 50-4. Olympian in '88 representing Ghana, had a bye and scored one victory prior to elimination in stage III.

Age took up the sport:
De la Hoya 6
Quartey 14

Promoters:
De la Hoya - Bob Arum
Quartey - Kathy Duva


WBC Welterweight World Championship at stake, sixth defense of ODLH.

Quartey gives up three years of youth, 2" of reach and 3½" of height along with eight ounces at the weigh-in, and is entering hostile territory off a 1 year and four month layoff. DLH was fresh off his generational "changing of the guard" victory over JCC Sr. five months earlier, and had fought thrice in the span of Quartey's absence from the ring.

As of my last scoring, I had it 114-113 Ike. Of course, that was at least 9 years ago if not longer (sometime before @Rumsfeld made his video entitled "Oscar De La Hoya's 6 most controversial bouts" in June of 2016:

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(Rummy starts reviewing DLH vs. IQ at 7:43, and contrasts his scorecard with the official judges', Harold Lederman's, and mine from 13:15 until 14:30)

It's probably been well over a decade, tbh - and this match ticks all the boxes of re-score worthiness (important, controversial, entertaining). So, here we go!

 

"...now, IB," you say, "is there no live boxing on tonight for you to view & score?"

Well, there is - but it's this card:
https://boxrec.com/en/event/911052

Maybe, with all due respect, the bummiest card I've seen broadcast on any medium, ever.

The main event is an 0-1 guy (Niguy Simms) vs. 1-2 guy (Samuel Palencia) ...ffs. Triller is really happy to collect people's hard-earned subscription dollars and just feed them whatever slop, huh.

 

Óscar De la Hoya vs. Isufu Quartey, 12 rounds @ welterweight

 

Btw, the year prior, both Trinidad & Whitaker had been offered very favorable terms for a bout with Quartey. Both ducked him with no good excuse given other than not wanting to risk their big payday against each other.

So credit is due Óscar for even signing on the dotted line and risking his zero here against the division's "Ah, Who Needs Him?" man of the moment.

 

10-9 DLH, close, on body shots.

 

Round 2 - Quartey's celebrated and surgical jab begins to find the mark every few seconds, while he slips and parries De La Hoya's shots, displaying his less celebrated brilliant defense. Big hook to close the round by Ike.

19-19

 

Round 3 - DLH wise to what a problem that jab is now, sliding his feet in reverse to create space and using his mitts to intercept. He manages to block or flee all of the pursuing Ghanaian's jab for an entire minute. De la Hoya leading with the left hook, setting traps - far more successful as counterpuncher than he was as the aggressor the previous round. Quartey with a few good shots late but no steal.

10-9 De la Hoya

29-28 De la Hoya

 

Round 4 - lots of light fencing, both pawing with jabs. Slight advantage to Quartey with a minute left but then DLH snaps his head back with an up-jab from a crouch and lands a couple of shots moments later.

10-9 De la Hoya by the slimmest of margins - this was largely a round off for both men.

39-37 De la Hoya

 

Round 5 - the African styling on the Chicano, who seems to be continuing his Round 4 break. Quartey with side to side jukes, and even uncharacteristic playful fist claps, all while gliding fluidly around De la Hoya scoring jabs and baiting for opportunities to counter with straight rights.

10-9 Quartey

48-47 De la Hoya

 

Round 6 - down goes Ike! De la Hoya stuffed a couple of jabs in his face and then scored a solid 2-3 combo that, along with their positioning, results in a flash balance KD. Quartey responds with a series of hard right hands after baiting DLH with his left hand carried low. Check hook (before the pivot counter hook was even called that ) by Quartey and the knockdown score is evened up! Quartey dominates the remaining two minutes.

10-9 Quartey (for people that don't understand - it was initially a 10-8 round for De la Hoya when he scored his knockdown, then reverts a 10-9 for either man - basically, whoever is the winner of the round otherwise knockdowns notwithstanding - when Quartey scored his. YOU DO NOT score a round like this 9-8 or any such nonsense )

57-57

 

Round 7 - the supreme jabber not only winning the jab duel, but actually out-hooking the fighter of Mexican descent. Ike pressing forward, rolling & undulating in place to change altitudes, looking for openings. De la Hoya being stingily denied any touches even with his opponent directly in front of him and moving ever closer. "No man has yet taken clear control of this round" says Al Bernstein. Erm, yeah he has. Quartey then puts an exclamation mark on it with a few right hands.

10-9 Quartey

67-66 Quartey

 

Round 8 - Quartey still outboxing De la Hoya, forcing him to keep his left hand sheathed and stamping his face with the jab. De la Hoya blocking some, but not all of the jabs coming his way but not getting anything off - Al Bernstein correctly points out that even when Ike's doesn't land it disrupts DLH.

10-9 Quartey

77-75 Quartey

 

Round 9 - Quartey smiling as he tames De la Hoya with the jab. Desperate flurries by DLH jumping in get a roar from the crowd, but it's all sound & fury signifying nothing. Lots of sinuous up and down movement by Quartey while sizing DLH up. Has his rhythm completely thrown off. Allows a pair of massive right hands to score for Ike.

10-9 Quartey

87-84 Quartey

 

The first of those big straight rights from Quartey in the final minute of the 9th would have kayoed a lot of welterweights.

 

Round 10 - Quartey misjudges a rush inside and impales himself on a DLH jab, getting stunned. Fortunately for him, the psychological warfare wrought on DLH over the previous several rounds makes the American too languid and/or too shy to capitalize. They exchange single blows at mid-range, playing chess, both greedily watchful but also minding their p's and q's defensively. Good right by Quartey. De la Hoya times a left hook around the jab and scores running in. De la Hoya grazes with some body shots, then blocks a Quartey jab and gets the best of a hooking exchange.

10-9 De la Hoya, close

96-94 Quartey