Oscar De La Hoya vs Alexis Arguello @135

Without doubt.

 

Arguello is the better boxer bigger puncher.
If any1 is getting overrated here its oscar.

 

Great matchup.

 

I've got Oscar due to hand and footspeed. Power is about equal.

 

No chance for me, tho people forget how good Oscar's power was at the lighter weights. There's a reason Arguallo came in at 20 in the Ring's Top 100 punchers list. Oscar didn't rate in the 100 tho i think they were a bit harsh on him. Arguello's in the mix for hardest puncher at 130 ever and still carried great power at 135.

 

Arquello with Reyes Gloves messes up Oscar's beautiful face real bad.

 

Pryor would not gave survived flush power shots against Oscar.

 

I wouldn't bet on it but there's a lot at play.

Arguello was up a full 3 divisions from his first ever title weight. He was stll hitting extremely hard as evidenced against Rooney and even Costello well later. He'd have to be losing a bit of power up that high tho and would surely hit harder p4p at 135 and 130.

He was throwing bombs against Pryor tho regardless of weight. Pryor i think would have an ATG chin. It might even warrant higher. He got dropped early in some fights but they were really balance KD's and he came back furiously without hesitation. The punches he took vs Arguello would have imo taken out almost anyone. Pryor was the exception. We also have a litte bit of vague territory due to the black bottle.

So i think Pryor could handle Oscar's power. If he could handle Arguello's he could handle near anyones at the weight. Some might be able to put more pressure on his chin via handspeed and other factors but i can't see Pryor's chin being dented very often at 140. Maybe a Duran or Chavez would be a chance but it would involve a lot of body work and accumulation.....

I do think Oscar gets underrated in the power stakes below 147. He could bang, no doubt about it.

 

Punch for punch at 135 I've no doubt Oscar does more damage.

 

I just watched the entire Pryor - Arguallo fight again and the problem for Alexis was that he was only landing the odd single bomb. He never really caught Pryor with anything substancial right after those right hand bombs.

Three things were at play for me.
Arguello can be a little wooden and isn't an explosive quick handed type finisher. He had never had to be.
Pryor's herky jerky style was quite elusive, particulary after Arguello landed hard.
Pryor's chin was immense, certainly when talking single shots so he was not particularly immune to follow up shots and being stopped because he was still so much in control of his senses.

To each their own but i would take Arguello power wise at 135 without fail. I have little doubt those punches Pryor took would have felled the vast majority of fighters that night. Even as single shots.

 

People forget Oscar had a great chin and was tough as hell. Oscar all day.

 

You know the big thing is or was the ability to take that A#1 right hand Alexis set up. He was the rare breed--when was the last time you saw this in recent times--to set a guy up for 8 or 11 rounds to fire off that missile. And when he fired it landed clean. What a lost art.

Taking that clean right hand from Arguello when he sets it up is really incredible. I think it actually would have had a bigger effect on some other notable guys chins like a Duran or Ortiz. They might wobble a little more and maybe not go out or down, but taking that kind of shot late in a fight is truly great. And I rarely throw the word great around but it's up there with like Monzon beat to the punch by Valdez and bouncing right up or Ali getting up from that Frazier hook. Great.

But that was kind of the thing going into that Pryor==Arguello fight anyway; we were expecting "great" and got it.

 

He landed at least a dozen solid flush right hand power shots over that fight.

I just can't picture any LWW surviving a dozen flush power shots from Hoya.

Oscar carried his power all the way to LMW he had serious dynamite.

 

Oscar wins in a very competitive fight.