Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victoriano Sosa

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victoriano Sosa

Date	April 19, 2003
Venue	Selland Arena, Fresno, California, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBC and The Ring lightweight titles
Tale of the tape
Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. Victoriano Sosa Nickname Pretty Boy El Santico ("The Saint") Hometown Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic Pre-fight record 29–0 (20 KO) 35–2–2 (26 KO) Age 26 years, 1 month 29 years Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) Weight 134 lb (61 kg) 134 lb (61 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBC and The Ring Lightweight Champion The Ring No. 7 ranked pound-for-pound fighter 2-division world champion WBC No. 5 Ranked Lightweight
Result
Mayweather wins via unanimous decision (119–109, 118–110, 118–110)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victoriano Sosa was a professional boxing match contested on April 19, 2003 for the WBC and The Ring lightweight titles.[1]

Background

Having moved up to lightweight and then defeated José Luis Castillo twice in 2002 to capture his second world title, Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s first defense of 2003 was announced to be against little-known Victoriano Sosa. Sosa was ranked as the number-five lightweight contender by the WBC, but had seldom fought outside his native Dominican Republic and lost his only other title fight to IBF champion Paul Spadafora. Before settling on Sosa, Mayweather's promoter Bob Arum had attempted to pit Mayweather against Spadafora in a unification bout tentatively set to take place in New York City's Madison Square Garden, but Spadafora turned down a reported $1,000,000 offer to pursue another unification bout with Leonard Doroftei. The fight was held in the non-traditional boxing market of Fresno, California after Arum was unable to get Madison Square Garden or any of the Las Vegas Valley area casinos to accept the fight.[2] This would be boxing's first world title fight to take place in the city of Fresno.[3]

The Fight

Mayweather cruised to an easy victory, winning lopsidedly by unanimous decision. One judge had Mayweather winning by a score of 119–109 (11 rounds to one) while the other two scored the fight 118–110 (10 rounds to two) also in Mayweather's favor. Fighting his usual defensive style, Mayweather held Sosa, who threw over 100 more punches than Mayweather, to a measly 14% success rate as Sosa landed just 79 of 565 thrown punches. Mayweather used his jab to his advantage as he frequently landed the punch to both Sosa's body and head, hitting Sosa 147 times for a 60% success rate while Sosa only mustered 12 landed jabs of his own.[4]

HBO unofficial scorer Harold Lederman scored the fight 116–112 (eight rounds to four).

Fight card

Confirmed bouts:[5]

Weight Class	Weight		vs.		Method	Round	Notes
Lightweight	135 lbs.	Floyd Mayweather Jr. (c)	def.	Victoriano Sosa	UD	12/12	^note 1
Super Lightweight	140 lbs.	Miguel Cotto	def.	Joel Perez	KO	4/10
Lightweight	135 lbs.	Jenifer Alcorn	def.	Mia St. John	UD	8/8x2
Middleweight	160 lbs.	Rodney Jones	def.	Gilbert Jackson	TKO	3/8
Cruiserweight	200 lbs.	Eduardo Escobedo	def.	Nestor Hugo Paniagua	KO	6/6
Welterweight	147 lbs.	Frank Mondejar	def.	Billy Parvin	KO	1/4

^Note 1 For WBC and The Ring lightweight titles

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
United Kingdom	Sky Sports
United States	HBO

References

1. "Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victoriano Sosa". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
2. Mayweather on Foe Sosa: "I'm Going to Play with Him, Las Vegas Sun article, 2003-04-17 Retrieved on 2025-01-16
3. Mayweather Is Far From Bright Lights, L.A. Times article, 2003-04-19 Retrieved on 2025-01-16
4. Mayweather claims unanimous decision over Sosa, ESPN article, 2003-04-19 Retrieved on 2025-01-17
5. "BoxRec - event".

Preceded by vs. José Luis Castillo II	Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s bouts 19 April 2003	Succeeded by vs. Phillip N'dou
Preceded by vs. Luis Sosa	Victoriano Sosa's bouts 19 April 2003	Succeeded by vs. Miguel Angel Huerta