Oscar De La Hoya: best 1st 5 years of any career ever??

Better than Carlos Baldomir??? I dont think so.

 

It's very impressive, yeah, most people think DLH's career started at WW, vs. Trinidad. But at the time, the former SFW boxer was indeed a 4 division champion and with a gold at the Olympics, he really made history in those early years. In fact, he lost ALL of his fights at higher weight classes, it's a pretty overlooked fact as well since everybody remembers Oscar as a WW...

But don't look for love on ESB - it's an anti-DLH community. DLH's rep here is 'he lost all of his big fights'. :rofl atsch

 

winning the WBO belt back in 1994 was like winning a mickey mouse belt like the WBU today, the title was never recognized as a legitimate one But regardless its a very impressive resume, Oscar probrably 1 of the top 5 fighters in the last 20 years

 

what about sugar ray leonard. in his first five years he had wins over ATGS Duran, Hearns and Benitez

I am a DLH fan

 

What about:

Mike Tyson (Berbick, Spinks, Holmes, Tucker etc etc)
Ray Leonard (Benitez, Duran, HEarns)
Roy Jones (Hopkins & Toney)

 

The first 5 years went very well, but they were also rather carefully orchestrated. I wouldn't get too carried away with shock and awe.

 

Good post. It's nice to see someone speaking with sense on the General Forum. De la Hoy ais unjustly maligned too often on this board.

 

Tyson's was excellent, his main career chunk.
What about Holyfield?
Undisputed cw champ, beat some names.

 

We dont like Oscarsexuals here on ESB. Oscar beat an old ass Chavez in 1996, and ROBBED Pernel in 1997. But God and Don King sent us Tito "Flash" Trinidad to save every one of us from the scourge that was Oscarmania.

 

lets not forget oscar also has the looks of a male supermodel.

 

Again, Oscarsexuality, the Black Plague of the Middle Ages, and Genital Herpes are all on the same page.

 

Yeah I doubt that God sent Trinidad into that ring to get his ass kicked the way he did. You can credit Don King for Trinidad's bloodied nose and busted face.

 

All these wins over Older fighters & smaller fighters set Oscar up for the bigtime. The first legitimate Welterweight he fought (Trinidad) Oscar lost. Then another superfight chance to prove himself against Mosley Oscar Lost again. These losses against bigtime opposition have really hurt De La Hoya's standing as an alltime great. When he himself moved up out of his class like some of the fighters he had beaten. To challenge a champion at a higher weight class. Oscar was Kayoed by a single BODY Blow! ATG's don't get knocked out by a Body shot! Look at the bodyshots Cotto was taking against Margarito, That's a true warrior. If De La Hoya can withstand that kind of body assault against Margarito and come out on top. Then he would go along way to being regarded as an ATG.

 

I'll always regard him as a lighter weight fighter. It really is funny how many times I argued with people over the "big fights" thing. It's as if the most awesome part of his history just doesn't exist for some people.