Is Oscar De La Hoya Overrated?

By John Doe


With all the talk of Oscar De La Hoya considering a comeback into the sport at the age of 42, what can we expect if anything? I know this topic has been raised in recent days among the forum but I would like to discuss several aspects of boxing’s former ‘Golden Boy’. In terms of legacy what has he left behind and what more could a comeback add to his legacy?
 
With a record of 39 (30 KO’s) wins and 6 losses, De La Hoya had many good wins on his record (Gennaro Hernandez, Julio Cesar Chavez twice, Pernell Whittaker, Hector Camacho, to name a few) but in terms of the big fights, he always came up short. His loss to Felix Trinidad could have been avoided had he not been so complacent towards the final quarter of the bout. He had two very close bouts with Shane Mosley although the alleged doping is a dark cloud hanging over these bouts. His loss to Bernard Hopkins was a case of biting off more than he could chew, with Hopkins being too strong and powerful, handing De La Hoya his first defeat by way of knockout with a liver shot that has been ingrained in my mind from the second it had landed. Floyd Mayweather was too skilful for him in a highly debated split decision, which was a typical Floyd Mayweather bout. Finally his devastating defeat by Manny Pacquiao, who was too fast and strong, but De La Hoya by then was washed up and just lining his pockets.
 
These are not excuses for him, but highlight that when it came to the big fights he was out classed, out fought, out skilled and out gunned. Credit where it’s due, he always sought out the best and with the mantra of ‘in order to be the man, you have to beat the man’. Although he fell short, I commend him from taking on all challengers.
 
In terms of his legacy I would not rate him as an all time great but at a level slightly below it. De La Hoya was one of the few boxers who were celebrities outside the ring, which sometimes skews people’s opinion on how he would be rated. He would definitely be pound for pound all time great in terms of popularity, but not for his exploits in the ring. He was a top tier fighter, but not someone I would consider to be at the elite level. A career, which started so bright, which then, meandered up and down at the start of the millennium. To his credit he won world titles in six different divisions, which was not in the era of the much maligned catchweights of today, and also Olympic Gold which catapulted his rise to fame. In my eyes he has done all he can for his legacy.
 
If De La Hoya hypothetically confirmed he was coming out of retirement today, what could he genuine bring to the table apart from being a big draw for PPV numbers? He has been out of the ring for 7 years or so and is comparing himself to Sugar Ray Leonard who came back after an absence of 3 years. The cliché of ‘I’m in the shape of my life’ or a similar variation, has already been dusted off. But he may have so much ring rust that WD-40 would be no good to him. On the other hand the extended break may have allowed his body to heal and we could see and invigorated De La Hoya, but this is not always the likely scenario.
 
So, why now? He does not need the money and is set for life with his successful transition to promotion. He claims he is only in it to fight the best but I don’t see him winning against his preferred opposition, Mayweather will just do what he does and someone please park an ambulance outside with the engine running if he does actually fight Golovkin. He has also said that he will not fight above 154 pounds and recently claimed he could beat ant light middleweight of today but I doubt any current light middleweight champ bar Saul Alvarez would be a big enough draw, and he has already gone on record to say he would not fight his young charge.
 
If he does embark on a comeback which many already suggest is ill advised, what would be the way to go for De La Hoya, a few tune ups before he jumps in the deep end or should he just dive straight in? Who would you like to see him fight at 154 if we see an impressive return?
 
How many more fights can we expect to see from him if any?


http://www.v2boxing.co.uk/#!Is-Oscar-Dela-Hoya-Overrated/c1xmj/558d26ba0cf2f97c80ec20b9

Not this old crap again..

If anything he's underrated.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Not this old crap again..

If anything he's underrated.

Don't have an opinion on why he doesn't think he's an ATG?

Its always the question on how high are you rating him ? Is he a top 20 fighter of all time ?? No but I don't believe he gets enough credit as Truss mentions, He beat a lot of top guys in most of the weight classes he performed at. With exception to Hopkins and Manny, in most of his losing efforts the fights were somewhat close. Vargas,Quartey,Camacho ect all top wins if he was around in his pomp today I reckon he'd be top of the pile at 147.

Cheers, Rodders

Padded record.

