Is Oscar Delahoya a Legend ?

[TitoFan]

There is absolutely no doubt that Oscar is a Legend of the sport. To argue it would be ignorant of his accomplishments and contributions to boxing.

Who has generated more revenue in boxing? Who has put on more HUGE PPV extravaganzas? More mega fights?

The guy was one of the greatest things to ever happen to boxing, and for all his charisma and good looks, he was a WARRIOR inside the ring and he had world-class skills. The guy is a legend for sure.

Damn... It only took one post in between this one and mine, to see the PPV and good looks arguments regurtitated once again.

Actually if you took the time to read the actual post instead of just hilighting stuff out of context, I never used a "good looks" argument at all. What I insinuated was IN SPITE OF HIS GOOD LOOKS, he was a warrior in the ring.

Why would a Tito fan be bitter at ODLH? Tito gained a world of stock with that DISGUSTING robbery of a victory he got over DLH.

Just having fun with the "good looking" argument. I know you're not using it as a reason why ODLH should be considered a legend. On a serious note, however, I'm not going to get into another Tito-DLH fight argument. Suffice it to say, as I've always said and maintain, that Tito got that "robbery" in DLH's backyard, with non-Puerto Rican judges, and a strictly pro-DLH crowd. While Tito got outboxed in most of the first rounds of the fight, for some inexplicable reason (I still maintain DLH had tasted Tito's right) he chose to run around like a chicken through the last 3 rounds and basically gave away the fight. And some objective fans here on the forum (I realize I'm not objective on this particular subject) had the fight close or even a draw after the 12 rounds. Too bad the matter never got resolved in a rematch.

[generalbulldog]

There is absolutely no doubt that Oscar is a Legend of the sport. To argue it would be ignorant of his accomplishments and contributions to boxing.

Who has generated more revenue in boxing? Who has put on more HUGE PPV extravaganzas? More mega fights?

The guy was one of the greatest things to ever happen to boxing, and for all his charisma and good looks, he was a WARRIOR inside the ring and he had world-class skills. The guy is a legend for sure.

Damn... It only took one post in between this one and mine, to see the PPV and good looks arguments regurtitated once again.

Actually if you took the time to read the actual post instead of just hilighting stuff out of context, I never used a "good looks" argument at all. What I insinuated was IN SPITE OF HIS GOOD LOOKS, he was a warrior in the ring.

Why would a Tito fan be bitter at ODLH? Tito gained a world of stock with that DISGUSTING robbery of a victory he got over DLH.

Just having fun with the "good looking" argument. I know you're not using it as a reason why ODLH should be considered a legend. On a serious note, however, I'm not going to get into another Tito-DLH fight argument. Suffice it to say, as I've always said and maintain, that Tito got that "robbery" in DLH's backyard, with non-Puerto Rican judges, and a strictly pro-DLH crowd. While Tito got outboxed in most of the first rounds of the fight, for some inexplicable reason (I still maintain DLH had tasted Tito's right) he chose to run around like a chicken through the last 3 rounds and basically gave away the fight. And some objective fans here on the forum (I realize I'm not objective on this particular subject) had the fight close or even a draw after the 12 rounds. Too bad the matter never got resolved in a rematch.

I don't want to sidetracked the topic too much, but I scored it a draw after 12 for that fight. Oscar started running in the last half of the 9th, so I gave that round along with the last 3 to Tito, however from rounds 1-8 I had it 6-2 in favor of Oscar. His fans cannot call robbery when Oscar decided to get on his bike and hardly throw any punches starting from the last half of round 9 and onwards. That fight for all the hype it got never lived up to it, it was a massive disappointment for many boxing fans like myself.

Now back on topic, yes Oscar is a legend in my eyes, as people have pointed out he's done a lot for the sport of boxing, it didn't matter or not if he won or lost the fight, it's just that his fights were events and kept boxing in the mainstream. I think HBO had it right when it said Oscar was the Latino version of Ray Leonard, although I have to add he lost more of his big fights than Ray did. He's not a legend like Ray, but he is a legend.

[jahmez]

Oscar always strikes me as the David Beckham of boxing. A good fighter whose popularity transcended the sport.

[Manju]

Legend. He fought all-comers, something very rare in this sport and something other legends--Chavez, RJJ, PBF, PacMan--can't say. And he did it while possessing a popularity that could've enabled him to make considerable $$ while not doing so. Furthermore, no one dominated him in his prime, until Hopkins at MW.

People forget how dominant he was in the lightweight divisions, where his Hearns-like height and reach advantage gave him great leverage, enabling him to KO everyone except JJMolina…and that included Miguel Angel Gonzalez, Jesse James Leija, Genaro Hernandez, Rafael Ruelas, and Jorge Paez. Excellent names.

He then went on to became the first person to stop JCChavez (in brutal fashion) and the first to hand Sweet Pea a legitimate defeat, though to be fair, both were past their primes and Pernell put up an good fight. Nonetheless, these guys are legends and ODLH made history defeating them.

He then went on to defeat a red-hot –prime Quartey in dramatic fashion and outbox an also red-hot-prime Trinidad. He was the first person to expose Trinidad’s one-dimensionless and no matter how you judged the fight, it’s hard to say ODLH was truly defeated.

But that defeat and the 2 Mosley fights are why ODLH legend status remains in doubt. Switch the results around, and there would be no doubt. But the fact that we could easily switch the results (with the exception of the first Mosley fight, suggest that ODLH deserves legend status…since boxing subjective judging shouldn’t be taken as the final word. Furthermore, Mosley’s PED use should allow us to rank ODLH higher.

It may be a long time until we see another fighter who so willing and able to fight everyone.