In 1999, ‘The Golden Boy’ Oscar De La Hoya and Felix ‘Tito’ Trinidad were 2 of the best Pound 4 Pound fighters in the sport. Furthermore, these two fighters were the most popular in the sport of boxing at the time.
Check out this boxing t-shirt dedicated to all fights that ended up in controversy!
Oscar De La Hoya was the WBC and Lineal welterweight champion. Felix Trinidad was the IBF welterweight champion. At the time, both fighters were undefeated and De La Hoya vs. Trinidad was a fight the boxing world was clamoring to see happen.
Well with that being said, the fight was made. De La Hoya vs. Trinidad was set to take place on September 18, 1999, and the fight was dubbed “The Fight of the Millennium.” This fight took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Oscar De La Hoya put his WBC and Lineal welterweight titles on the line and Felix Trinidad put his IBF welterweight title on the line. HBO TVKO Pay-Per-View aired this fight. The fight itself was one for the ages. It was an ultimate chess match between 2 fighters at the top of their game.
Trinidad did a great job in the first 2 rounds pushing the pace and making De La Hoya get on his bicycle. In the middle rounds, however, Oscar used his great jab to keep Trinidad off-balanced, while pretty much giving him a boxing lesson.
Heading into round 10 of the fight, De La Hoya’s corner was telling him that he had the fight won and that he should just move and box. De La Hoya did just that in rounds 10 through 12. He danced and got out of the way of most of Trinidad’s punching.
In the process of boxing in the championship rounds, however, De La Hoya was moving backward while not throwing punches. Now, remember, De La Hoya moved on his bicycle and boxed Trinidad the entire fight so by round 10, De La Hoya was starting to fade.
De La Hoya gave away the championship rounds as he thought that he was cruising to victory from the middle rounds he dominated. This great fight went to the judges’ scorecards. Judge Glen Hamada scored the fight 114 to 114.
Judge Bob Logist scored the fight 115-114 and Judge Jerry Roth scored the fight 115-113 all to the winner by majority decision, and New WBC, IBF, and Lineal welterweight champion of the world, Felix ‘Tito’ Trinidad.
It was a controversial decision, but Trinidad pulled out the victory.
With the win, Trinidad handed De La Hoya the first loss of his professional boxing career. There were a lot of boxing critics who felt that De La Hoya should have gotten the nod based on the boxing lesson he was giving the Trinidad.
This loss, however, still haunts De La Hoya to this day. If he would have fought the last 3 rounds of the fight as he dominated in the middle rounds, he would have gotten the nod. Check out how Potshot Boxing (PSB) scored this great fight below. Who did you have winning this fight Boxing World and how did you score it?
Potshot Boxing’s (PSB) Scorecard – De La Hoya vs. Trinidad
| ROUNDS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | TOTAL |
| De La Hoya | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 114 |
| Trinidad | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 114 |
Check out this boxing t-shirt dedicated to all fights that ended up in controversy!
If you like this post and others from Potshot Boxing, feel free to subscribe to this boxing website by entering your email address into the floating email form provided on this post! Potshot Boxing – “Boxing news and article bites for all walks of life
