From the Vault 09.22.08: Whitaker vs. De La Hoya

Posted by Ramon Aranda on 09.22.2008

We take a look back at "Pound for Pound" - the mega fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Pernell Whitaker from 1997.



After the fight was officially signed between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao, the Pac-Man soon informed his camp that he wanted to look at tapes of Oscar's previous fights against southpaws to get an idea of how to approach the "Golden Boy". Manny specifically asked for a tape on Oscar's fight with Pernell Whitaker and with that in mind, I thought it'd be a good time to revisit that clash from eleven years ago.



It was the spring of 1997 and Oscar De La Hoya was fresh off his first defense of the WBC super lightweight title that he won with a 4th round TKO of Julio Cesar Chavez. Pernell Whitaker on the other hand was sitting pretty atop the pound for pound list as well as the welterweight division as the WBC champ. Whitaker who had signed on to face De La Hoya who would be moving up in weight, had gone through what appeared as a life or death situation (not literally) against Diosbelys Hurtado in what was supposed to be a tune up fight. Hurtado gave Whitaker all he could handle, dropping him twice before Whitaker suddenly reached back and knocked him out in the 11th round.



So the stage was set for the mega fight between the number one fighter in the world against the fastest rising star in the sport. With that, let's go back and revisit Whitaker vs. De La Hoya for the WBC welterweight championship.



April 12, 1997
Promoted by Top Rank
Televised by TVKO with HBO
Venue: Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas




Oscar De La Hoya (23-0, 21 KOs) vs. Pernell Whitaker (40-1-1, 17 KOs)
WBC Super Welterweight Champ – WBC Welterweight Champ

Pernell has Zab Judah and Fernando Vargas in his corner, pre-fight
Referee Mills Lane


Round 1: A few jabs and they immediately clinch. Whitaker looking to land the double and triple jabs which is impressive given that Oscar has the longer reach. Whitaker blocks high to defend the jab then jabs to De La Hoya's head and body. Oscar is trying to land his own jabs. Whitaker again lands a pair of jabs and eats a grazing right hand. Oscar comes in with a lead right hand but Whitaker steps back. Oscar begins going to the uppercut which lands. Mills Lane warns them for hitting while clinching. De La Hoya throws a combination that misses. Good body shot by Whitaker. Oscar is coming forward, though Whitaker is being the aggressor and is landing his shots. De La Hoya misses another two punch combo to close the round.

Round 2: De La Hoya lands a soft right hand to begin the round. Whitaker lands a jab then ducks to avoid a right and left hand. Now Oscar lands a stiff jab and then a body shot. Whitaker comes back with a straight left and a double jab. Whitaker is moving to his right and staying low to avoid some of the big headshots. Good shot by Whitaker and a counter by De La Hoya. Then De La Hoya throws a flurry but misses them all. Oscar goes back to the jab as he tries to walk Whitaker down. Whitaker looks much more comfortable so far while Oscar seems a bit stiffer. Another jab lands for Whitaker and then a left. De La Hoya lands a lead right and misses another right. Body shot lands for De La Hoya and the round is over. Better round for Oscar.

(Punch Stats are pretty much even through two rounds. Whitaker's corner is telling him to be more aggressive while De La Hoya's corner likes what they see so far.)

Round 3: Jabs from both men in the opening seconds with Whitaker focusing on the body. Oscar looks to throw two punches at a time but Whitaker is able to step back and avoid them. Another combo misses for De La Hoya. Whitaker misses two jabs and Oscar lands a right hand. Oscar misses a right cross and lands a body shot as they clinch. Now De La Hoya misses another right and they go to the body in another clinch. Whitaker clowns around a little and Oscar lands a right on the inside. Mills Lane warns Whitaker to not rub his glove on Oscar's face. Now they get tangled up and Whitaker throws Oscar to the ground. A headbutt occurred in all the hoopla and Oscar has a small cut under the right eye. Oscar lands a jab then eats a left body shot. Right hand lands for Oscar and a big left uppercut lands for De La Hoya and then a hard left hook. Solid power punches land for Oscar in the final stanza of the third. Mills Lane of course has to deduct a point from Whitaker due to the ridiculous rule of the WBC that in a headbutt, the uncut fighter loses a point. My head hurts just thinking about that rule.

