Was Oscar De La Hoya merely a well marketed fighter??

[THE THIRD MAN]

I think Oscar has been incredibly unlucky in the ring, yes he had some close decisions go his way (Whitaker and Quartey) arguments would have been made the other way had he lost those fights. He was robbed against Trinidad and he beat Mosley the second time yet the judges amazingly score that one more convincingly for Mosley than the first fight which Mosley clearly won.
I think it is here where you need to go back and take a look at Oscar psychologically, he really wanted that win against Mosley, his main competitor since they were kids. Oscar simply hasn't been Oscar since that loss and it has showed, he has been confused as to what weight class he should be fighting, 147lb or 154lb and he looked awful at 160lb then back to 147lb, surely this puts a strain on the body. He should stop now before further embarrassment occurs, he is 35 and it really showed against the Pacman.
Despite his critics he has been the most watched fighter since Ali and Tyson and he deserves a lot of credit for keeping Boxing in the Sports pages a little bit longer.

[RozzySean]

With so many fighters more concerned with protecting there records than fighting the best out there, Oscar really stands out. Maybe it was because he was so popular that he could afford to lose and still be a huge draw, but he was never afraid to take chances with his career. Almost every fighter loses, especially one who fights in a deep division/divisions, and Oscar's loses don't take anything away from what he accomplished in my book. At Oscar's best, he was superb fighter and on of the most complete, in not the most complete fighter, of our generation. He technique was perfect and great work ethic. He was athletic and quick, though not the most physically gifted, he made the most out of every bit of talent he had. If he had the physical gifts of a Mosley or a Roy Jones, he may never have lost.

[albsur2006]

With so many fighters more concerned with protecting there records than fighting the best out there, Oscar really stands out. Maybe it was because he was so popular that he could afford to lose and still be a huge draw, but he was never afraid to take chances with his career. Almost every fighter loses, especially one who fights in a deep division/divisions, and Oscar's loses don't take anything away from what he accomplished in my book. At Oscar's best, he was superb fighter and on of the most complete, in not the most complete fighter, of our generation. He technique was perfect and great work ethic. He was athletic and quick, though not the most physically gifted, he made the most out of every bit of talent he had. If he had the physical gifts of a Mosley or a Roy Jones, he may never have lost.

Dude, what are you talking about? I will give credit to Oscar for taking a lot of chances in his career but the guy is NOWHERE NEAR the most complete fighter of our generation. Hahahaha. Where the hell did that come from? The guy didn't even develop his right hand until later in his career. He was a one handed fighter FOR YEARS!!! His work ethic has always been questioned as well. Let's not forget that he was completely out of shape for the Felix Sturm fight, and it wasn't due to the fact it was at 160. This is a guy who's always been rumored to not like training and not train hard many times. After the Quartey fight people were saying that he slacked ALL training camp. This guy in his early years would be out partying all night during training camps.

[zhubin]

With so many fighters more concerned with protecting there records than fighting the best out there, Oscar really stands out. Maybe it was because he was so popular that he could afford to lose and still be a huge draw, but he was never afraid to take chances with his career. Almost every fighter loses, especially one who fights in a deep division/divisions, and Oscar's loses don't take anything away from what he accomplished in my book. At Oscar's best, he was superb fighter and on of the most complete, in not the most complete fighter, of our generation. He technique was perfect and great work ethic. He was athletic and quick, though not the most physically gifted, he made the most out of every bit of talent he had. If he had the physical gifts of a Mosley or a Roy Jones, he may never have lost.

Dude, what are you talking about? I will give credit to Oscar for taking a lot of chances in his career but the guy is NOWHERE NEAR the most complete fighter of our generation. Hahahaha. Where the hell did that come from? The guy didn't even develop his right hand until later in his career. He was a one handed fighter FOR YEARS!!! His work ethic has always been questioned as well. Let's not forget that he was completely out of shape for the Felix Sturm fight, and it wasn't due to the fact it was at 160. This is a guy who's always been rumored to not like training and not train hard many times. After the Quartey fight people were saying that he slacked ALL training camp. This guy in his early years would be out partying all night during training camps.

