There was once an old Boxing saying, "Never
underestimate the heart of a champion." This saying
should be applied to Oscar De la Hoya, who will be
fighting for the Undisputed Middleweight title against
Bernhard Hopkins on September 18th. I have been amazed
after reading numerous write ups and comments on this
fight, that hardly anybody is giving Oscar De la Hoya
a chance in this fight.
This is a man who has been a world champion at
five different weight classes. This is a man who has
been in the ring with some of the world's greatest
fighters over his career, and even in defeat has never
been soundly beaten. Now don't get me wrong Bernhard
Hopkins is a great fighter, maybe one of the greatest
Middleweights of all time. But, Oscar is not too bad
himself.
One of the explanations I have seen for why Oscar
will lose is that Hopkins is too big for him. Remember
Oscar started at 130 pounds, he's been moving up in
weight his whole career. He has been hearing this his
whole career, and it has not been much of a problem
yet. Another explanation I hear is that Oscar is on his
way down, just look at his last fight against Felix
Sturm. First off Sturm was underrated, and Hopkins was
the first to say that they were both fighting
overcautiously on that card, because there was so much
to lose with their mega fight on the horizon.
This is probably the first time in Oscar De la
Hoya's career that he will be the underdog in the
fight. You think that's not motivating for Oscar. Look
at his past fights, when people were having doubts
about him. Remember Fernando Vargas, many thought
Vargas might overpower Oscar. Many wondered how Oscar
would control his anger towards Vargas, and how he
would handle people doubting him. Well, he bottled all
the anger and doubts up into one of his greatest
fights of his career. When Oscar is focused, he's a
tough guy to beat. In the second Shane Mosley fight,
Oscar was focused and boxed beautifully. Most would
agree that he won that fight also.
Oscar has always done well in mega fights. Look at Vargas, his bouts against
Julio Cesar Chavez, and the second Mosley fight. Even the fight against Felix
Trinidad, Oscar was controlling the fight until he got passive guarding a big
lead. Do you think he would do that against Hopkins and do you think he has not
learned from that?
Oscar has always been at his best when his back
has been up against the wall. I point to the Vargas
fight again. Going further back in his career in 1994,
Oscar suffered his first ever knockdown to little
known Giorgio Campanella in the first round. Oscar
responded by knocking Campanella down in the 2nd and
3rd rounds, finishing off Campanella in the 3rd round.
Go back to 1997 against Pernell Whitaker, Oscar went
down in the 9th round. After this knockdown, he
flurried back in the remaining rounds and won the
fight.
Oscar has always rebounded well after lackluster
fights, like the one he had with Felix Sturm. After
his fight with Whitaker, in which he narrowly won,
Oscar came back to knockout David Kamau in his next
fight. After a close call with Ike Quartey, Oscar came
back to knock out Oba Carr in his next fight. After
the loss to Trinidad, Oscar came back to knock out
Derrell Coley in his next fight. After the first
Mosley loss, he came back to TKO Arturo Gatti in his
next fight. Oscar is a veteran at rebounding, and
seems to be at his best when people are starting to
doubt him, which is exactly what is happening going
into this fight with Hopkins.
There is no doubt in my mind that this will be a
hard fight for Oscar de la Hoya to win. Bernhard
Hopkins is a great champion, and seems to know every
Boxing trick in the book. Maybe the weight, and maybe
the experience and savvy of Hopkins will be too much
for Oscar. But, again I will remind all the people who
will be watching the fight on September 18th, "Never
underestimate the heart of a champion".
