Gotta admire Gatti's heart, and he was one of the most exciting boxers of his era. But he wasn't in Mayweather's league, especially when it came to hand speed and foot speed.

Mayweather is a braggart who likes to claim he is the greatest pound-for-pound boxer of all time (Absurd. That title belongs to Sugar Ray Robinson, and no one else comes close) despite having never fought a great fighter.

De la hoya will be the best fighter Mayweather has fought--by far--and this could be an great fight.

De la hoya's legend has been marred by his loss to Felix Trinidad, a fight he would have won easily (still did win, IMO) if he had not followed his corner's advice that he should stay away from trading punches with Trinidad in the last few rounds because he was so far ahead on points that all he had to do to win was not get knocked out. The ensuing loss brought with it claims that De la hoya had proven that he had no cojones.

Since that loss, De la hoya has gone out of his way to prove that he has as much heart as he does skill and has been very aggressive in all his fights. I think he has the skill and punching power to stop Mayweather. The question in my mind is does De la hoya have the foot speed to cut off the ring and catch Mayweather.

If Maywether chooses to fight De la hoya, I think he'll be knocked out. But the more likely scenario is that he will "get on his bicycle" and try to outpoint De la Hoya by coming in, landing quick combinations and then dancing away, imitating Sugar Ray Leonard's strategy when he fought Marvin Hagler. If he goes that route, which he probably will, it's very likely that he will win the fight by decision.

By the way, De la hoya has decided against having Mayweather Sr. as his trainer:

"An official announcement is forthcoming, but Oscar De La Hoya has already decided against having Floyd Mayweather Sr. train him for his May 5 bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2007-01-24-de-la-hoya-mayweather-sr_x.htm

^^^^^^^^^

I like Trinidad as a fighter.... as far as it comes to Mayweather i think he is the best pound for pound fighter. Ray Jones Jr. was given that title some odd years ago and i still love to watch Jones old fights.

When its all said and done we will find out who is the better fighter. If and when Mayweather knocks out Lahoa Mayweather will go down as one of the best if not the best pound for pound fighter.

But i know i cant wait for the fight

Delahoya lost to Trinidad because he pussy-punched the whole fight. His hardest punch in that fight wouldn't have knocked down my 5yr old. The judges recognized this and in the end Trinidad did far more damage with half the punches.

Delahoya better hit harder than that if he has any chance what-so-ever. I hope he trains seriously and puts up a good fight, because Mayweather is beatable, but not with the little bitch-slaps that Trinidad received.

I fault De la Hoya for taking what turned out to be terrible advice from his corner. But there is no doubt in my mind that the way in which he dominated Trinidad for eight rounds was more than enough to make up for the way he allowed Trinidad to win three of the remaining four rounds.

I saw this fight with a group of friends, most of whom were avid boxing fans, and to make it interesting, most of us kept our own scorecards. At the end of the fight, we all had Oscard losing three of the last four rounds but still winning the fight.

As for De la Hoya "pussy punching" the entire fight and never throwing a punch that would have knocked down your five-year-old, all I can say is you must have one tough five-year-old.

Below is a shortened version of one account of that fight (link to the entire article at the bottom):

Round Two: With 1:42 to go in the 2nd, De La Hoya, 5'11", nailed Trinidad, Cupey Alto, Puerto Rico, with a rifle shot left jab to the nose. Seconds later, De La Hoya scored with another stiff left jab and Trinidad's, 5'11", nose began bleeding. However, with less than 10-seconds remaining in the 2nd, De La Hoya countered with a straight right hand to the jaw and followed up just before the bell with another clean right to the chin.

Round Three: Both boxers exchanged jabs to open the third, but De La Hoya's accuracy proved to be the difference and within seconds Trinidad's white satin trucks were spotted by his own blood. Sliding left, or right, and making sure not to make a mistake, De La Hoya continued to connect with hard left jabs dead center between Trinidad's watering eyes. With under 40-seconds to go in the 3rd, De La Hoya connected with another jab and then bounced a rapid one-two off the IBF king's face. By the conclusion of the round, De La Hoya returned to his stool brimming with confidence while across the ring Trinidad displayed quiet resolve.

