McCallum by decision... Oscar starts well and his jab and his speed trouble "The Bodysnatcher" but McCallum starts to time him, do that side-to-side shoulder thing he loved to do and pop Hoya with counter jabs to get those hands up and crack him to the body... it pays off and the longer it goes the more often McCallum drives that hook to the flanks home... his workrate increases, as Oscar's declines... Hoya, almost always game when he was up against it (except for the Hopkins fight) tries to rally furiously in spurts but McCallum finishes the exchanges Hoya starts and handles his power just fine... Hoya never stops fighting back, but the bigger, stronger, steadier man takes this one by decision... 116-112 type
It ends with me jumping into the ring to rescue a prone De La Hoya & screaming hysterically (think Nathan Lane in The Birdcage), "leave him alone! Get away from him! You all hate him & all he ever wanted to do was bring you the big fights! Golden Boy...what have you done to my Golden Boy!?"
I always personally disliked Hoya, he's disingenuous and fake, like Ray Leonard but he was an outstanding fighter... good enough to hang with anybody, he would never look like he didnt belong... does he beat any of the very greatest at 135, 140, 147? eh, probably not... but does he get humiliated and outclassed by any of them? no way he was a quality fighter, his phoniness has no more bearing on it than Leonard's detestable shittiness has on his legacy as one of the very best
But he ascribes generosity, humility, decency & so much more to himself if you just take the time to read, "American Son," CDogg.
cdogg - DLH might look like he belonged in the first few rounds, but once he faded in the late rounds (like he always did), this would get ugly.
I don't think it would until the very end... Hoya was a much tougher guy than a Milt McCrory Dont get me wrong, McCallum wins very convincingly