(A second look at the butt shows that Whitaker had bent down to throw an uppercut and he inadvertently butted him on the way up.

Round 4: A lot of moving around to begin the fourth and now Oscar begins to land a couple of right hands. They clinch but they let their hands go. Oscar misses a right hand and Pernell keeps bending his knees to get extremely low – vintage Whitaker stuff. A jab misses for both guys and Whitaker finally lands one. A lack of action in this round so far and Oscar lands a punch before Whitaker dances around and makes him miss two. Whitaker misses his own left and right and a right lands to the body for Oscar. Oscar bobs left and right and lands a right. A left misses for Oscar and a flurry closes the round for Oscar but none of it lands. Funny how the HBO team goes wild over the flurry even though Whitaker made him miss. After the replay Larry Merchant admits that none of that landed and it looked better than it was. Good call Larry!

Round 5: Here we go with round 5. Pernell is developing a slight mouse under his right eye. Oscar misses another flurry as Whitaker moves around and ohh....Whitaker lands a stiff right and left..his hardest punches of the fight. They meet in the center of the ring and exchange body shots. A right body shot lands for Oscar and Whitaker lands a jab. Pernell circles to his right lands another set of jabs. Oscar is bobbing and weaving again but is just staring at Pernell. Now a left hook lands for Oscar and Whitaker clowns around again swinging his right arm like a pendulum. Pernell plays around some more and makes Oscar miss. A jab lands for Whitaker and Oscar switches to southpaw yet again. Oscar lands a jab and they stare at each other in the final seconds. Though Whitaker didn't land a ton of punches, he landed more of them.

Round 6: Oscar begins this round in the southpaw stance...keep in mind that Oscar is a natural left hander. Oscar pumps the jab and lands an overhand left. Now he's back to the conventional stance. Whitaker paws away with the jab to get Oscar's guard down and Oscar once again switches to southpaw. Whitaker lands a left hand. Then misses wildly with a right hook and Oscar lands a big punch. Now they clinch and Mills has to break them up. Whitaker lands a jab and Oscar lands a left hook. A jab lands for Pernell and then with his right hand around his waist, he unloads with three left uppercuts. Pernell lands a sharp left hand to close the round. Tough round to score.

Round 7: We're halfway through the fight now and both fighters are still pretty fresh. Oscar is bouncing on his toes but hasn't thrown anything yet. Oscar misses a left and Whitaker clinches then lands a few body shots. Some missed jabs for Oscar and Whitaker lands one. De La Hoya eats a pair of lefts and they tangle each other and down they go! Oscar throws a pair of punches and Whitaker dodges them all. Now Oscar lands a clean right hand and a left hook over Whitaker's body shot. Whitaker makes Oscar miss again and then Oscar lands a long right hand. Oscar is trying to make Whitaker flinch with some feints but Whitaker doesn't budge. Round over and Oscar pumps his fist in celebration – a sign of frustration I think.

Round 8: Oscar goes to the jab and lands one to the head and body. They make each other miss a couple of jabs. Oscar lands a left hook and then a jab to the chest. Whitaker throws a jab and gets countered with a good right hand. Whitaker is still making Oscar miss but isn't landing as much as he did two rounds ago....he's just not as busy as he should be. Oscar pumps a jab and slips two from the champion. Whitaker makes a "well darn" face like he was sad about missing a punch. Oscar now lands a hard right and Pernell smiles. Oscar lands another left hand and Whitaker comes back with a straight left. Oscar misses three punches and Whitaker lands a left. Good round for Oscar.

(Whitaker's corner seems concerned and they tell Whitaker that he has to put some knockout power behind his punches as they think he's behind on the cards. Pernell thinks he's got it under control and says "I got him!")

