DiBella was on his way to an open workout for Bernard Hopkins and Felix Trinidad ahead of their clash for the undisputed middleweight title, which was scheduled for four days later, September 15, at nearby Madison Square Garden. The former head of programming for HBO Sports was a year-and-a-half into his endeavor as president of DiBella Entertainment and Hopkins’ advisor.

The picturesque day became a nightmare after two planes flew into the World Trade Center. Nearly 3,000 people died as a result of the worst terrorist attack ever to take place on U.S. soil.

“I saw smoke by the World Trade Center when I was on the part of the Long Island Expressway that leads into the Midtown Tunnel,” DiBella told The Ring. “You could clearly see the World Trade Center. I saw smoke. I turned around, I saw the second plane hit, and I pulled off the highway and went home.

“[I was] immediately on the phone within an hour or two later, already knowing that we had to cancel the fight that weekend. … It was just like a beautiful, Indian summer morning, and then all hell broke loose. We didn’t know if we were at war for a few hours.”

Boxing was the last thing on the minds of DiBella and virtually everyone else. Knowing the trauma New York City and the surrounding area was enduring, the highly anticipated clash between Hopkins and Trinidad was rescheduled for September 29.

For DiBella, who grew up in Brooklyn, the time following 9/11 was especially difficult given what the city means to him and how everyone was affected. DiBella, a 2020 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee for his work at HBO and as a promoter, worked multiple summers at or near the World Trade Center.

“If you’re a New Yorker, that was a very traumatic time and a very unforgettable time, and everyone knew someone,” DiBella said. “Everyone knew people that were affected. Everyone knew someone that was lost, and if you didn’t know someone that was lost, you knew their brother or sister or mother or father. It affected every single person that lived here.”

The stage was set at “The World’s Most Famous Arena” two weeks later, 25 years ago today. Hopkins sought a career-defining victory, while the then-unbeaten Puerto Rican was taking on arguably his most difficult task.

Trinidad, a 2014 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, was favored despite being in just his second fight at middleweight.

DiBella believed, however, that the Philadelphia native would beat Trinidad inside the distance because of his “unappreciated power, incredible smarts in the ring and boxing ability.” He also noted Hopkins’ size as a key advantage against Trinidad, who was 40-0 and had 33 knockouts heading into the fight. Hopkins, a 2020 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, made his 14th title defense.

The aftereffects of the tragedy that took place 18 days earlier were still prevalent throughout the arena.

“I still think there was an element of shock,” DiBella said. “I don’t think it felt that emotional that night. Everything was emotional. Every event that happened, everything you went to, there was nothing you could do in the six or eight months after September 11th, where September 11th didn’t touch it. Personally, I felt numb in a lot of ways. I was shell-shocked.”

Jim Lampley handled blow-by-blow commentary for HBO from 1988 to 2018. The four-time Sports Emmy Award winner was ringside for every big fight on the network in those 30 years and covered 14 Olympic Games.

The atmosphere at MSG for Hopkins versus Trinidad was among the best of the historic events Lampley covered. He said the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where the Soviet Union marched for the first time as the Commonwealth of Independent States, was the only event that felt more “majestic and meaningful.”

Lampley also compared it to the “Miracle on Ice,” when the U.S. hockey team made up of amateur and college players upset the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

“I’ve done a lot of fights that have taken place in emotional circumstances, but 9/11 is unique,” Lampley told The Ring. “There is no other experience that even remotely approximates the impact on society, the sorrow, the pain that goes with 9/11. … I’ve seen a lot of amazing things, unforgettable things in sports, and this was certainly right up there. Top 10, probably top five. It’d be hard to pick any one.”

An emotional Lampley’s voice withered as he said Trinidad didn’t leave New York after arriving on September 9 until after suffering his first defeat. The crowd reached a fever pitch as Trinidad stepped into the ring wearing an NYPD peaked cap and was firmly in his corner throughout the night.

New York City firefighters and police officers were honored and presented the colors before the fight. Three-hundred and forty-three FDNY firefighters and paramedics, 23 NYPD officers and 37 Port Authority police officers died due to the terrorist attack 2½ weeks earlier.

After the pre-fight ceremonies, what DiBella believed would happen came to fruition.

The bigger, more skilled Hopkins controlled throughout and stopped Trinidad in the 12th round. Lampley, a 2015 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, believes Hopkins’ win over Trinidad was the best of his illustrious career and perfectly encapsulated everything that the reformed felon had been through to reach that point.

“Bernard demonstrated the degree to which the sport is about technique and thought,” Lampley said, “and how you apply all that.”

Hopkins made a middleweight record 20 title defenses. He is also the oldest fighter to win a world title at 48 and become a unified champion at 49.

“The Executioner” exhibited an incredible ability against Trinidad of compartmentalizing the aftermath of 9/11 and the career-altering task at hand.

“Fight night, there were K9s in the building and CIA guys, guys with mikes in their ear,” Hopkins told ESPN.com in 2006. “I said to myself, ‘This ain’t business as usual.’ But I knew I had a job to do.”

What stuck with DiBella the most was how New York came together on that night 25 years ago.

“I don’t think there was ever more pride about being a New Yorker,” DiBella said. “I don’t think there was ever more pride about being an American. When I look at how divided we are as a country right now, how upside down everything is, how totally without unity we are, how everything right now is a hot mess, and it starts from the top of this country, and I look back to September 11th and the aftermath.

“I think of how much Americans were there for one another. How much the city of New York came together like it never had before. I mean, there was a beauty that came out of the heart. There was a unity that came out of the heart, or in a sense of being in something together and fighting through it together and surviving it together. … I think it was a great time of patriotism and unity, and I haven’t seen it since.”