if Arguello hurt ODH, ODH would just box to a decision. if Arguello didn't hurt him, ODH would knock him out.
At 140 I'd pick DLH. By decision. Oscar would be too fearful of Arguello's right hand to engage, and therefore would jab and move his way to a win. At 130, and 135 however, Arguello beats him.
Why do people always have to add "... but so and so wins at another weight." We know that already! UGH!!! :jester: Anyway... I'm going against the grain on this one. I've always believed that if it were anyone else but Aaron Pryor on that Nov. 1982 night in Miami, one of those Arguello right hands have eventually finished the job and we'd be talking about Alexis the 4-division titlist rather than a magic water bottle. It's tough to call - 140 was arguably Oscar's best weight (I say that because he only spent a year/3 fights there), and the twilight of Arguello's career. I don't know... I can see Arguello taking a decision, however close. Both hit hard enough to keep the other honest. Oscar doesn't have the same size advantage he enjoyed through most of his fights up to and including 147. And I'm not sure he was THAT great of a boxer where he can avoid Alexis' power all night. The better question is, does this fight take place in the 12 round or 15 round era? 15 rounds, I like Arguello by knockout.
TBH, I totally agree with your sentiments about "if ths was at different weight-class then..." crap but to me the "if it was a 15 round fight..." thing is almost as annoying. IF Oscar had lived at that era, he surely would have trained differently and stamina wouldn't have been as big a problem for him
Oscar trained hard for 12 round fights and still had some stamina problems in the late rounds. Sure there's pacing, but him not being a relaxed fighter had something to do with his fatigue as well, as well as him using his legs against Trinidad (which he'd probably do against a big puncher in Arguello whose feet weren't the quickest).
True, but I think it is wrong way of thinking that if Oscar gets tired after 9 rounds in 12 round bout that he would get tired after nine also in 15-rounder. Getting prepared is always about making compromises between power training and conditioning. In 12 rounders DLH and his trainers felt that with this kind of combination (with a little habit to fade) he was the most effective and making him get more stamina would have weakened him. Had he been a 15-round fighter, tehy would have changed his training habits
I'm not sure I buy any of that. There are plenty of GREAT fighters today who would've been at least 80% as effective in a 15-round era. Oscar's an 8-round fighter in a 12-round era. Even if you want to apply a curve to it, then he's good for 10 rounds in 15 round era. That still doesn't change the fact that giving away ANY rounds against Arguello wouldn't be wise. And my point is that in order to build up a sizeable lead enough to where he could save himself for the later (13-15) rounds, he'd have to dominate 1-8 and give away 9-12. I don't see him boxing and moving that well against Arguello for 12 rounds, never mind 15. I'm sorry, but it's a valid point. If we're talking about, say Bernard Hopkins, James Toney , Floyd Jr., then I wouldn't make issue of the number of rounds. But with guys like Oscar, it has to be a factor because he's never shown an ability to fight from 1-12 without taking rounds off.
