How will history judge Oscar de la Hoya?

in between the 2 options.

 

i love it

glad to see some great posts guys and some respect for oscar. a great fighter, who won some lost some but has one of the very best resumes all time. ducked no one, had tremendous skills and did wonders for the sport

 

this:deal

 

ATG. 4 of his 6 losses (all against future HOFs) could have gone either way. His impact goes beyong the ring. The sport he helped build owes him a debt of gratitude.

 

Oscar fought everyone even when he did not have to.

 

Before he moved to welter, he was already a 3 division world champ with wins over JC Chavez, MA Gonzalez, Genaro Hernandez, Leija, Ruelas, Molina.

People like to rag on his career for his losses after that, but look who he fought.

He tried to unify welterweight when it was the hottest division and when those 3 P4P guys avoided each other for years (whitaker, ike, tito..oscar fought them all within 2 years).

He tried to unify at 154 (castillejo, vargas.. winky turned him down so he moved on to hopkins).

and of course he tried to unify at 160 (sturm, hopkins)

And in between he gave Mosley a couple of shots in fights with not much to gain, and fought P4P number 1s Mayweather and Pacquiao on the back end of his career.

Even his tuneups, the likes of Gatti, Mayorga, Campas, Camacho, Chavez, Rivera, Carr..were against tough fighters.

Gotta respect him.

Sure he was 4-6 against the best fighters he fought (Chavez @140, Whitaker, Ike, Tito, Mosley x 2, Vargas, Hopkins, Mayweather, Pacquiao..7 of them were at one stage P4P #1). But they were all close fights minus Pac (where he was weight drained and shot) and Hop (who was just too big).

Duran's record was something similar, didn't hurt his ATG standing, and he was clearly outclassed in his prime in a few of his biggest fights.

DLH atleast proved in the ring he was on the same level as his best opponents in his prime. He also got some dodgy decisions against him vs Tito and Mosley. If they are all ATG and HOF locks, then so should he. And I think he will be.

Years from now when people reflect back on his career they will see just how special it was. Especially considering how most top fighters these days are more likely to choose the safe option to protect their money making potential over tough fights to build a legacy (Mayweather comes to mind first and foremost). There will never be another Oscar De La Hoya, or someone who fought the level of opposition he did, for as long as he did, that's for sure.

 

One of the best welterweights ever.
One of the most devastating lightweights to ever walk the earth. :good

 

in between.

 

It depends what 'level' or 'depth' of history book you want to read. General history will have him as one of the greatest welterweights ever most likely. Something more credible will state he was clearly not quite on the level of such men who are truly worthy of that status, in terms of skillset i mean, and genuine ability of the 'immortals'. I wouldn't go as far as to say more flash than substance, i'm not biased, but there are men of his natural size who are cut above him in terms of ability, and they are the cream of the crop. Oscar De La Hoya would probably beat all the next level of great welterweights.

Thr man does have a legacy though in overall terms, which is not what i was touching on above.