Is Oscar De La Hoya A Great Fighter?

23.08.04 – By Matthew Hurley: Coming out of the 1992 Olympics with a gold medal Oscar De La Hoya was quickly groomed by a savvy public relations firm to be the next Sugar Ray Leonard while subsequently being brow beaten, to the point of disillusionment, by his dictatorial father. The “Golden Boy” quickly began his attempt to become not only a multi-titlist but also to achieve the lofty mantle of being a “great” fighter. Being accorded the tag of greatness has always been more important to him than he has let on. His smiling façade and pre-programmed charm has slipped occasionally but he tore it off during the first big press conference for his September 18 middleweight championship fight against long reigning title holder Bernard Hopkins. Oscar wasn’t smiling that night. Not because he suddenly realized what he had gotten himself into but in the realization that this fight may turn out to be his final shot at “greatness”. The seriousness of this resonated on his face that night and has ever since.

No one questions Oscar’s talent as a fighter or the grit and determination he has shown in taking on some of the best fighters of his era. What does deserve to be reviewed though is that in his biggest moments on center stage he has come up short. Since moving up from lightweight he has had to depend more and more on his resolve than his talent. His losses to Felix Trinidad, twice to Shane Mosley and his disputed decision victories against Pernel Whitaker, Ike Quartey and most recently Felix Sturm have divided many boxing fans and writers. De La Hoya is one of two active fighters who are Hall Of Fame bound, the other being Roy Jones, who, despite his popularity and longtime visibility on the boxing scene remains a divisive fighter and personality in the boxing world. With Jones the caveat with him has been the strength, or lack thereof, of his competition. With Oscar it’s those bouts mentioned above and the feeling among many that his upcoming bout against Bernard Hopkins will be the final nail in his coffin. If he is beaten badly by the champion, De La Hoya will be remembered by his fiercest critics as a big time fighter who only had one defining fight, his stirring victory over Fernando Vargas. But those same critics will maintain that Oscar beat a fighter who was already damaged goods and on steroids to boot. Arguably his best performance was his razor thin victory over Ike Quartey – but many people believe that Quartey won that fight.

Furthermore, the merry-go-round of trainers that led to near constant alterations in his style left Oscar, in those tough moments against Trinidad and Mosley, unable to make adjustments. These shifts from a left-hooking bomber, to an elusive boxer, to a shoulder rolling defensive fighter and then back again have all figured into his losses and those close, disputed decision victories. Sometimes it seems as though despite all his years in the ring Oscar still doesn’t know what kind of a fighter he truly is. His heart cannot be questioned, but his mindset has often seemed confused.

Oscar recently said, “I think this fight will settle questions in the boxing world… I think it will have a big impact on my boxing career and put me up there with the greats.”

That’s only if he wins.

If he loses his entire career is once again open for debate, much as it was after his loss to Trinidad when he ran during the final four rounds. Should he be beaten soundly by Hopkins all the nay Sayers will be slinging their arrows, much as the Roy Jones haters did when he was recently knocked out in the second round by Antonio Tarver.

Oscar is aware of all this and it’s to his great credit that he signed on for this fight. Since he has moved up in weight he has not brought his power up with him. Because of that he’s had to rely on his legs, sometimes for such great chunks of the early rounds that by the ninth or tenth round he finds himself exhausted. Fading down the stretch, as he has done in several bouts, does not bode well in his match against Hopkins. It’s hard to envision a fighter who couldn’t hurt a true one hundred and sixty pound fighter in Felix Sturm hurting the monster of the division. Logic dictates that Oscar has to box and box tightly and smartly for all twelve rounds.

“I have trained so hard for this fight,” he says. “Like never before.”

There’s no reason not to believe him and no reason not to believe that he won’t leave all that he has left in the ring that night in September. But we’ve heard declarations like this before. Not only from Oscar but from all fighters. Very often it turns out to be untrue. It was untrue of Oscar in his last fight when he showed up poorly conditioned and overconfident. Is he simply talking a good game now?

When this fight is over Oscar De La Hoya’s standing among boxing immortals will be more clearly defined. Regardless, he will be a first ballot Hall Of Fame inductee. But there are many terrific fighters in the Hall (and some not so terrific) who were never “great”. That’s a debate for another day, but where Oscar stands in the eyes of his critics, fans and historians will be clearly defined on the morning of September 19th. Then it can be decided if Oscar was an all time great or a very good fighter who won a lot of titles but never truly defined himself in the ring.