Is Oscar Delahoya a Legend ?

[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.

[jolz]

Oscar is a sure fire hall of famer and a great fighter.

But is he a legend ?

Will he be remembered the same as Hagler, Hearns, Duran and Leonard ?

I would say NO.

Oscar was a great fighter, but he missed becoming a legend.

In comparison I would say that Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones and James Toney are legends.

He has been on boxing's most memorable fights but he lost more of his biggest fight. I would love to watch his match against Tito, and his thrashing of Ricardo Mayorga.

[Jody Lane]

1st fighter in history to have 6 division world championships.
Highest earning fighter in history.
Probably best looking too.
Yes he is a LEGEND.

6 divisions. Ho-hum. Damn Alexis Arguello coulda beaten him to that record if there were so many titles floating around in the late 70s early 80s and he took on the least dominant of the bunch instead of that bastard Aaron Pryor who threw a 100 punches a round.

[Howlin Mad Missy]

1st fighter in history to have 6 division world championships.
Highest earning fighter in history.
Probably best looking too.
Yes he is a LEGEND.

6 divisions. Ho-hum. Damn Alexis Arguello coulda beaten him to that record if there were so many titles floating around in the late 70s early 80s and he took on the least dominant of the bunch instead of that bastard Aaron Pryor who threw a 100 punches a round.

If these 'firsts' down mean anything why the hell are Barrera, Morales and to a lesser extent Marquez so eager to the be the first Mexican to hold titles at 4-weights? Because it would be a first, you're guaranteed in the history books. If it was easy everyone would be doing it.

[JonnyFolds]

Amir Khan would probably say "No". So I am going to say yes.

[ono]

Yep.