BREAKING: Oscar De la Hoya vs Vitor Belfort Boxing Exhibition Agreed for September 11

Published 06/17/2021, 1:48 PM EDT

Former multi-division titleholder and 1992 Olympic Gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya has been teasing a comeback since March. We have a set date and opponent now for his return.

‘The Golden Boy’ will officially end a near 13-year-long hiatus from the squared circle as he takes on UFC legend, Vitor Belfort.

The Triller exhibition bout is likely to happen in Las Vegas on September 11th. The fighters have agreed to face each other with either 10-ounce or 12-ounce gloves. The bout is set for 8 rounds of 2 minutes each.

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De La Hoya and Belfort have also agreed upon weighing in on 175 and 190 pounds, respectively.

*Sept 11.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 17, 2021

In 45 professional fights, Oscar De La Hoya has competed in 6 different weight classes. This fight sees him weighing in at the light heavyweight limit, a first for the former champion.

He last fought against Manny Pacquiao, who stopped him by the eighth round, forcing him to retire from the sport 4 months down the line.

He subsequently set up a number of ventures outside the ring. However, his desire to compete inside the ring has been clear in his social media posts for the past few months.

De La Hoya had drawn inspiration to make a comeback to the ring from Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. He spoke about his boxing intentions on the “DAZN’s Boxing with Chris Mannix” back in March.

The former champ said “Mike Tyson inspired the hell out of me” and that “I’ve been training for quite a while now, and I actually sparred the other day, and I didn’t know I was that good.”

After a stunning career in MMA under the UFC banner, the 44-year-old Vitor Belfort has had his sights set on pro-boxing. His intentions with professional boxing are clear: to earn a big paycheck.

Belfort has also made a single appearance in the boxing ring as a professional. He knocked out Josemario Neves in 2006. The UFC veteran was supposed to fight internet sensation, Mike Holston, on the June 19th Triller card.

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Just texted with Vitor Belfort about his fight with Oscar De La Hoya on Triller in September.
"Let's go," he told me. "This time MMA will win."
We chatted a few weeks ago and he was eager to land a big prize fight like this one.
Belfort got what he wanted, for sure.
— Josh Gross (@yay_yee) June 17, 2021

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However, since Teofimo Lopez Jr contracted COVID-19, the entire card had to be postponed to August 14th. The status of the Belfort-Holston fight is yet to be revealed.

Triller has confirmed that the event would also feature live music by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland. Who takes the win? Sound off in the comments

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Written by:

Akshit Pushkarna, who has a Post Graduate Degree in Journalism from Xavier's Institute of Communication, is an MMA writer for EssentiallySports. Before his current role, Akshit worked on the Urban Development beat at the Urban Update magazine. However, combat sports always called out to Akshit, who pursued both boxing and wrestling at a regional level before shifting his focus to MMA journalism.