what style of defense would you say he uses, he seems to have his palms open, it isnt traditional, almost like a thai boxer. how would you rate his defense?
He's had numerous trainers over the years and his defensive style varies from one stage of his career to another. But yes, he does SEEM to have the style you mentioned, albiet in a modified fashion.
His defense isn't head or upperbody movement based or footwork either, it's about blocking and parrying punches, which he has always been excellent at.
:thinkWell, it seemed the case when Rivera cornered him for Chavez and MA Gonzalez(masterful performance at that)
He had/has good upperbody movement and in his prime had superb footwork as well, but his focus has always been to block and parry as I see it.
how would you rate his defense to guys like mayweather, toney and b-hop? in terms of the % of punches they let in on average, compared to the above?
De La Hoya's best showings of moving the torso fluidly, bending his knees, slipping punches with head movement, and becoming an elusive target within range; Hernandez, Chavez I, and Gatti. The most impressive of these was the Hernandez fight. He constantly adjusted the height of himself out of a crouch; bob and weave. Other fights I consider De La Hoya's defense to be generally similar without being 'outright' effective like above; Ruelas, Whitaker, Gonzalez, Chavez II, Vargas, Rivera. Robotic and upright, blocking with a high guard and mainly lateral movement for brief periods or constantly; Quartey, Trinidad, Carr, Kamau, Mosley I and II, Hopkins, Mayweather. Just some examples. Never mentioned all his fights.
It's a good one, although in his old age, he is taking a lot more punches than he used to. Under Floyd Sr. he attempts the shoulder roll crap to no avail. Floyd Jr, was popping him all night long with a lightning fast right cross/straight right that couldnt miss. (That was Roach Coach) and lil' Stevie Forbes landed some good leather, and bruised his ass pretty good. He looked great defensively in the Trinidad loss, although his offense left a lot to be desired, aside from 2-3 solid landed combos that had the crowd thinking he won the fight!:yep
I thought he had a coventional but very good defense in his early days. Under Mayweather Snr he was doing more of the shoulder roll stuff, with mixed results.
Not much under Mayweather snr with the shoulder roll. Only against Gatti and Castillejo. Also against Vargas during the first round against the ropes.
