Oscar De La Hoya – A Legend Or Just Merely a Good Fighter?
November 4th, 2008
As Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) readies himself for his December 6th bout against Manny Pacquiao, I thought it was an appropriate moment to look at whether De La Hoya’s career was ultimately a successful one in contrast to other greats in boring’s past. However, after careful examination, I came to the conclusion that De La Hoya’s achievements are less than impressive when looked at carefully. His immense popularity seems to stem from his 1992 Olympic Gold medal, and his ten world titles in six separate weight classes. However, he didn’t so such a grand job after 1997, for at that point he began to look less than impressive in his fights.
In April 1997, De La Hoya won a questionable 12-round decision over Pernell Whitaker, with many boxing fans feeling that it was Whitaker who should have been given the nod in the decision rather than Oscar. Before that fight, though, between 1994 to 1997, De La Hoya was at his best fighting as a lightweight. During that time, he won the WBO and IBF lightweight titles and beat the likes of John John Molina, Rafael Ruelas, John Avila, Genaro Hernandez, Jesse James Leija, and Darryl Tyson. After De La Hoya moved up and defeated Julio Cesar Chavez to win the WBC light welterweight title, De La Hoya started to show signs of slipping as a fighter.
In his next fight after Chavez, De La Hoya struggled against Miguel Angel Gonzalez, dominating the first half of the fight but then tiring out, and fading badly in the second half of the fight. In the last six rounds, De La Hoya looked fearful, running constantly from Gonzalez and getting his left eye badly puffed up from Gonzalez’s hard shots. In the following years, De La Hoya would barely beat Ike Quartey after again fading in the latter part of the fight as he did against Gonzalez. In between were fights against the faded Chavez and Hector Camacho, both fights being essentially meaningless because they were coming past the primes of both fighters.
De La Hoya would then beat Oba Carr, a good fighter but not a great one. Then in September 1999, De La Hoya was defeated by Felix Trinidad in a 12-round majority decision loss. That fight seemed to mark the end of De La Hoya as being a truly great fighter as far as I’m concerned. Like in the Gonzalez fight, De La Hoya fought hard for the first six rounds, then tired out badly and tried running for the last six rounds.
From what I could see, De La Hoya looked more than a little frightened by Trinidad, who kept coming forward pressuring him and tagging him with left hooks and straight rights to the head. De La Hoya rightfully loss the fight, despite appearing to win the first six rounds quite easily. Things didn’t get better for De La Hoya after that, for after defeating Derrell Coley in his following bout, De La Hoya lost again, this time to Shane Mosley in a 12-round split decision loss in June 2000.
After that fight, De La Hoya seemed to steer into easier fighters against lesser foes, beating the much smaller Arturo Gatti, and then moving up to beat Javier Castillejo and an already softened up Fernando Vargas, who had been beaten two years earlier by Trinidad. De La Hoya would then take another easy fight, a 7th round TKO win against Luis Ramon Campas before fighting Mosley again and losing for a second time on September 2003. De La Hoya then moved up to middleweight and received a gift decision over Felix Sturm in June 2004 to win the WBO middleweight title.
For me, that’s got to be one of the worse decisions I’ve ever seen in my life. Sturm gave De La Hoya a beating, puffing up his face and showing that De La Hoya had no business fighting in the middleweight division. Whatever the case, De La Hoya was taken out in his next fight, a 9th round TKO to Bernard Hopkins in September 2004. Hopkins dropped De La Hoya with a body shot that left Oscar rolling around on the canvas, pounding the mat in pain and frustration.
Following that loss, De La Hoya took off two years and returned with a sixth round TKO over the faded Ricardo Mayorga. If this fight had occurred three years earlier, it would have probably been De La Hoya who was stopped rather than Mayorga. However, by the time that De La Hoya got to Mayorga, he was a mere shadow of his former 2003 championship form. De La Hoya would then return to the ring in 2007, losing a 12-round split decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The fight, much like the Trinidad bout, showed Oscar starting strong and then fading badly in the last six rounds. Finally, in De La Hoya’s last bout, a 12-round unanimous decision over a much smaller Steve Forbes, he proved that he’s good enough to beat a good B-class light welterweight – hardly the mark of an all time great, if you ask me.
Tags: 10 Responses to “Oscar De La Hoya – A Legend Or Just Merely a Good Fighter?”
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He is a good fighter with a golden charisma. Every sport needs a star, and Oscar filled (still fills) the bill. I don’t understand why people are on his case for taking on MP. Why fault him for reaping the rewards from the field he enriched for a long time? Legend, yes, but not because of being a great fighter, but because of being a charismatic star. And don’t fault him either for not taking on Margo. That’ll be suicide, and for what? So the crowd who cheered him on for so many years will finally have the chance to see him get destroyed? I would have preferred watching old Roy Jones’ fights than see him get humiliated by a so-so Calzaghe. I root for Pac, but I will be sad to see ODLH go. Kobe didn’t fill the shoes of MJ. There’s just those stars who are irreplaceable. Oscar is one.
you dont become a legend by losing to all your toughest opponents. Losing to Mayweather, Mosley, Hopkins, Trinidad is nothing to be ashamed of, but he didnt win any rematches either. Beating Up on Steve Forbes and the Pac Man just seems like play ground bullying to me.
