Found this rare sparring video (De La Hoya - Chavez)

The "runt" was the new p4p#1 in the sport. The world thought it was a joke but DLH was not smiling. Watch the 24/7 series. DLH looks like he doesn't believe in himself, is really somber, keeps talking about Pac's speed and how tough it would be. The world and the experts didn't believe, but looking back DLH was the only one making sense. I think what happened to Cotto, a true prime welter, puts Pac more in perspective.

 

Oh, and this video isn't rare. It's only rare since you just started watching boxing last year.

 

Make no mistake, Oscar knew Pac was an incredible fighter. I had a feeling Oscar was going to lose. Something about Pac intrigued Oscar and it had little to do with him being small. The dude is a wrecking machine and Oscar should have known to stay away but I think he was drawn to fighting him

 

atschatsch You swallowed hook, line, and sinker. Do you actually think DLH would go on t.v. and burn himself by saying something to the contrary? DLH had to sell the fight in order to make it interesting. DLH saw PacMan as easy pickings and chose to fight PacMan instead of the pre-handwrap tainted Margarito. What self-respecting champion would rather fight a fighter who last fought at 135 than the biggest challenge at 147 (Margarito)? PacMan was unproven at 147. Don't get upset, bro. Just trying to lead you to the truth.

 

No sense in debating with you, Oscar. :|

 

Nah, I'm not upset. I see your point, and I thought the same thing at the time this was happening. But looking back now which one was the bigger threat in reality? This is another thing, this was during the whole "p4p" hype that starts with DLH/Mayweather, goes on to Mayweather/Hatton, where promoters were trying to use the term p4p to make people think it was some great title that trumps all other titles. Hatton said the same thing over and over, if he beat Mayweather he'd be p4p king, then later if he beat Pacman he'd be "p4p" king. I think DLH thought if he chose to go with the new p4p#1 than he can beat him and take his spot (remember, the fight with Mayweather Jr. (p4p #!) had just fallen through.) Yes, someone might say DLH couldn't have been that stupid, p4p don't work that way. But here's the thing. I think the myth started with DLH because it DID happen to DLH when he beat Whitaker, he took his #1 spot. He probably might think it could happen again.

 

So why would Oscar bother going after a smaller man that everyone thought he would just destroy? How does that make sense? What glory is there beating someone everyone else thinks is a joke? He would have gotten zero credit. But Oscar knew better and Oscar didn't believe he would wipe out Pac. He constantly underlined that pre-fight and knew Pac was a threat regardless of what everyone else thought. He wanted to prove to himself he could take on this man who destroyed legends before him. In the end curiosity killed the cat

 

DLH bothered going after the smaller fighter because in reality, PacMan was a lot safer than Margarito. DLH wanted to prove himself against a 135 pounder instead of the reigning badass at WW? Let's do the math. Ask a runt (And I say runt sarcastically) to move up to a weight class he had never fought before or fight the fighter who was the same size as he was. Oh, and DLH had talked about fighting Cotto once he got past Margarito. Once Margarito destroyed Cotto, guess who DLH turned
to? You are right about one thing. It all backfired on DLH and for that I will always laugh my ass off.

 

You kinda lost me after all that, but anyhow, I have my opinion and you have yours. I can respect yours. Peace.

 

In retrospect, Oscar chose the tougher opponent. I would have felt a lot better had Oscar fought Marg but Marg didn't interest Oscar as much. I guess it was " do I fight plaster or PEDs?"

 

Very nice find. Very nice find indeed.

 

WTF is with all of these oscar haters????

Im sorry but, oscar is a fans fighter

he has fought Tito,Whitaker,Hopkins,Mosley,Pac,Mayweather

thats 6 lock hall of famers!!!!!!atsch

who cares about how he performed in those fights

i swear, in these days of cherry picking and protected records.... you would think a fan would respect a man who fought the BESt COMP available......

but noooo, a fan always has to find somthing wrong :-(

In his prime oscar had it all.... Power, Speed, Footwork, GRANITE CHIN, technique...

what more do you want from a fighter???

in life, you win some you lose some.... but not everyone gets to be a rich pretty boy at the end of it all...

A bunch of haters is all i see in here. No one is claiming he was a legend, just a damn good fighter who fought the best

 

He's a legend in his own right. There will never be another Oscar

 

Actually, if I recall correctly, Chavez SR CLAIMED that lil Chavez Jr. accidently cut Chavez sr. with a toy.

Oscar was outboxing Señor Chavez before the fight was stopped. I highly doubt JCC would have beat Oscar in 1996. Oscar was too strong, to fast, to hungry, to skilled. I mean two years later Oscar made Chavez QUIT.

Oscar put on a masterful display against Tito. He thoroughly outboxed Trinidad. It was ONLY the 11th and 12th round that Oscar GAVE AWAY.

JCC claimed he had a recently healed cut, yes. But you're aware that the cut just stopped the fight from continuing right??? The CUT was not the reason Oscar was outboxing Chavez. Oscar swept the first 4 rounds. Fact of the matter is, Oscar beat Chavez with his superior boxing skills.

Saying that Oscar only beat Chavez because of the cut is inaccurate and is a lousy excuse. Inaccurate because Oscar beat Chavez by outpointing him. Lousy Excuse, because ultimately it is an excuse and it's a lousy one at that because JCC's job and any fighter for that, their job is to win rounds to ensure victory. JCC wasn't winning rounds.

Oscar was a 2 year pro, 2 time world champion, and 2 division champion when that sparring session took place. I doubt Chavez would have been blasted for taking his job seriously. Anyway, it was a straight right to Oscar's chin that dropped him, the same punch that dropped him 3 other times early in his career. You can tell Oscar was just peppering JCC, and not putting everything behind his punches, like you said it was just sparring, but it is a very good indicator of what their fight would have looked like, and it actually did look like that but with Oscar not getting dropped.

Yup, less than two years after that sparring session Oscar outboxed and cut chavez' face and won the fight. Two years after that Oscar made the great chavez quit on the stool.

I love chavez, but you cannot change what happened. I will be the first person to say that Chavez was not at the top of his prime by ANY MEANS against Oscar, but Oscar imo always gives Chavez major problems.

 

good footage. they really went at it the last 15 seconds