On 24/7 overtime, Freddy Roach, in response to Mayweather Sr, who stated that Oscar was old and dehydrated on the night he fought Pacquiao, said, "Pacquiao beats Oscar any day of the week, if he had you in the corner or anyone in the corner, we would kick his ass". Does Roach really believe this? Anyway, the Pacquiao / De La Hoya fight brings back memories of when Oscar was on the other side of the table, putting his own beating on the older, past his prime, legend, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. In what fight do you think Oscar was at his absolute best/peak? And how different, if any, do you think the Paquiao of today would match up to an Oscar of 140-144lbs.
Oscar in his prime was really good, alot of peoples tend to forget that. Let just say a prime Oscar would be the favor in a match with Floyd Jr. Anything from 135-147 in his prime Oscar was a monster. Pacquiao is my favorite fighter but I would favor a prime Oscar over Pacquiao. It's not that Pacquiao is not good, it's just that Oscar is just to big for him.
This. Oscar in the mid-late 90s was so, so, so much better than the Oscar from December. Infact, that version of Oscar was better than every version of Oscar since 1999 (you could argue the Vargas fight, but that was a different kind of Oscar). Oscar in a close decision (which speaks volumes for Pacquiao, given the size difference).
yeah prime Oscar would beat Pacquiao but before that December mismatch a lot of people here swear that no matter what DLH's situation is Past prime or not would put Pacquiao to coma...
Yep, I agree with this too. In his prime, Oscar did well against smaller guys and usually used his longer reach to his advantage
I think people just forgot how past it De La Hoya really was from his prime. They thought the size for Oscar would be able to negate any disadvantages.
I always thought Genaro Hernandez and the first Chavez fight were his best performances. Though I also feel he showed the most technical proficiency of his career years later against Vargas. I'll take Pacquiao on points. Oscar makes it more competitive, but he still can't avoid that straight left, and he loses focus down the stretch as he often does.
I agree that this was his peak - I would say from the Chavez fight up to the Trinidad fight. This brings up an interesting point, because it was just about exactly 10 yrs later that Oscar De La Hoya faced Pacquiao. I think people tend to forget how far off the wagon he fell off. I would say he began declining from 2000 and on. He began engaging in too many activities outside the ring (GBP and singing, etc), which in my opinion shows that he no longer had the same desire to box as he did in the past. I think this version of De La Hoya would be able to connect on Manny because his hand speed at that time was pretty good, he boxed on his toes and used his reach well. Manny is no whitaker so he would get tagged IMO, the question is whether he could survive the first half of the fight, as we all know DLH started off well and eventually would fade off. I agree, a prime and determined Chavez would defeat DLH, possibly stop him late. In their second fight, I believe on the 8th rd, Chavez started imposing his will on DLH and had a pretty good round considering being way past it. Like I said, we all know DLH fades in the later half of the fight and Chavez is a late starter; I could see him (Chavez) wearing DLH down and possibly stopping him late, prime for prime of course.
I feel that the young DLH at 140 would have beaten Pac by decision. The main factor would be his great non stop jabs.
Its a style matchup. Arum said that when he was promoting Oscar they were avoiding southpaws like the plague. Oscar fought a smaller southpaw in Whitaker who was way past his best and he still looked like crap, arguably lost. Roach said Oscar would be walking into Pac's left hand all night, that he wasn't good at cutting off the ring. Being past your best doesn't change what you know or don't know. Pacquiao has never been troubled by a great jab. Its the right hand that ****s him up. Oscar's right hand is nothing out of this world. I'm with Roach, Pac beats Oscar every day of the week. But yes Oscar in his prime was an amazing fighter.
I think you bring up some good points from the other side of the table, but I think that Whitaker and Pac can't be compared. Whitaker was an extraordinary fighter that relied on pure boxing and was a masterful defensive fighter. Pacquiao, although being special in his own right, tends to get hit, because in many ways his offense is his defense. I am not saying he isn't a great fighter, its just that stylistically he is much different than an elusive boxer like Whitaker, partly because he never had to be - he always had that eraser, although more recent, Roach has worked with him to tighen up his defense, but he's still no Whitaker and obviously doesn't have to be in order to have success. At 140, Oscar was quick, used his jab and reach well, and had speed & power. I think that although the south paw stance, along with Pac's speed, would present some problems for De La Hoya, he was too big and strong for Pac. The large descrepancy in speed we whitnessed in their actual fight in 08 would be much smaller if they fought prime for prime, IMO.
