Oscar De La Hoya vs. Félix Trinidad

Boxing competition

The Fight of the Millennium

Date

September 18, 1999

Venue

Mandalay Bay Events Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.

Title(s) on the line

WBC and IBF welterweight titles

Tale of the tape

Boxer	Oscar De La Hoya	Félix Trinidad
Nickname	"The Golden Boy"	"Tito"
Hometown	East Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Cupey Alto, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Purse	$21,000,000	$8,500,000
Pre-fight record	31–0 (25 KO)	35–0 (30 KO)
Age	26 years, 7 months	26 years, 8 months
Height	5 ft 10+1⁄2 in (179 cm)	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight	147 lb (67 kg)	147 lb (67 kg)
Style	Orthodox	Orthodox
Recognition	WBC Welterweight Champion The Ring pound-for-pound No. 1 ranked fighter 4-division world champion	IBF Welterweight Champion The Ring pound-for-pound No. 4 ranked fighter

Result

Trinidad wins via 12–round majority decision (114–114, 115–114, 115–113)

Oscar De La Hoya vs. Félix Trinidad, billed as The Fight of the Millennium, was a boxing match held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on the Las Vegas Strip on September 18, 1999, to unify the WBC and IBF welterweight championships.

After twelve tensely fought rounds, Trinidad was declared the winner by a majority decision.

Background

Planned by promoters Bob Arum and Don King, it pitted WBC world champion Oscar De La Hoya, a Mexican American, Los Angeles native, versus Puerto Rican IBF world champion Félix Trinidad. It was the last of the so-called superfights of the 20th century.

The fight

After twelve tensely fought rounds, Trinidad was declared the winner by a majority decision.

De La Hoya and Trinidad were content to box from the outside most of the fight, with De La Hoya using his boxing skills and Trinidad looking for openings in De La Hoya's guard. De La Hoya injured one of Trinidad's eyes along the process, and he built a lead that he apparently felt, after nine rounds, secured him the win on points. In fact, at the time, he was leading, but only by 87–84 and 86–85 on two score cards while the third card was tied at 86–86.

De La Hoya boxed in circles from rounds ten to twelve, while Trinidad upped his offensive output. This became a crucial matter because while De La Hoya backpedalled, Trinidad accumulated points on the scorecards and De La Hoya was given only one round by one of the three scoring judges the rest of the way. Trinidad out-punched De la Hoya by a margin of 64 to 33 during those three remaining rounds.

Trinidad was afterwards declared winner by margins of 115–113 on one card and 115–114 on the second, the third one being a 114–114 draw, thus Trinidad winning by a 12 rounds majority decision.

Aftermath

The bout set the pay-per-view record for a non-heavyweight fight with 1.4 million ($70 million) buys on HBO and $12.9 million in ticket sales, until it was broken by De La Hoya-Mayweather on May 5, 2007. It set the record 2.4 million buys, the most in boxing history until that was surpassed by Mayweather-Pacquiao in 2015 with the record of 4.4 million buys.

In 2014, both boxers were inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
United States	HBO

References

"Felix Trinidad vs. Oscar De La Hoya". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
Steve Springer (September 23, 1999). "Four days after his controversial loss to Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya sits down and watches the fight with the Times and says: 'I demand a rematch'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
^ Smith, Timothy W. (1999-09-19). "BOXING; Trinidad Scores Stunning Upset In a Decision Vs. De La Hoya". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-26.
^ "20 years later: Felix Trinidad vs. Oscar De La Hoya". ESPN.com. 2019-09-18. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
"20 years later: Felix Trinidad vs. Oscar De La Hoya". ESPN.com. September 18, 2019.
"Oscar De La Hoya honored to be in the Hall of Fame". ESPN.com. 2014-06-04. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
"BoxRec - event".

Preceded byvs. Oba Carr	Oscar De La Hoya's bouts 18 September 1999	Succeeded byvs. Derrell Coley
Preceded byvs. Hugo Pineda	Félix Trinidad's bouts 18 September 1999	Succeeded byvs. David Reid

v t e Oscar De La Hoya
Fights	De La Hoya vs. J Mayweather Bredahl vs. De La Hoya De La Hoya vs. Campanella De La Hoya vs. Páez De La Hoya vs. Griffith De La Hoya vs. Avila De La Hoya vs. Molina De La Hoya vs. Ruelas De La Hoya vs. Hernández De La Hoya vs. Leija Chávez vs. De La Hoya Whitaker vs. De La Hoya De La Hoya vs. Camacho De La Hoya vs. Rivera De La Hoya vs. Charpentier De La Hoya vs. Chavez II De La Hoya vs. Quartey De La Hoya vs. Carr De La Hoya vs. Trinidad De La Hoya vs. Coley De La Hoya vs. Mosley De La Hoya vs. Gatti De La Hoya vs. Castillejo De La Hoya vs. Vargas De La Hoya vs. Campas De La Hoya vs. Mosley II De La Hoya vs. Sturm De La Hoya vs. Hopkins De La Hoya vs. Mayorga De La Hoya vs. F Mayweather De La Hoya vs. Forbes De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao
Trainers	Robert Alcazar (1992–2000) Jesus Rivero (1996–1997) Emanuel Steward (1997) Gil Clancy (1997–1999) Floyd Mayweather Sr. (2000–2006, 2008) Freddie Roach (2007) Nacho Beristain (2008)
Promoters	Top Rank (–2000, 2001–2004) Univision Sports (2000–2001) Golden Boy Promotions (2002–2008)
Founded	Golden Boy Promotions De La Hoya Animo High School
Related	Statue of Oscar De La Hoya

v t e Félix Trinidad
Fights	Trinidad vs. Camacho Trinidad vs. Campas Trinidad vs. Carr Trinidad vs. Turner Trinidad vs. Barnes Trinidad vs. Lovato Trinidad vs. Whitaker De La Hoya vs. Trinidad Reid vs. Trinidad Trinidad vs. Vargas Joppy vs. Trinidad Trinidad vs. Hopkins Trinidad vs. Mayorga Trinidad vs. Wright Trinidad vs. Jones Jr.
Team	Felix Trinidad Sr. Don King

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