Everyone always says that Oscar lost all of his big fights and this really annoys me..... Oscar at the age of 24 in his 24th professional fight took on an absolute ring legend in Pernell Whitaker, this is as big as it gets in my opinion. Pernell Whitaker is regarded as one of the best fighters in the lighter divisions of all time and was only 33 when this fight took place. Pernell up to this point had only lost one fight about 9 years previously (which was hotly disputed) and had been the premiere fighter of the 90s up to that point. What confuses me is that Pernell is similar to Floyd in many ways (most people believe him to be greater) in that he hardly took any punishment in his career so he definitely was not shot. Also he was only 33 To put this in context, if a young guy now came along, someone like Tim Bradley and beat Mayweather that would be considered absolute amazing. Yet when Oscar beat a man who many consider to be one of the modern greats he does not seem to get the credit he deserves. People constantly state that Pernell made Oscar look silly in that fight - and I say of course he did it was Pernell Whitaker that's what he does. But at the end of the day he could not cope with ODHs workrate. That was a great win period, people should not discredit that win cause of Pernell's age at the time because they would not do that with someone like Mayweather now (comparison only made because they both took little punishment in their career and both are master technicians)
Yep good win plus some of his loses were controversial like Shane and Tito.... either way De la hoya was a great boxer!
I tend to agree but, being fair, Whitaker had issues outside of the ring. As a fighter, he may not have been prime but he was very good. I definetly agree on the stupidity of saying Oscar lost his biggest fights. I think his biggest five were against Whitaker, JCC, Vargas, Tito and Floyd. He won the first three, got robbed in the fourth and almost won the fifth. It's not like he flopped like Herbie Hide did.
To put it in context, Shane Mosley is the man at welterweight at 37 years old. He's still the man.' Mayweather is p4p#2, some say #1 in the world. Now take Mosley's place at welter and Mayweathers p4p ranking, couple it with Mayweather's age and you have the Pernell DLH fought. :think:think:think
Very close fight, but it could of gone either way. Whitaker's best weight was lightweight, but nevertheless at 147 gave Oscar all he could handle. Good win for Oscar, as no one looked good vs. this ATG.
oscar's only losses were to great fighters who's styles were unfavorable to him. when you fight the guys he fought with the style he had, it's damn near impossible to win them all. why do you think floyd fights the way he does and fights the fighters he does? it's safe and he knows he can't hurt or lose. oscar took all the big risks against the best/hardest *******s in the game and brawled it out with them. you have to respect him for that. his win against pea was a great win. i don't know how anyone can deny that.
What about that ass kicking Oscar got from strum? He's no legend. Good. Solid. But far from a legend. Oscar is a brave son of *****. He fought everyone. Except winky who he knew would kick his ass.
Pernell was certainly fading at that point...His age is pretty irrelevant, check out some his previous fights where he looked pretty bad. There is no once size fits all way of looking at when a guy is on the slide. Some guys can maintain themselves into their 40's, some are washed up by the time they are in their mid 20's. Oscar should definitely get kudos for the win...if you feel he won it of course. That fight actually looks better on Pea's resume for me though.
Oscar won a close fight, but was not even at his peak yet. Pernell was not at his prime, but on fight night his reflexes and slick moves were pretty damn close. Imo oscar deserves much credit for this victory against a guy who could make any one look bad on any given night. I think oscars best performance[ technical wise] was in a losing effort against Trinidad.
Oscar edged the fight imo. Whitaker did alot of clowning in that fight and that ended up costing him some vital rounds. Great win for Oscar. Whitaker was not prime, of course, but he was still one of the very best in the sport. Ranked top 3 P4P from memory. Trinidad and Quartey definately didn't want none of Sweet Pea, and they were all champs in the same division for many years.
Trinidad wanted a fight with Whitaker, and even sued or tried to sue Don King to try to get out of the contract when he was fighting the Roger Turners and Ray Lovatos of the world and wanted big fights. Quartey signed to fight Whitaker, but the fight got scraped due to Whitaker's drug problems. This was after Whitaker fought DLH. It really shouldn't have taken as long as it did for Trinidad to get the big fights. 1995-98 was more or less wasted time for him, IMO.
I had it a draw but I take nothing from Oscar it could have gone either way and it was a great win for him.