Felix Trinidad vs Pac @ 147 (Primes)

You haven't really seen me talk about him much. I think we have a core disagreeance on him, though, yes.

He was really one of those fighters who should only be good, but turn out to be great. He was the least talented of the big names of his time (Mosley, De La Hoya, Jones, Lopez, etc.), but perhaps the most determined, & that, with one or two other attributes, carried him a long way. I don't think Pacquiao would respond well to Trinidad's power. Not well at all.

 

By, "never looked impressive," I assume you mean for an entire fight. De La Hoya has had plenty of highlight moments against prime, great fighters. He won four or five rounds back-to-back against Mosley in their first meet, for instance.

Skill-wise De La Hoya was never as good as Pacquiao? Talent-wise, I'd agree, but I don't consider Pacquiao today dramatically more skilled than De La Hoya --- just a more gifted fighter, & on more fronts. At Jr. Welter & Welter, at least for now, I would pick the best De La Hoya over Pacquiao, though not without reservations. Perhaps at Lightweight, too, though that's harder to anticipate.

 

He didn't turn out to be great though. He never beat a single great fighter, and in fact was made to look completely inept by the only 4 he fought. What's this greatness based on? Wailing on Fernando Vargas' nutsack? Beating up a 35 year old coke head who used to be great? Because those are far and away his two best wins.

I'm coming on harsher here than my actual opinion lies - but only because I still regard him as (along with possibly Kostya Tszyu) the most overrated fighter of the last 30 years, and all too often by very clued up folk such as yourself. He was a hype machine in the early part of this decade more than he was a great fighter. Simply put, great fighters aren't THAT uncompetitive against other top fighters.