Round Four: At the 2:44 mark of the 4th, De La Hoya stepped inside and landed a fast left-right-left combination and then started eating up real estate. His plan to neutralize Trinidad's power by constantly moving and occasionally stopping long enough to fire quick shots continued to pile up points. Moments later, De La Hoya scored with a sharp right hand to the chin on the advancing IBF king. Throughout the fight in the first eight rounds, De La Hoya rallied in the last ten-seconds of each stanza and the 4th was no exception. The WBC champ scored with a stiff jab soon followed by a sharp hook at the bell.

Round Five: After scoring with a solid hook early in the 5th, De La Hoya remained outside and depended on great footwork to keep him out of trouble. To his credit, Trinidad continued to try and mount an attack as De La Hoya feinted, retreated, and gave ground while looking to land his jab. At the 54-second mark of the 5th, De La Hoya paused and unloaded another quick scoring combination. However, Trinidad stayed loyal to his arsenal and ripped De La Hoya with a sharp right hand to the jaw. Just before the bell De La Hoya answered and clocked Trinidad with a stinging left jab, straight right hand down the middle, and a thudding hook to the temple. As Trinidad returned to his corner his left eye was noticeably swollen and appeared on the verge of swelling shut. Between rounds his corner stayed busy as Endswell was applied under the left eye in an effort to improve his vision.

Round Six: De La Hoya was back up on his toes in the sixth and drilling Trinidad with more jabs. The flow of blood from Trinidad's nose increased and his white trunks began taking on a pinkish hue, as he continued his pursuit of the fleeing WBC champ. De La Hoya went back to work with his popgun but at the 1:35 mark, Trinidad answered with a whistling right hand to the jaw. Even when Trinidad missed his shots there was a noticeable high velocity arc to his punches. Late in the round with 28 -seconds to go, De La Hoya landed a solid counter right hand to the point of the chin and then followed up moments later with a stiff hook.

Round Seven: De La Hoya returned to jabbing and moving and seemingly dominating the fight from the outside despite Trinidad's occasional heavy artillery. Three consecutive left jabs were on target for De La Hoya and then at the 17-second mark, he connected with three straight right crosses down the middle. Trinidad rattled a shot off De La Hoya's head just after the bell and both men exchanged verbal insults prior to returning to their stools.

Round Eight: Trinidad's corner had worked their magic on their man, and the swelling under his left eye was surprisingly small at the outset of the eighth. At the 1:53 mark of the 8th, De La Hoya scored with yet another clean right hand down the middle. Trinidad continued to try and cut the ring but seconds later, De La Hoya nailed him with another sharp right hand to the chin. Both men traded shots with 1:08 to go, as Trinidad connected with a hard right but De La Hoya answered with a brisk three-shot combination.

Round Nine: At the 2:17 mark of the ninth round, De La Hoya flurried with a quick four-punch combo to the head and body that forced Trinidad to step back. Seconds later, De La Hoya stepped back inside and scored with another fast volley. With 1:42 to go in the 9th, Trinidad caught De La Hoya on the ropes long enough to land a sharp right hand over the top. The blow tagged De La Hoya above the left ear and he skittered away. A long grazing right hand from Trinidad just missed the mark as De La Hoya kicked it into overdrive trying to escape along the ropes. Moments later, Trinidad sank a sharp hook into De La Hoya ribs and then followed with a chopping right hand up top. De La Hoya attempted to fight back and with 32-seconds remaining in the 9th, caught Trinidad with a straight right hand down the middle. The punch landed flush and for a split-second Trinidad's legs wobbled as he lurched backwards. Just before the bell, De La Hoya scored with a short three-punch volley but it apparently did little to impress the officials.