Best wins were Quarty, and who????

Chavez does not count.

but still an ATG

I'm not sure if he's underrated or overrated these days, to be honest. Maybe underappreciated would be a better term for him.

His career fell short of expectations (although you could argue that when you're being dubbed 'the next Ray Leonard' that was always likely to be the case), but in turn most people acknowledge that and are well versed in his flaws and near misses, so it's hard to say he's overrated per se. He was the cash cow of his day, sandwiched in between two other cash cows in Leonard and Mayweather either side of him - the problem is that, unlike those two, he was shown to be a little below that elite, legendary level at a relatively young age but still continued to attract the elite and legendary kind of purses and fanfare. After the turn of the century he was never really a serious candidate to be the best pound for pound fighter in the sport but was still comfortably the highest-paid fighter in it.

Does that make him overrated, or just overpaid and overplayed (if I can use a music / band analogy)?

That said, unlike Leonard or Mayweather he can plead unequivocally 'not guilty' to charges of playing it safe and dithering over the mega fights, and he used his star status to give the fans some great fights which other fighters might not have done. 99.99% of professionals would be absolutely overjoyed with the career he had - but he emerged as an Olympic gold medal winner with good looks and crossover appeal, so was and still is judged by different standards. But a wonderful career is still a wonderful career at the end of the day, regardless of a fighter's background and what the expectations where when they hit the pro ranks.

I guess that's why I feel 'underappreciated' might be the fairest term for De la Hoya. A lot of people focus on what he didn't quite manage to do rather than considering what he did, which was a lot.

I'd have no real exception to him being called a great fighter, because there are different levels of greatness. He's just closer to Harada, Holyfield and McCallum great than he is to Sugar Ray, Ali or Pep great. Most people acknowledge that and accept that his financial standing went beyond his actual abilities though, so even if he was overrated back in his prime I'd say the term doesn't really apply now.

Summed up perfectly !!.....Tommy Hearns section of "greatness"...

Outclassed? Don't think he was ever outclassed. He lost a few debatable decisions, got the odd one too. He was in a very strong era and fought everyone.

His best wins were at the lower weights where some would argue he had a size advantage, but he won the fights with his speed. I felt he lost some mobility at the higher weights and lost some of his effectiveness. Great fighter? Well he gave Floyd arguably his closest fight when past his prime. Probably suffered from fading down the stretch a few times, but could box and fight. If he's not a great, he's knocking very hard on the door.

He's a love/hate figure........

"He got a gift against Whittaker" ...........Let's forget he was shafted in an even better victory in unbeaten Tito....

You got to give him one or the other !!!!!..

Chavez twice, Whittaker/Trinidad, Mayorga, Quartey, Vargas.......

Lesser wins against Carr, Sturm Camacho, Hernandez,

Five titles at five different weights.....

Not even an argument..

One of my favourite fighters, as was Sweet Pea. He was very lucky in that fight, for me he should have lost.

I feel he is where he should be, a very high level fighter that never avoided anyone and always 'left it in the ring'.

The only debates where he is over or under rated are the ones that involve all the circus surrounding Pac or Money.

Oscar get points from me for getting into the ring with other great fighters, win, lose or draw in the same way I score Calzaghe for keeping his 0 but playing it safe. I'm not sure that makes sense and I can't really explain what I mean but Joe is another that is both either over and under rated ( we debated this the other day ). I think Oscars record gets a bit muddled with wins that shouldn't have been and losses that weren't, it's almost like people remember the and former and ignore the latter when rating him ( Truss summed this up with "He got a gift against Whittaker" line ). He gets a lot of doubt rather than the benefit of it if that makes sense.

Thanks Chris fit that good assessment.

I'm an ODLH convert. When he turned pro to his first title I wanted to dislike him because he looked like he was going to be a protected, marketed product.

But all that changed when I saw him, appear, to actively seek the challenges. In particular, the Vargas fight. Out boxing and out 'manning' the juice monster when nobody really gave him a chance was a joy to watch.

For my money, he best Floyd to. But it was close so won't labour on that.

As people point out, he has lost but it was at the highest level and few fighters in the modern era can list such distinguished list of adversaries, and across so many weights.

I think he's a great but I'll settle for underappreciated.