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The Golden Return

Date	December 10, 1994
Venue	Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBO Lightweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Oscar De La Hoya John Avila Nickname The Golden Boy Electrifying Hometown East Los Angeles, California, U.S. Palmdale, California, U.S. Purse $150,000 $30,000 Pre-fight record 15–0 (14 KO) 20–1–1 (11 KO) Age 21 years, 10 months 21 years, 11 months Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) 5 ft 5 in (165 cm) Weight 135 lb (61 kg) 135 lb (61 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBO Lightweight champion WBO No. 6 Ranked Lightweight
Result
De La Hoya wins via 9th-round technical knockout

Oscar De La Hoya vs. John Avila, billed as The Golden Return, was a professional boxing match contested on December 10, 1994, for the WBO lightweight title.

Background

After having defeated former 2-time featherweight champion Jorge Páez in July 1994 to win the vacant WBO lightweight title and thus become a 2-division world champion at only 21-years old, Oscar De La Hoya was scheduled to return to his hometown Los Angeles on October 8, to make the first defense of his newly won title at the Grand Olympic Auditorium where he had won his first world title earlier in March earlier in the year. However, after contracting an unspecified virus that left him weak and unable to train for over a week, De La Hoya pulled out of the fight resulting in its temporary postponement. The fight was considered to be moved to the undercard of the James Toney–Roy Jones Jr. super middleweight title fight where De La Hoya was scheduled to make a title defense against a yet-to-be-named opponent on November 18, but Carl Griffith was eventually named De La Hoya's opponent for that date. After De La Hoya easily dispatched Griffith in three rounds to make the first defense of his lightweight title, it was announced that the De La Hoya–Avila fight would be take place on the rescheduled date of December 10, only three weeks after his fight against Griffith.

The Fight

After having dispatched his three previous opponents within three rounds, De La Hoya ran into a game Avila, who took the favored champion to the ninth round. Though De La Hoya dominated the majority of the fight, winning every round on two scorecards and all but one on the third, minus the eighth when he was deducted a point for a low blow, he was unable to finish Avila off until about 2 minutes into the ninth. De La Hoya had raised a welt on the right side of Avila's face near his eye which swelled massively as the fight went on. Then in the ninth, a De La Hoya barrage caused a massive cut on the welt that caused Avila to bleed profusely. Raul Caiz Sr. put a halt to the fight and had Avila checked by the ringside physician who quickly determined that Avila could not continue and stopped the fight, giving De La Hoya the victory by technical knockout.

Fight card

Confirmed bouts:

^Note 1 For WBO Lightweight title

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
United States	CBS

References

1. "Oscar De La Hoya vs. John Avila". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
2. De La Hoya Has Virus, Cancels Fight, L.A. Times article, 1994-09-17, Retrieved 2024-12-04.
3. De La Hoya to Risk Title on Dec. 10, N.Y. Times article, 1994-12-01, Retrieved 2024-12-04.
4. De La Hoya Finds Himself in a Fight, but Makes the Cut : Boxing: He stays unbeaten by stopping Avila in the ninth round., L.A. Times article, 1994-12-11 Retrieved on 2024-12-05
5. "BoxRec - event".

• 1994 in boxing
• 1994 in sports in California
• December 1994 sports events in the United States
• Boxing matches in Los Angeles
• Boxing matches involving Oscar De La Hoya
• Lightweight championship matches