Bernard Hopkins vs. Oscar De La Hoya
Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images
On September 18, 2004, Bernard Hopkins met Oscar “The Golden Boy” De La Hoya (37-3 29 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to put his WBA, WBO, WBC and IBF belts on the line. Hopkins went into this fight with an eight-year victory streak and put De La Hoya at the underdog position for the first time in his career.
The fight started as a slow, defensive and boxing-style fight. De La Hoya had surprised the crowds by not running from Hopkins, but was still losing convincingly on two of the judges’ score cards.
Going into the ninth round however, Hopkins stepped up the pressure and threw a feint jab, following with a strong left hand to the liver. With that punch, De La Hoya went down and could not recover.
That fight was the first fight ever in which De La Hoya was knocked out and served to show that Hopkins still had the same power as always, even as he aged.
