Boxing: De La Hoya vs. Hopkins: Will History Repeat?

By Tom Donelson

The September mega event between Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins is upon us and many have compared this to the famous Leonard-Hagler fight.

The first similarity was that both Leonard and De La Hoya were two of the better fighters of their generation whereas both Hagler and Hopkins were the best Middleweights of their era. Both Hagler and Hopkins were overwhelming favorites.

Here are some differences that need to be explored. When Hagler faced Leonard, both fighters had one great fighter that was on both fighters resumes- Tommy Hearns. Leonard defeated Hearns by knocking him out in the 14th round in one of the greatest welterweight fights whereas Hagler pounded Hearns in eight of the greatest minutes in boxing history. The one fighter that both Hopkins and De La Hoya shared on their resume was Trinidad. Hopkins pounded Trinidad and stopped him in the 12th round. De La Hoya out boxed Trinidad before essentially giving Trinidad the last three rounds and losing a controversial decision.