HBO World Championship Boxing is an American sports television series on premium television network HBO. It premiered on January 22, 1973, with a fight that saw George Foreman defeat Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica.
Oscar De La Hoya is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 world titles in six weight classes, including lineal championships in three weight classes. De La Hoya was nicknamed "The Golden Boy of Boxing" by the media when he represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics where, shortly after having graduated from James A. Garfield High School, he won a gold medal in the lightweight division, and reportedly "set a sport back on its feet."
Shane Mosley, often known by his nickname "Sugar" Shane Mosley, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2016. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF lightweight title; the WBA (Super) and WBC welterweight titles; and the WBA (Super), WBC, and The Ring magazine light middleweight titles. He was also a lineal champion at welterweight (twice) and light middleweight.
Miguel Ángel Cotto Vázquez is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the first Puerto Rican boxer to win world titles in four weight classes, from light welterweight to middleweight. In 2007 and 2009, he reached a peak active pound for pound ranking of seventh by The Ring magazine. Cotto started out his career as a hard-hitting pressure fighter, but evolved over the years into a more refined boxer-puncher as he moved up in weight.
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and won 15 major world championships spanning five weight classes from super featherweight to light middleweight. This includes the Ring magazine title in three weight classes and the lineal championship in four weight classes. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the featherweight division at the 1996 Olympics, three U.S. Golden Gloves championships, and the U.S. national championship at featherweight. After retiring from professional boxing in August 2017, he transitioned to exhibition boxing.
Floyd Joy Mayweather Sr. is an American boxing trainer and former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 1990. Fighting at welterweight during the 1970s and 1980s, Mayweather Sr. was known for his defensive abilities and overall knowledge of boxing strategy. He is the father and former trainer of Floyd Mayweather Jr., and also father to Justin Mayweather, an American boxer residing in Las Vegas.
As in the 1980s, the 1990s in boxing's popularity focused on all divisions. When 1980s legends Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, as well as others retired, newer superstars filled the void: Pernell Whitaker, Julio César Chávez, in the early 1990s, Oscar De La Hoya, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr. and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the mid to late 1990s.
Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao, also billed as The Dream Match, was a professional boxing match contested on December 6, 2008. Pacquiao defeated De La Hoya via technical knockout when De La Hoya decided not to continue with the fight before the start of the ninth round. The card was a co-production of Bob Arum's Top Rank Boxing and De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions and was aired live on pay-per-view (PPV) on HBO PPV. The fight is notable for propelling Manny Pacquiao to full-blown superstar status in much of the western world, as Oscar De La Hoya symbolically "passed the torch", so to speak, to Pacquiao. This would mark De La Hoya’s final professional fight when he retired from boxing in 2009.
Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán, commonly known as Canelo or Saúl Álvarez, is a Mexican professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes, from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in three of those weight classes and lineal titles in two. In 2021, Álvarez became the first and only boxer in history to become the undisputed champion at super middleweight, holding this distinction until July 2024. He has also held the Ring magazine super middleweight title since 2020.
Marcos René Maidana is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2014. He held the WBA (Regular) super lightweight title from 2011 to 2012, and the WBA (Regular) welterweight title from 2013 to 2014. A versatile brawler in the ring, Maidana was well known for his formidable punching power, and was never stopped in any of his five losses.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Márquez, billed as Number One/Número Uno, was a welterweight professional boxing match which took place on September 19, 2009, at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas between five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and three-division champion Juan Manuel Márquez. The fight served as a return to the ring for Mayweather, who, after his knock out victory of Ricky Hatton in December 2007, initially announced he would take a two-year layoff from boxing, later announcing that he was retiring.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz, billed as Star Power, was a professional boxing match contested on September 17, 2011, for the WBC welterweight championship.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Robert Guerrero, billed as May Day, was a professional boxing match contested on May 4, 2013, for the WBC and vacant The Ring welterweight championship.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao, billed as the Fight of the Century or the Battle for Greatness, was a professional boxing match between undefeated five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao. It took place on May 2, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Mayweather Jr. won the contest by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring it 116–112 and the other 118–110. Although the fight was considered to be one of the most anticipated sporting events in history, it was largely considered a letdown by critics and audiences alike upon its broadcast.
Oscar De La Hoya vs. Ricardo Mayorga, billed as Danger Zone, was a professional boxing match contested on May 6, 2006 for the WBC super welterweight title.
Oscar De La Hoya vs. Shane Mosley II, billed as Redemption, was a professional boxing match contested on September 13, 2003 for De La Hoya's WBA (Unified), WBC, IBA, and The Ring light middleweight championship.
Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Álvarez was a professional boxing event which took place on November 21, 2015 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Paradise, Nevada. It was televised by HBO pay-per-view.
Manny Pacquiao competed in professional boxing from 1995 to 2021. Regarded by boxing historians as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time, Pacquiao is the only boxer in history to win twelve major world titles in eight different weight divisions. He is also the first boxer in history to win the lineal championship in five different weight divisions, as well as being the first boxer in history to win major world titles in four of the original eight weight divisions of boxing, also known as the "glamour divisions": flyweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.
Félix Trinidad vs. Winky Wright was a professional boxing match contested on May 14, 2005.