Round 9: Oscar begins with a good right cross. Pernell lands a jab then Oscar lands two right uppercuts. Oscar is the busier of the two as he has been over the last two rounds. Pernell ducks two punches and now chases Oscar around the ring. Pernell l ands a jab and then another one. A good uppercut lands for Whitaker. Pernell makes Oscar miss again as Oscar goes to the southpaw stance and then a left lands for Pernell and Oscar's glove touches the canvas!! Knockdown scored by Mills Lane and that will basically eliminate the point deduction from earlier. Oscar is visibly upset by the call but his glove did touch the canvas after the punch landed. What a big moment for Whitaker as the scores will tighten up. Oscar tries to rally to steal the round but Whitaker makes him miss and Whitaker lands his own counter punches.

(Oscar is rattled in the corner. The replay clearly shows a short left hook caused the knockdown.)

Round 10: A slow round to start with Oscar moving slowly. Now Oscar is back on his toes and lands a combination to the body. A right now lands for De La Hoya and Whitaker starts jabbing again to the head. Oscar attempts to land another lead right hand but Whitaker comes back with a left of his own. Good counter punching from Whitaker again and now Oscar lands a hard body shot and a right-left to the head. Whitaker misses a looping left cross and he comes after De La Hoya along the ropes. Good body shot by by De La Hoya and a good flurry by Oscar closes the round!

(Lou Duva tells Whitaker that he has two rounds left and that he needs to throw punches. The corner is obviously concerned that Whitaker is behind on the cards with his punch output declining.)

Round 11: We begin the championship rounds. Oscar is bouncing around but moving backwards. Whitaker lands a straight left and they exchange body shots on the inside. Oscar lands a good right hand and Whitaker clowns around like he was hurt. Oscar misses a jab and then wraps Whitaker for a clinch. Oscar lands a clean left hook and Whitaker lands a pair of right hands and then a counter left. Good round for Whitaker.

Round 12: Here we go with the last and final round for all the marbles. De La Hoya is bleeding at the nose before a punch is even landed. Lots of jabbing from both fighters. Now De La Hoya throws a flurry to Sweet Pea's body. Whitaker lands a jab and then a straight left. Oscar feints and misses a body shot. Whitaker lands a left to the top of Oscar's head. Oscar eats a jab as he chases Pernell around. A flurry lands for De La Hoya as Whitaker is mostly defensive. Oscar lands a left and Whitaker clowns around nearly touching the canvas as he does when he ducks town. Oscar easily wins the twelfth.

My card 114 (DLH) – 112 (Whitaker) ..same as Harold Lederman's card. Oddly enough the Punch Stat numbers favored Pernell Whitaker.

The scores are finally read as 1116-110, 116-110 and 115-111 in favor of the winner by unanimous decision.....and new WBC welterweight champion, Oscar De La Hoya!

The bout was close on most members of the media's scorecards and there was a small outcry of fans and writers who thought that Whitaker deserved the nod. It's easy to understand why as you always want to see the challenger "take" the title form the champion and many felt it was close enough that Whitaker should have retained. Oscar seemed to have felt the same thing noting that he would have liked another shot at Whitaker given his feelings that he didn't look too good. "Pernell Whitaker is very difficult," he said after the fight. "That's why we're going to give him the rematch!" he stated.

Whitaker was obviously upset about the decision but felt that he won and that the fans watching felt the same. "It was a blowout, a shutout," said Whitaker. Pernell didn't seem to concerned with a rematch as long as those who watched agreed that he won the fight.

Pernell Whitaker would go on to fight three more times, having a no-contest in his next bout then losing for the first time by a clear cut decision to a young Felix Trinidad followed by a TKO loss due to a broken clavicle. Whitaker has since been enshrined into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and is due to be inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame this November in Los Angeles.

As for Oscar, he would defend that belt five times before losing by decision to Felix Trinidad in September 1999. Though he would go on to win a junior middleweight belt, he would not again hold the welterweight title. He is now scheduled to face Manny Pacquiao on December 6th and is a sure-fire hall of famer.