Just over three months prior, reigning WBC welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya had successfully defended his title against arguably his toughest opponent, undefeated former
WBA welterweight champion
Ike Quartey, earning a close split decision victory. On the undercard of the De La Hoya–Quartey main event, Oba Carr, twice before a welterweight title challenger, beat three-time super lightweight champion
Frankie Randall to become the WBC's number-one ranked welterweight contender and set up a De La Hoya–Carr welterweight title bout. Going into the fight, the heavily favored De La Hoya somewhat overlooked Carr, as he had already signed a contract to meet then-
IBF welterweight champion
Félix Trinidad in what was a highly anticipated unification bout set for later in the year on September 18. Despite his status as a sizeable underdog, during the pre-fight hype, Carr made bizarre claims that he had been anointed by
God to defeat De La Hoya, going as far as to predict that "a couple tons of anointing oil will come down" on him during the fight causing supernatural results. The featured bout on the undercard saw
Floyd Mayweather Jr. make the third defense of his WBC super featherweight title against
Justin Juuko. Juuko was a last-minute replacement for
Goyo Vargas who was forced to pull out after being diagnosed with a sinus infection and
gastroenteritis. ==The fight==