Felix Trinidad Boxer News

Felix Trinidad

A phrase I read more often when fighting pundits discuss the career of Oscar de la Hoya is that'he hasn't defeated a great champion in his prime.' it is a debatable statement to direct at a six division champ who is also the most financially successful non-heavyweight of modern times, having been involved many of the best fights of the last twenty years. I always find such statements at least a little dubious, not the least because it is sometimes the job of a reporter to stir the pot by making an arguable statement. However , the writers who make this claim are as acquainted with the main points of de la Hoya's career as i am , so I'll not take the path of reviewing de la Hoya's past opponents. Instead, I'll examine the career of one of de la Hoya's former rivals : Felix'Tito' Trinidad. No one denigrates'Tito' by exclaiming he never faced and defeated a great fighter in his prime, so we'll take some instruction from his career.

The early days

Felix Trinidad caught his first welterweight international title in 1993, by knocking out Maurice Blocker in 2 rounds. He was only 20 years old. However , Blocker himself could hardly be called a'great champion;' he fought only twice more after Trinidad against non-descript opposition and then retired.
Campas wouldn't win an international title until he moved up to 154lbs, at that time a feeble division. Trinidad even toyed with moving up to 154 himself in those days, fighting an eliminator for the WBC belt held by Terry Norris in 1997. In Feb 1999, Trinidad fought Pernell Whittaker, winning a lopsided decision victory against the slick defensive master. by that time, Whittaker was extremely far past his game. His close loss to de le Hoya had been almost 2 years before, and it had been more than a year since his tune-up fight with Andrei Pastraev. He fought only once more, losing by knockout to an unknown in 2001.
The Mega-Fight : Oscar de la Hoya

The big Sep 1999 confrontation with Oscar de la Hoya remains questionable to this day, with many commentators who are definitely not de la Hoya partisans saying that'the Golden Boy' was robbedAs for de la Hoya'running,' it was'Tito' who came out of the fight with a busted up face and blood-stained trunks. Other writers simply say the fight was close and tough to score, which is fine, but then it hardly makes for a defining statement in Trinidad's career. At best, he got away with a particularly close, disputed win over a great fighter in his prime.
victorious as a Junior Middleweight

Trinidad rode high after the de la Hoya fight. He moved up to 154lbs, and took away the WBA title from previous Olympian David Reid. He then met Fernando Vargas, knocking out'El Feroz' in the twelve th and final round in an explosive bout. However , was either Reid or Vargas really great champions? Reid definitely was not. Before Trinidad, his two opponents of note were fringe contenders Laurent Bouduani and Keith Mullings. After Trinidad, he never got his career back on track and stood down in obscurity.
Middleweight Waterloo

Don King then set up the unification series for the middleweight title, including Felix Trinidad. In May 2001, he challenged two-time WBA middleweight champ William Joppy in his first fight at 160lbs, knocking out Joppy at Madison Square Garden in five rounds. Out boxed and roughed up,'Tito' lost by 12 th round knockout.
When Felix Trinidad left the 154lbs division, the pieces were picked up by Ronald'Winky' Wright, who went on to become the unchallenged world champion at that weight.
Felix Trinidad has enjoyed a celebrated career, and deserves his name and legion of Puerto Rican fans. Nobody argues that when the day comes,'Tito' will merit his place in the Hall-Of-Fame. it is beyond question that the only great fighter in his prime that Trinidad ever scored a win over was Oscar de la Hoya, and that win remains controversial and contested to this very day.
So what does this mean for Oscar de la Hoya, and all the critics who say Oscar'never beat a great fighter in his prime?' Simply this : the more that you achieve, the more the critics try to tear you down.

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