Those of use who have loved or hated Oscar De La Hoya over his sixteen year professional career can agree on one thing now – it is time for the Golden Boy to hang up his gloves. The man has made millions upon millions of dollars inside the ring and left a very large impression on the history of the sport. What will be discussed now and for years to come by his supporters and detractors is his legacy inside the ring.
De La Hoya won eleven different sanctioned world championships spanning across six different weight classes: super featherweight, lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight, and middleweight. It is known that in modern boxing, the winning of sanctioned championships is not a true sign of excellence in the sport. Within this body of work, I want to analyze in a neutral manner, the ring exploits of Oscar De La Hoya and allow the reader to decide his athletic greatness.
Oscar’s first championship came at super featherweight when he defeated Jimmy Bredhal for the WBO super featherweight championship at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on March 5, 1994. De La Hoya defended the title on one occasion against Giorgio Campanella on June 27, 1994. During his time at super featherweight, the top fighters in the division were Azumah Nelson, John John Molina, Jesse James Leija, Genaro Hernandez, and Gabriel Ruelas. Though Oscar did not fight any of these these men at super featherweight, he did battle Molina, Leija, and Hernandez as a lightweight
For his jump to lightweight, Oscar captured the vacant WBO lightweight championship from Jorge Paez on July 29, 1994 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Including the Paez fight, Oscar would fight seven times as a lightweight from July 29, 1994 until December 15, 1995. During 1994 and 1995 De La Hoya was considered by many as the number one lightweight in the world, followed by Miguel Angel Gonzalez, Rafael Ruelas,Orzubek Nazarov, Miguel Julio, and Stevie Johnston. During his stay at lightweight De La Hoya went undefeated against Paez, Carl Griffith, John Avila, Molina, Rafael Ruelas, Hernandez, and Leija. Aside from the Rafael Ruelas bout, which landed him the IBF championship, instead of fighting the best at lightweight, De La Hoya fought older fighters moving up from super featherweight to lightweight. Miguel Angel Gonzalez would fall to De La Hoya, a few years later in the junior welterweight division.
On February 9th, 1996, De La Hoya jumped up to junior welterweight and knocked out Daryl Tyson in the second round. His next bout would be his infamous fourth round technical knock-out against iconic Mexican figure Julio Cesar Chavez, giving De La Hoya his first WBC crown. As a lightweight, De La Hoya fought only three times from February, 1996 to January, 1997 against Tyson, Chavez, and Gonzalez. Though a short stay at junior welterweight, De La Hoya was considered the best in the division trailed by Kostya Tszyu, Frankie Randall, Chavez, and Gonzalez.
De La Hoya moved to welterweight in April, 1997 when he took a hotly contested decision against defensive wizard Pernell Whitaker to win the WBC welterweight championship. During his first tour as a welterweight De La Hoya fought 12 times from April, 1997 to March, 2001. De La Hoya defeated Whitaker, David Kamau, Hector Camacho, Wilfredo Rivera, Patrick Charpentier, Chavez in a rematch, Ike Quartey, Oba Carr, Derrel Coley (for the vacant IBA championship), and Arturo Gatti. De La Hoya suffered his first two losses in this period, a controversial decisions against Felix Trinidad, and a tight decision to Shane Mosley. The top figures in the welterweight division from 1997 to 2001, aside from the Golden Boy himself, were Trinidad, Quartey, Whitaker, Mosley, Carr, Rivera, James Page, Vernon Forrest, Andrew Lewis, Thomas Daamgard, and Daniel Santos. Most experts agree that this period marked the peak of De La Hoya’s competitive career.
Following his March, 2001 victory against Gatti, Oscar entered the junior middleweight division to fight Javier Castillejo on June 23, 2001 and win the WBC junior middleweight championship. He would fight four times in his first tour of duty at junior middleweight from June, 2001 to September, 2003. His victories were against Castillejo, Fernando Vargas (capturing the IBA and WBA championships), Luis Ramon Campos, and his sole controversial defeat was in a rematch with Mosley. Top fighters in the division during that time, included Vargas, Castillejo, Mosley, Daniel Santos, Ronald Wright, Bronco McKart, and Kassim Ouma.
On June 5, 2004, De La Hoya entered his sixth weight class taking a controversial decision from Felix Sturm for the WBO middleweight championship. This victory set-up a bout between De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins on September 18, 2004, in which Hopkins served De La Hoya with his first knock-out loss.
Following the short and unmemorable run at middleweight, De La Hoya returned to the 154 pound junior middleweight division where he fought three more times from June, 2006 to June, 2008. His record over this time was two wins and one loss. The victories came against Ricardo Mayorga and Steve Forbes, his sole defeat coming against Floyd Mayweather. During this time De La Hoya did not fight any of the top fighters at 154 pounds, but the victory over Mayorga brought him the WBC junior middleweight championship – his last world crown – and Floyd Mayweather was considered the pound for pound best fighter in the world moving up from middleweight.
In his latest bout, De La Hoya returned to the welterweight limit to battle Manny Pacquiao. That result is fresh in our memory, as Pacquiao served De La Hoya his second knockout defeat and hopefully his last.
So with all the facts in front of you – the best in the divisions at a given point and Oscar’s detailed record – you decide, is De La Hoya a Hall of Fame box office draw or a Hall of Fame fighter?
