The Cobra
12-19-2010, 03:09 PM
Cobra...
I came across this article that I thought had some pretty interesting "maybes" in it...thought you guys may like to pick it apart.
De la Hoya vs. Margarito: The Fight That Should Have Been
By Anwar Jamison (13-Dec-2010)
Anwar Jamison takes a look at what might have happened had Oscar De la Hoya decided to fight Antonio Margarito instead of the “smaller” Manny Pacquiao in his retirement fight at the end of 2006.
Without much fanfare, the two-year anniversary of the retirement of boxing legend Oscar De la Hoya has just passed. On December 6, 2008, De la Hoya was beat into retirement by the hands of Manny Pacquiao. It wasn’t the way that the ‘Golden Boy’ wanted to walk off into the sunset. In fact, he had gone to a great deal of trouble to pick the right opponent that would allow him to put on a good show for the fans on his way out the door. He wanted a challenge, but just enough of a challenge where he wouldn’t get embarrassed or completely outclassed, which is exactly what ended up happening.
During that time, there was one guy begging for the fight. This guy insulted De la Hoya, he took his case to the media and he wanted more than anything to get into the ring with De la Hoya. That guy was Antonio Margarito.
At that time, not many people were clamoring for De la Hoya to take that fight. Not that they wouldn’t have wanted to see it, but it just seemed like zero chance that Oscar would take that fight. Remember, Margarito was coming off of a fight where he completely destroyed a still well-respected Kermit Cintron, and after a hard fight, beat Miguel Cotto to the point where blood was coming from his eyes and ears. People figured De la Hoya might as well stay away from him. There was no sense in taking such a beating going into retirement.
Fast forward to today, and we now know that Antonio Margarito likely carried the same loaded gloves into those fights that he was caught wearing prior to the Sugar Shane Mosley fight. Provided that Oscar’s trainer, whichever one it would have been for that fight, caught the handwraps the same way Nazim Richardson did, how might this fight have played out?
De la Hoya’s fight against the light-hitting Steve Forbes earlier that year should have raised a red flag for him. In his 2007 fight against Floyd Mayweather, Jr., De la Hoya put a very good showing and fought the best fight he possibly could against the elusive Mayweather. However, against Forbes, who let his hands go a lot more than Mayweather, De la Hoya took a lot of punches. Those punches didn’t hurt him, and he clearly beat Forbes, but it showed how much he could be hit by a smaller, quicker, offensive-minded boxer, and led to the Pacquiao debacle.
But how would he have fared against Margarito? Before the Mosley-Margarito fight, I wrote an article entitled “Why ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley Will Defeat Antonio Margarito.” I felt that Shane enjoyed certain advantages such as superior boxing skills, quicker hands, and a willingness to fight inside, while Miguel Cotto, for all of his tough-as-nails, body-punching reputation, essentially did it to guys who were backing up—he never really fought inside. While De la Hoya and Mosley are certainly not the same guy, De la Hoya would have brought many of those same advantages to the ring against Margarito.
He would have definitely been the quicker, faster guy with both his hands and feet. He would have been the superior boxer, and without the loaded gloves, had just as much, if not more, power. De la Hoya’s left hook was known to be a force. De la Hoya was also a good defensive fighter. The most obvious negative for him would have been his tendency to fade at the end of some fights, and Margarito’s tendency to come on stronger as the fights wore on.
We can’t rewind time and now we will never know, but I have a sneaky suspicion that maybe, just maybe, if Oscar would have taken that fight, he might have gone out in a blaze of glory against a tough customer and scored that tremendous career-closing victory that he so desperately wanted.
I came across this article that I thought had some pretty interesting "maybes" in it...thought you guys may like to pick it apart.
De la Hoya vs. Margarito: The Fight That Should Have Been
By Anwar Jamison (13-Dec-2010)
Anwar Jamison takes a look at what might have happened had Oscar De la Hoya decided to fight Antonio Margarito instead of the “smaller” Manny Pacquiao in his retirement fight at the end of 2006.
Without much fanfare, the two-year anniversary of the retirement of boxing legend Oscar De la Hoya has just passed. On December 6, 2008, De la Hoya was beat into retirement by the hands of Manny Pacquiao. It wasn’t the way that the ‘Golden Boy’ wanted to walk off into the sunset. In fact, he had gone to a great deal of trouble to pick the right opponent that would allow him to put on a good show for the fans on his way out the door. He wanted a challenge, but just enough of a challenge where he wouldn’t get embarrassed or completely outclassed, which is exactly what ended up happening.
During that time, there was one guy begging for the fight. This guy insulted De la Hoya, he took his case to the media and he wanted more than anything to get into the ring with De la Hoya. That guy was Antonio Margarito.
At that time, not many people were clamoring for De la Hoya to take that fight. Not that they wouldn’t have wanted to see it, but it just seemed like zero chance that Oscar would take that fight. Remember, Margarito was coming off of a fight where he completely destroyed a still well-respected Kermit Cintron, and after a hard fight, beat Miguel Cotto to the point where blood was coming from his eyes and ears. People figured De la Hoya might as well stay away from him. There was no sense in taking such a beating going into retirement.
Fast forward to today, and we now know that Antonio Margarito likely carried the same loaded gloves into those fights that he was caught wearing prior to the Sugar Shane Mosley fight. Provided that Oscar’s trainer, whichever one it would have been for that fight, caught the handwraps the same way Nazim Richardson did, how might this fight have played out?
De la Hoya’s fight against the light-hitting Steve Forbes earlier that year should have raised a red flag for him. In his 2007 fight against Floyd Mayweather, Jr., De la Hoya put a very good showing and fought the best fight he possibly could against the elusive Mayweather. However, against Forbes, who let his hands go a lot more than Mayweather, De la Hoya took a lot of punches. Those punches didn’t hurt him, and he clearly beat Forbes, but it showed how much he could be hit by a smaller, quicker, offensive-minded boxer, and led to the Pacquiao debacle.
But how would he have fared against Margarito? Before the Mosley-Margarito fight, I wrote an article entitled “Why ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley Will Defeat Antonio Margarito.” I felt that Shane enjoyed certain advantages such as superior boxing skills, quicker hands, and a willingness to fight inside, while Miguel Cotto, for all of his tough-as-nails, body-punching reputation, essentially did it to guys who were backing up—he never really fought inside. While De la Hoya and Mosley are certainly not the same guy, De la Hoya would have brought many of those same advantages to the ring against Margarito.
He would have definitely been the quicker, faster guy with both his hands and feet. He would have been the superior boxer, and without the loaded gloves, had just as much, if not more, power. De la Hoya’s left hook was known to be a force. De la Hoya was also a good defensive fighter. The most obvious negative for him would have been his tendency to fade at the end of some fights, and Margarito’s tendency to come on stronger as the fights wore on.
We can’t rewind time and now we will never know, but I have a sneaky suspicion that maybe, just maybe, if Oscar would have taken that fight, he might have gone out in a blaze of glory against a tough customer and scored that tremendous career-closing victory that he so desperately wanted.