And beating up a semi-retired Chavez doesnt qualify you either. The man has had some questionable victories also. Living off a very undeserved reputation….
you dont become a legend by losing to all your toughest fights. And beating up a semi-retired Chavez doesnt qualify you either. The man has had some questionable victories also. Living off a very undeserved reputation….
Legend, no doubt.
Oscar’s bigest problem is he is hated as much as he is loved. the price of so much success. thats why some judges gave him some gift rounds/fights and some robbed him of the same. he diffinetly lossed the 1st mosley fight but definetly won the 2nd. He had way too many rounds in the books to lose the fight to trinidad= robbed. he soundly got beat by sturm =gift. But overall the man has brought and fought all the big fights and ducked no one in his prime. So what if he doesnt want to go in the ring with the monster margarito. Big deal! neither did mosely or floyd. He’s earned it. He’s no longer in his prime but is still doing well. Dont forget, other than castillo no one had gotten closer to beating floyd than past his prime oscar. has Cazalge earned it??? surely his resume doesnt boast the upper echelon of fighters that oscars resume does and now he fighting an old man who might beat him this weekend. dont hate! congradulate- Oscar has had a legendary career.
Oscar is not a legend he just fought the best in his division.JD is right about that Oscar is a good fighter but not a great fighter or a legend because a legend don’t back away from a challenge and Oscar is afraid to fight Antonio Margartio because he turn down a title shot that would of made him great if he would of fought Margartio and won would of top him on top but he wants to pursue a smaller guy to fight like the Pacman. Pacman is a great fighter in his weight class but Oscar want to get a victory over a much smaller fighter with a big name. Manny is the Ring King and Oscar wants the glory but Oscar you gets none.If you fight Cotto or Margartio or even Veron Forest that’s the only way to go out with big fights and not Oscar’s hand pick opponent.Oscar get real,Not a legend in my book. Ali, Hagler, SugarRay these are LEGENDS of the game.
LEGEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok where do i start with this one , im not gonna go on about 6 weight world title belts and olympic gold medals ill just state a mere few facts
Going right back to the start when De La Hoya beat Chavez twice who was arguably past his best but was still considered a p4p fighter , De La Hoya destroyed him twice easily starting the legacy , after working his way through very good fighters such as Quartey , Camacho and Whittaker came the most ridiculous boxing decision ive ever seen …….. yes Trinidad top marks !!!! what an absoulte joke at the very worst De La Hoya won that fight 7 rds to 5 at the very worst !!!!
This was the start of the some of the most farcical boxing judges decisions against one man the world had ever seen , then came Gatti (in his prime) stopped in 5 , it took pretty boy 6 rounds to get a badly badly shot Gatti out the ring Oscar smashed him in 5 in his prime , then the Mosley double header but not before destroying Fernado Vargas and finally stopping him , Mosley beat De La Hoya in there 1st fight on a whisker tight split decision but again the 2nd fight was a complete joke he never in a million years lost that fight !!!
How can you blame a man for becoming disilusioned with a sport after these awful decisions in huge fights !!!
Then the Middleweight fiasco which i do agree with by the way Sturm did appear to beat him but by the way you described the Trinidad fight and the way you have re iterated the fact Oscar was beaten senseless by Sturm you have dramatized this massiveley making the whole article an anti De La Hoya rant , in the Hopkins fight De La Hoya was arguably winning until he was stopped with a huge body shot against the then undisputed middleweght king !!!!
And finally that awful decision to Floyd Mayweather who did not win any of the rounds 1 – 6 who barely landed a meaningful punch and did not even hurt De La Hoya in the slightest from 7 – 12 but still got the decision again split !!!!
In summary Oscar De La Hoya is a true legend of the sport of boxing who fell fowl to some woeful decisions and should be going out with a 3 next to his name not a 5 (Mosley 1 , Sturm questionably and Hopkins) incase your wondering !!! , his flashing skills good looks carisma and heart made him what he is , he never ducked anyone from Lightweight up to Middleweight and remains a true embassador for our sport , there will never be another Golden Boy and it will be a sad year in 09 as this will be the last time we ever see the Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya in the place we love him , The Ring !!!!
De La Hoya = LEGEND
The biggest rap against De La Hoya being considered great is the simple fact that he has always lost against big name opponents who were not at the end of their careers; Trinidad, Mosley, Hopkins, and Mayweather all walked away winners.