HBO Pay-Per-View Boxing 

Hopkins vs. De La Hoya

September 18, 2004

MGM Grand Garden Arena - 6pm PT

 Las Vegas, Nevada

This Saturday night,  HBO Pay-Per-View will present a middleweight unification title bout between the WBA,

WBC & IBF champion Bernard Hopkins and the WBO champion Oscar De La Hoya. This will be Hopkins

19th defense of his IBF title, sixth defense of his WBC title and fifth defense of his WBA title. This will be the

first time De La Hoya defends his WBO title. Hopkins has held a middleweight title since 1995 and is coming

off a unanimous decision win over Robert Allen in June of this year. Del La Hoya is coming into this fight

having won a somewhat controversial unanimous decision over then WBO middleweight champion Felix

Sturm, also in June of this year. 

The questions, at least for me, is whether De La Hoya will box a smart fight and improve off his last, shall we

say, lackluster performance - his first time at middleweight? Hopkins likes to counterpunch and so does De

La Hoya so considering the two, my guess is that Hopkins will try to be the aggressor. If De La Hoya can

work off the jab and not let Hopkins cut off the ring, De La Hoya should have a good night, especially if he

can utilize some speed. I've learned not to count out De La Hoya anymore - he steps it up a notch in the

big fights. He's won some big fights I feel he should have lost and lost some I feel he should of won but

ultimately, he was there at the end. And so he shall be this Saturday night. I think De La Hoya will surprise

many and take a unanimous decision over Hopkins.

Also on the card, the IBF & WBA featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, coming off his huge

fight with Manny Pacquiao (ended in a draw) this past May, will defend his title's against the IBF fourth

ranked and WBA eighth ranked featherweight Orlando Salido. And a WBO Jr. Middleweight eliminator bout

is scheduled between the # 2 ranked WBO Jr. middleweight Kofi Jantuah and the WBO 8th ranked Jr.

middleweight Marco Antonio Rubio.

SN

Line-up:

WBA \ WBC \ IBF \ WBO Middleweight Title Bout (12 Rds)
Bernard Hopkins (44-2-1, 31 KOs) vs. Oscar De La Hoya (37-3, 29 KOs)

IBF \ WBA  Featherweight Title Bout (12 Rds)

Champ Juan Manuel Marquez (50-6, 45 KOs) vs. Orlando Salido (20-8-1, 13 KO's)

WBO Jr. Middleweight Eliminator Bout (12 Rds)

Marco Antonio Rubio (26-1-1, 24 KOs) vs. Kofi Jantuah (27-1, 17 KOs)

Card subject to change

(9/17/04)