Oscar De La Hoya: Pro or Con?

Great fighter with a great record. Also seems like a classy guy.

 

I don't think he was a "true great" or all-timer...blah blah whatever you want to label that real top tier of fighters that will regularly crop up as being the best 10-20 in a traditional weight or two.

He was an excellent\ borderline great sort for me from about 95-2000 from his late lightweight days into his Welter run.After that he was mostly just good and often overestimated imo, with his couple of fights a year "superfights" milking the status he earned in the 90s for all it was worth.

Certainly nothing notable at 154 and after the dubious loss to Mosley(where both looked rather ordinary and undersized) he did little of real merit.The bout against Mayweather was decent late career effort i guess, but far from looking any better than he had at the weight 5 years previously and Mayweather didn't look that good either.At that weight, two highly overrated fighters.Something that would have been an undercard curiosity pre-ray leonard "every fight an established top fighter has regardless of when or who against is a superfight" days.

 

I suppose if there is a little reluctance to give Oscar his due, it stems from the fact that he didn't seem like the traditional hard luck story really. Us fans love the rags to riches, school of hard knocks kinds of guys, and Oscar never really came from that sort of backround, despite him losing him mom.

I first saw him winning the gold at the '92 Olympics in Barcelona and followed his early pro career, but he never really gelled with me personally as a fighter. I can't explain why really, but he just never appealed to me.

That said, his record is stacked with quality names, and as said he never passed up a challenge. I'm not sure if he's a legitimate great. He lost both fights to Mosley at his peak (at least the first fight was at his peak) and I don't think Shane is really a great either.
He got a bit unlucky against Trinidad in my opinion, but in a way he has himself to blame for that. He was pretty fortunate against Sturm I thought.

So for me, as it stands for now, a very, very good fighter. Not really great.

 

People thought he'd avoid Chavez? Did they see the Kamau fight?

 

Oscar-great handpseed and damaging power, like Norris

lost effectiveness as he moved up

made Chavez quit with his fists, instead of clowning antics

atg status-top 40

 

Borderline great...definitely deserves more credit than he is given...Would Floyd even consider fighting a Hopkins?...Even for two seconds? Hell no... Oscar was great for boxing!

 

Very good fighter. Great Star.

 

Great fighter, mixed it up with the absolute P4P elite of the 90s and early 00s, may not have always won but outside of his swan song against Pac and getting KOed by a MW he always kept it close.

Chavez, Sweat Pea, Quartey, Trinidad, Mosley, Vargas, Hopkins, and Mayweather. That is quite a run.

 

When he was trained by Jesus Rivero, he was on his way to becoming something very special. That man understood Oscar and his strengths, and he knew how to maximize them; a great trainer. When he left Rivero, he regressed dramatically and never became what he could have been. He was just a bit more than mediocre, honestly, for most of the rest of his career. Other 'great' trainers, like Clancy and Stewart, made a mess of Rivero's work.

 

It's worth mentioning that although we can reasonably say Oscar took on all-comers, he did often do it from a shrewd opportunistic perspective enabled by that strong management and early amatuer reputation.

Chavez picked when he was old and ripe, Whitaker after he had looked like **** for a couple of years and ready to be taken....quartey after a looong layoff.

No complaints about the timing of his other big fights, but he definitely didn't just wade in with no concern in getting the high ground beforehand, for most of the 90s we are talking about a very carefully managed career..Not that many modern post Ray Leonard fighters with a lot of pull ever do just wade in, mind you.

 

In sixteen months he fought Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad and Shane Mosley - all undefeated at the time. That's what you call willing to face your most deserving rivals.

De La Hoya was great for boxing on many levels.

 

Oscar was a great champion and great for boxing. Although he did lose most of his biggest fights he dodged nobody! Theres a certain champion of today that cant say that. I remember how exciting it was to wake up on a day there was a DLH fight...miss those days