Round Ten: Trinidad went back to work to open the 10th and began taking control of the contest. With 2:35 to go in the round, Trinidad caught De La Hoya with a left hook to the side of the head, followed by an overhand right to the face, and yet another hook to the jaw. De La Hoya put it in reverse and Trinidad stayed on the attack. Instead off snapping out his jab as he had done in the nine previous rounds, De La Hoya began getting lazy with his left and Trinidad started firing counter right hands over the top. With under 36-seconds remaining in the 10th, Trinidad scored with another long right as De La Hoya bounced up and down along the ropes. Trinidad closed out the tenth with another volley while De La Hoya's returned fire with wide looping punches that lacked steam. All the moving had taken its toll on De La Hoya. He seemed winded as his return to his corner.

--Bad Advice--

Round Eleven: Both of De La Hoya's co-trainers Robert Alcazar and Gil Clancy stressed that he was in front and not to make mistakes over the last two rounds. That conservative strategy would prove to be the turning point in the fight and set the stage for Trinidad's victory. Both men traded jabs to open the eleventh but De La Hoya kept his pawing left out in front and Trinidad quickly countered over the top with a sizzling right hand to the jaw. With De La Hoya maneuvering along the ropes, Trinidad walked his man down and scored with two more sharp right hands. De La Hoya's left eye which had been reddening over the course of the battle began to swell. De La Hoya lacked the stick to keep Trinidad away and the IBF king kept up the pressure with two digging left hooks. At the 1:47 mark of the 11th, Trinidad scored with a shooting right hand lead and sweat cascaded off De La Hoya's head. The first clinch of the fight occurred at the 1:26 mark when De La Hoya grabbed Trinidad around the neck and the referee Halpern was forced to break the fighters. Halpern issued a brief warning to break clean and the action resumed. Trinidad was relentless as De La Hoya faded and caught the WBC champ with a sweeping left hook high on the head. As De La Hoya danced along the ropes, Trinidad feinted his left and then tattooed him with a lead right hand square on the mouth. At the bell, De La Hoya slowly returned to his corner while Trinidad raised his right hand to the cheers of the fans.

Round Twelve: Trinidad opened the final round by scoring with another lead right and then followed up with two more shots to the head. De La Hoya's feet did a quick two-step and the undefeated champion looked weary. With 2:06 to go in the bout, Trinidad connected with a long right hand to the head. De La Hoya tried to slip the blow and ended up looking out at the crowd. Seconds later, Trinidad fired another lead right that missed but gave the impression that De La Hoya had been tagged. De La Hoya's lead continued to evaporate as Trinidad connected with a stiff left hand up top. Halfway through the round the crowd began voicing their displeasure by booing De La Hoya. The confident WBC champ dropped his gloves to his sides and bounded around the ring as Trinidad continued to try and unload. At the 10-second mark, Trinidad finally landed a swift one-two, as De La Hoya returned limited fire.

At the bell De La Hoya raised his gloves in triumph. Trinidad glanced across the ring at his opponent and respond in kind with the same mannerism. Both athletes were quickly lifted on the shoulders of their seconds and paraded around the ring as the fans cheered.

--Decision--

Both men and exchanged congratulations in the center of the ring as they awaited the verdict. Trinidad climbed atop the ropes and saluted his fans. When Michael Buffer announced Hamada's scorecard of a draw, De La Hoya could only shake his head and mutter, "Oh, come on." Following the next scorecards that gave the fight to Trinidad, the Puerto Rican champion raised his arms in victory and sank to the canvas in jubilation. De La Hoya staggered away from Buffer's announcement and rocked back sideways while shaking his head in disbelief.

"My tactic was to take away his confidence," De La Hoya said after the loss. "He's a great fighter. People were expecting me to duke it out. I was making him miss and making him pay. I'm hurt inside emotionally. My plan did work, but he's a good fighter and a great champion. I praise him a lot and hope we can do it again."

--Post Fight--

Perhaps once and for all, De La Hoya has learned that you can't win a fight running away. While he very well have been winning the fight on most of the writers cards, he didn't do enough to sway the judges.

