I agree with you 100%. Oscar was one of the all time greats. He ducked nobody and as you said, fought out of his weight class just to get the big fights. ALWAYS went for the big fights. Unfortunately Oscar was just one of those boxers that people wanted to hate. It all boiled down to him being a Mexican American and not a Mexican National. De La Hoya did everything in his power to win support from the Mexican Nationals, from playing the Mexican National Anthem before his bouts and donating millions of dollars to help his old neighborhood. But all for not. He got a bad rap and didn't deserve it. His losses to Mosley were no shame either. They could have gone the other way. It is what it was.

I'm hoping once Arum is gone, he will help unify boxing with other promoters. The Golden Boy has an operunity to bring back the golden age of boxing. Let him roll.

I love De La Hoya. He was a great fighter. I think the reasons people don't like him here, is because he beat down some of our heroes. And they didn't like him in Mexico because he "wasn't a real Mexican." But at the end of the day you can't look at his accomplishments and not be impressed.

Oscar was a great amateur fighter and he was a really good pro fighter but he was not great. Like everyone else said he lost all of his big fights.

In his prime, Oscar took on all comers and mostly beat them. Turning pro in 1993 after winning the Olypic gold in Barcelona in 1992, ODLH set a brisk pace as he fought almost five times a year until 1997 which bagged him titles at 130 lbs. in his 12th pro fight, 135 lbs. by his 14th fight, 140 lbs. by his 22nd pro outing, and 147 lbs. by his 24th bout. That by itself is already something phenomenal and unprecedented. Oscar will go on to have two reigns at welterweight between 1997-2000 sandwiching controversial title defeats to TitoTrinidad and Shane Mosley. He will bounce back to reign twice at 154 lbs.in between title losses to Shane and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and a failed attempt at 160 lbs. crown of Bernard Hopkins. He will however succeed in bagging his 6th major world title when he outpoinyed Felix Sturm for the IBF middleweight championship His last two wins were against Ricardo Mayorga and Steve Forbes at junior middleweights.

But not getting a rematch versus Floyd who had by then retired from boxing, Oscar committed the folly of promoting a catch weight fight against then fast rising Filipino four ( five, actually to include the Ring featherweight belt )-divisions titlist Manny Pacquiao and lost as he quit on his stool after getting thoroughly outclassed and beaten up for seven rounds. That fight being his last---and the one that retired him--- and his worst defeat ( aside from his KO loss to the bigger Hopkins ) which was even administered by a man smaller than him, it left a lasting impression in the minds of the fans. That somewhat affected his legacy.Which is unfair considering that when Oscar fought Manny, he was not only past his prime, aging but also had to come down from as high as 180 lbs. in few months time to make the welterweight catch weight limit he himself unfortunately set.

But in his prime, nobody clearly beat Oscar, not Tito, not Shane, although I must say Oscar also got by from benefit of the doubt from judges in disputed decision wins over Ike Quartey and Sturm.

Overall, Oscar de la Hoya was a great fighter, a certified ATG in my humble opinion.

Some people just hate somebody they thought was too good to be true---one who has good looks, a successful amateur career topped by an Olympic gold, great boxing skills and talent in his prime that made him almost unbeatable, a highly successful pro career that made him the richest fighter of his time and that made him one of the biggest fight promoters today. By and large, Oscar also went through what Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali experienced in his phenomenal rise as the greatest heavyweight fighter and champion of all time.

lost to hopkins once , twice to mosley, once to pacman , once to mayweather all these are big fights. i say canelo if he keeps facing the top ranked guys an wins will be greater

in the last two years that i've used Y/A i can't think of many times when oscar been praised or talked positively about , most comments are along the lines of "he lost his big fights" he got beat by so so .

but to me oscar had a great career and fought everyone ,the only down i can see is that mosley beat him twice other than that the trinidad fight could of gone either way ,hopkins to big ,he gave floyd more trouble than anyone since castillo even though oscar was past it.

oscar has some good names on his CV like pernell whitaker ,ike quarty, julio cesar chavez ,hector camacho, oba car and he could of played it safe but oscar fought the best out there at any weight .

for me once he went past welter weight he wasn't the same fighter ,

i think because oscar took so many dangerous fights he has some loses but i respect that more than a boxer who plays it safe facing fighters he knows he can beat.

also oscar never really got the superstar treatment in UK so was it because he was hyped in the USA that many have gone against him .