Is Oscar De La Hoya Overrated?

Alcibiades007

Blue Belt
@Blue
Joined
Oct 27, 2018
Messages
592
Reaction score
31
His wins against Chavez are tremendous, but keep in mind that Chavez was past his prime then. I'd say he never beat a top 100 p4p boxer in his prime.

After 26 years old, he lost every fight against certified all time greats, yet is still ranked by Boxrec as the 11th best boxer of all time. Not saying Boxrec's ratings should be taken as word of God, but in my books he's barely an all time top 50er.

What do yall say?He's a top 20 p4p all time great?

Thoughts?
 
His wins against Chavez are tremendous, but keep in mind that Chavez was past his prime then. I'd say he never beat a top 100 p4p boxer in his prime.

After 26 years old, he lost every fight against certified all time greats, yet is still ranked by Boxrec as the 11th best boxer of all time. Not saying Boxrec's ratings should be taken as word of God, but in my books he's barely an all time top 50er.

What do yall say?He's a top 20 p4p all time great?

Thoughts?

He fought everybody. I thought he beat Trinidad, but whatever I’m always down with swing rounds and close fights. A Prime Welterweight Oscar imo was smarter and faster than the 154 past it Oscar that beat Floyd via better Maidana Style.

With Mosley admitting EPO usage.. it’s hard for me to believe he beat Oscar off something. Oscar wasn’t even the dedicated fighter when he gave Pac the opportunity. I honestly believe he was just interested in the PPV. Even Edwin Valero said Oscar didn’t take his camp seriously NOR RUN! Lol. I assume his early uses of Blow Oscar realized huge lines affect cardio...

But to Oscar’s credit, he fought everybody!!! His jab and left hook were tack sharp
 
11th best all time seems too high, top 40-50 seems a bit low.
 
Olympics gold medal
won first title major title at 11-0
6 divisions champ
never ducked anybody

fought everyone from Paez at featherweight to Hopkins at Middleweight.
anyone who got wins over Sweet P, Jcc and Camacho are top talent imo.
even tho there were past prime.

He's top 20 for sure imo.
 
Last edited:
top 20-30 sounds about right

Oscar on his A game was a beast, probably a bit underrated if anything.
 
He fought everybody. I thought he beat Trinidad, but whatever I’m always down with swing rounds and close fights.

How about the shady win against Pernell?

Oscar that beat Floyd via better Maidana Style.

giphy.gif


Anyway, overall I guess I might have been a bit harsh on him but top 20 still seems a stretch.
 
How about the shady win against Pernell?



giphy.gif


Anyway, overall I guess I might have been a bit harsh on him but top 20 still seems a stretch.
The win wasn’t shady. The fight was close so it wasn’t exactly a robbery. He’s also been in close fights where he didn’t get the decision - the Trinidad fight, second Mosley fight, and to many the Mayweather fight. He only looked bad about three times in his career. Two of those performances were at middleweight, a division he didn’t belong in, and the third when he was well over the hill. Who are the fighters you would rate above him that would push him to the #50 position.
 
Top 20 all time? eh, no. Great fighter though.
 
A Prime Welterweight Oscar imo was smarter and faster than the 154 past it Oscar that beat Floyd via better Maidana Style.
Oscar never beat Floyd and tired of people mentioning Oscar was past his prime whilst forgetting that Oscar was more than 20lbs heavier fighting Floyd on his terms and still lost.
He lost to sweet P
 
Oscar never beat Floyd and tired of people mentioning Oscar was past his prime whilst forgetting that Oscar was more than 20lbs heavier fighting Floyd on his terms and still lost.

He lost to sweet P

Yeah, if I had to name THE fight in boxing history undeservedly called by some controversial, it's the Mayweather win. There's nothing debatable about it. Oscar got schooled.
 
All-time top 20 is much too high, but he was elite in his time.
 
His fight vs Sweet Pea was amazing. His control of distance, the hand speed, he was something to behold that night. Hard to see how people think Pernell won that fight, watching it again recently.
 
Aesthetically I never enjoyed him but he held his own in a talent deep era.
 
SRR, Greb, Armstrong, Duran, Ali, Louis, Benny Leonard, RJJ, Pep, Ricardo Lopez, Tunney, Langford, Saddler, Moore, Charles, Sweet Pea, Ross, Chavez, Floyd, Holyfield, Wills, Manny, JMM, Griffith, Ortiz, Hagler, Sanchez, Monzon, Hearns, Hopkins, Arguello, Walker, Lewis, Holmes, Spinks, Jofre, Fitzsimmons, McLarnin, Canzoneri, Ward.

That's 40 guys I'd rank above DLH, keeping out some question marks (Wilde, Gans, LaMotta, Mosley...) and guys that could arguably edge him (Toney, Wright, Nelson, Tiger, Gomez, Benvenuti, Locche, Johnson, Basilio, Foster, Pryor, Cervantes, Loughran, Morales, Trinidad, Cotto, Bivins, Burley, Britton, Olivares, Zarate, Napoles, Norris, Ryan, Gibbons, McFarland, McCallum, Benitez, Calzaghe...) There are more of them, I guess. It would take some time to be accurate and draw in-depth comparisons of their records.

Oscar was unquestionably a great boxer, but I don't see him in the top 40 ATG, let alone top 30 or 20. Maybe top 50. Now, to each his own criteria. His titles in 6 weightclasses and biggest wins are still pretty impressive. Eh, these ATG discussions are endless anyway.
 
Last edited:
The win wasn’t shady. The fight was close so it wasn’t exactly a robbery. He’s also been in close fights where he didn’t get the decision - the Trinidad fight, second Mosley fight, and to many the Mayweather fight. He only looked bad about three times in his career. Two of those performances were at middleweight, a division he didn’t belong in, and the third when he was well over the hill. Who are the fighters you would rate above him that would push him to the #50 position.

A lot of people think he threw the fight with Hopkins. That body shot that crumbled Oscar looked suspect in person live and from every angle on video.
 
Boxrec has weird rankings. But I'd say in general he's underrated. I hate when people say he lost his most important fights. He had some close and controversial ones but his resume is stellar.

A prime Tito Trinidad (screw the judges)
Mosley in the rematch (screw the judges)
Fernando Vargas
Ike Quartey (close but edged it IMO)
Hector Camacho
A still game Whitaker
A still game Chavez
Oba Carr
Jesse Jaimes Leija
Ricardo Mayorga
Yori Boy Campas

Arguably Felix Sturm

And a very competitive past-prime effort against a prime Floyd Mayweather Jr.

What else do you want? 2 ATG's in their prime, a couple of past-it ATG's, several HOFers, and a series of top beltholders and contenders who could feasibly compete with today's champions. It's stacked,

In any case top 40 is possible, not higher, but not much lower either IMO.
 
How about the shady win against Pernell?



giphy.gif


Anyway, overall I guess I might have been a bit harsh on him but top 20 still seems a stretch.

Well not officially, but I did have De La Hoya edging it. Even Mayweather Sr. said Oscar won point system stylee.
 
Back
Top