The guy was a slacker and a one handed fighter but was competitive and beat some of the very best fighters of his (or any) generation?! Even if that's true...it's a compliment to Oscars ability, since if he trained even harder imagine how good he would have been. And guess what...when you are one of the VERY FEW fighters who takes on the very best consistently...you most likely are going to have a few more losses on your record. Lets also not forget...Shane now admits he was drug enhanced in their first fight.

[Julius Rain]

its funny everytime pac demolishes someone that someone gets rip. But before the fight pac was suppose to lose, idiots!

[Mr140]

This has nothing to do with pac rains it is about Oscars career what are talking about and tell me this is that the Oscar you remeber watching in the 90s just to ask did you see the way he looked last night i am not taking anything away from pac but Oscar looked old last night and it was how you say a pasing of the torch but this is about Oscar though and what he has done in his career so i dont see the point you getting at because it has nothing to do with the thread at all.

[Chino]

its funny everytime pac demolishes someone that someone gets rip. But before the fight pac was suppose to lose, idiots!

ODLH got a taste of his own medicine. Remember when he faced an old worned out J.C. Chavez? Sure, ODLH was good when he faced Chavez but we can't forget the fact that it was an old worned out passed-his-prime Chavez. Beating Chavez looked great in his resume of course. That's what happens when fighters stay in the ring longer than they should. It has happened to Mohammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, J.C. Chavez, Oscar de la Hoya, Pernell Whitaker, Roberto Duran, Mike Tyson, etc. just to name a few. Lennox Lewis and Floyd Mayweather Jr. were smart to leave the ring during their primes. Pac beat an old worned out ODLH passed his prime but still, he beat OSCAR DE LA HOYA and that is all that matters. There are a lot of big names along the road that I am pretty sure Pac will be able to beat and those guys ARE IN THEIR PRIME AND YOUNG. Can't wait for those fights. He should do just fine.

[WelshDevilRob]

Firtsly I think the PacMan defeat is irrelevant to his career - he was old and rich and got beaten by a Prime P4P fighter.

Same against Hopkins - Bernard was just too big and certainly not faded.

But Oscars career which is impressive even to me and I don't like De La Hoya.

It did seem that he beat fighters smaller even when at the same weight.


Is he an all-time Great - No interms of ability but history and multi weight wins will say Yes. But it is easier to win a World title these days than even in the 80's.

[Boom Boom]

He has one fight in his career that he is not competitive and it was at the very end of his career and now people question him? Almost all great fighters have a fight like Oscar on the tail end of his career. If they didnt they would all be retire at the top of their game. Most fighters dont. I would never judge a fighters career, expecially one as sucessful and colorful as Oscars, by most likely what is his last 8 rounds in the ring.

[Bookkeeper]

I am a massive Oscar hater, with that being said I still think that he is by far a first ballot HOF'er. The only problem I have with most of these post is people going on about Oscar fighting the best and how he never ducked anybody. Let me tell you one thing gents if I was averaging 15 million dollors a fight I would fight every great fighter around also, it's high risk but the reward is huge........ The real guy's like Hopkins, Wright, Mosley, etc were not even rewarded for their resume's yet they still took on the toughest opposition around, all that people are saying is that there were guy's just as good as Oscar or better that did not have 20% of the popularity that he had which is bogus.

[C-Lo]

I think Oscar is a great fighter and has had a career to be proud of! I just think he couldn't win the "superfights," that's all.

[SweetPea]

I have always felt that Oscar was a B+ fighter with A+ marketability. If Oscar was an ugly guy from a country other than the US, would his skills have been enough to carry him to the abolsute peak of the sport? I say no.

And I'm not hating on Oscar by saying that, because I will ALWAYS have respect for him, because he was willing to fight anyone. He could have made a ton of money even if he had fought stiffs, but he chose to consistently fight the best guys out there. He was great for the sport, but I don't consider him a great fighter. He was a very very good fighter with a great list of opponents. I thought he lost virtually every big fight he was ever involved in.