De La Hoya vs Paez. Paez being an X champ, and only gettin dropped once in 66 rounds?

I don't know what the expectations were going into the fight but I do know that De La Hoya really, really dislike Paez. I read and interview where Oscar dropped his chipper character to gleefully recount his brutal beating of the clown prince.

 

Paez looked like a circus midget in there with Oscar and got squashed accordingly.

James Leija was another normally sturdy guy that Oscar absolutely demolished at 135 and another that it looked like De La Hoya had an unfair size advantage over.

Oscar was a ****ing monster with his size,speed and power at lightweight and he'd be a nightmare for many (including some ATG's at the weight).

 

All of those guys were brought up from the featherweight division though against an already massive lightweight as it was.

There was some suspicion of fixed fights during Paez's career, not that this was necessarily one of them. However he was never even a big featherweight. It was set up for De La Hoya to win and Paez's performance made no one feel any different.

The struggle against John John Molina, another super featherweight, was somewhat alarming regarding De La Hoya's lightweight prowess.

 

True but he did still beat Molina handily and he subsequently crushed Ruelas (not such a great win in hindsight but at the time his first legitimate win at 135 and a dominant display) and he showed some sharp defensive skills and that same power against Genero Hernandez, although he was another coming up in weight. But the Molina fight was a great test for a very inexperienced De L Hoya and he definately looked to have matured and improved in leaps and bounds after it and his results reflect that.

I agree that resume-wise Oscars' 135 offerings were quite thin but I still believe that his mix of size,skill and power (which he didn't really carry to the higher weights to the same extent) would be a tough nights work for any lightweight in history with perhaps a few exceptions.

 

Paez was too small, as someone said the Molina fight was more telling at LW. Paez was finished as a fighter anyway.

 

Let's be honest. ODLH was extraordinarily jealous of Paez's dancing skills.

 

Paez was spent when he fought Oscar...he would of course never have beaten him anyway,.but he was also too small for ODLH. He was more than just a novelty act I believe...not a great or very good champion, but indeed a very odd, scrappy and entertaining title holder whom I enjoyed watching back when there was still televised boxing.