Often during his career the "Golden Boy" has been compared to Sugar Ray Leonard. However, during Leonard's greatest test when he was losing to Thomas Hearns, he somehow found the strength to rally and ice the "Hitman."

De La Hoya needs to reflect on how he will chose to be remembered. Hopefully, the next time out, he will take it out of the judges hands, or go out on his shield

http://www.boxingtimes.com/analyses/1999/990918delahoya_trinidad.html

By the way, though De la Hoya repeatedly called for a rematch, Trinidad refused.

In the end, though I will always believe that De la Hoya won that fight and was robbed thanks to Don King's shenaningans, I'm glad he lost it because the fans paid to see him fight the entire fight... not get a lead and then play keep-away.

[quote:ee944e6b0b="ssmallwood"]Delahoya lost to Trinidad because he pussy-punched the whole fight. His hardest punch in that fight wouldn't have knocked down my 5yr old. The judges recognized this and in the end Trinidad did far more damage with half the punches.

Delahoya better hit harder than that if he has any chance what-so-ever. I hope he trains seriously and puts up a good fight, because Mayweather is beatable, but not with the little bitch-slaps that Trinidad received.[/quote:ee944e6b0b]

Ill agree with that

8)

I've watched that fight a few times now. Next time you watch it, take a good look at both fighters faces at the end of the match. If "pussy punches" busted up Trinidad's face like that, I'd hate to see that "penisy (?)" punches would have done to it.

De la hoya won that fight and was robbed. His choice to not trade punches with Trinidad in the last few rounds can be called cowardly (I have no problem with that), but it can also be called smart. If Billy Conn had done that when he fought Joe Louis, he would have won the heavyweight title even though it's said he weighed less than 170 pounds for that fight to Louis' 200 pounds. Instead, after dominating Louis for 12 rounds, he chose to try to knock out the bigger man and ended up getting knocked out by Louis.

You can fault De la Hoya for fighting a "cowardly" fight in the last few rounds, but to say that he never hit Trinidad with any hard punches is absurd.

For those of you interested in the Conn-Lewis fight:

.....

It would be a great little man against a great big man; a spit in the eye of the adage that "a great big man beats a great small man every time". Perhaps, and perhaps not. Conn went into the fight an 11-5 underdog, but it was the closest margin of any Louis opponent since the second fight with Max Schmeling. Some top sports writers picked Conn to win, as did former champions Jimmy Braddock and Fritzie Zivic. Officially Conn came into the fight at 174 pounds against 199 ½ for Louis, but those in the know said he weighed only 167. Either way he was giving up 25+ pounds to Louis, somewhat akin to giving up the first three moves to a master chess player.

.....

In the 13th Conn came out with a do-or-die attitude. He moved in and decided he could trade with Louis and win the greatest prize in boxing. He believed he could knock out Joe Louis. It was a fatal error.

A hard right by Louis snapped Billy's head back. It was followed by one of the swift, lethal combinations for which Joe was renowned. Conn could have run; he should have run. But instead of letting his head clear, brave Billy sailed into Louis with all the audacity, and futility, of a leopard leaping in with a lion. Bert Sugar said, "Conn stood his ground, much like a prisoner lighting a cigarette without a blindfold, unmindful of what fate had in store for him. Louis followed with a volley of rights and lefts to Conn's head. Yet another right to the head spun Conn partway around and he fell, as if he were filmed in slow motion, there to take the ten count like a carney doll waiting to be claimed."

It was the greatest "almost" in boxing history.

Why did Conn throw away a fight he had won so masterfully? He laid it on his Irish heritage, the desire of Irish fighters to finish a fight throwing leather, and caution, to the wind. In his dressing room he said, "What's the use of being Irish if you can't be thick?" It might have been that simple; Conn was too proud to take a title running away.

Later he would joke with Louis, "Why couldn't you let me hold the title for a year or so?" Louis responded, "You had the title for twelve rounds and you couldn't hold on to it."

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/boxing-news/bearden2702.php