That would be his last fight in the welterweight division before invading the junior-middleweight 154-pound category in 2000, winning the World Boxing Association world title by unanimous decision against David Reid. The fight against De La Hoya was for many years one of the highest grossing pay-per-view fights outside of the heavyweights, with a total of 1,400,000 buys. Some others thought however, that De La Hoya had won enough of the early rounds to earn the final decision. However, by the tenth round the Mexican-American apparently fatigued, spent the next rounds on his bicycle running from Trinidad, barely connecting, or even throwing blows.Īs a result, the judges gave the last two rounds to the Puerto Rican, who unified the welterweight title by taking a tight majority decision that was celebrated by thousands of his compatriots at the fight and on the island. De La Hoya kept the Puerto Rican at a distance with his jab winning the early rounds with flurries before the bell rang at the end of each round, while mostly avoiding Trinidad’s lethal punching power. On September 18, 1999, Trinidad faced Oscar De La Hoya at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. He subsequently defeated Mexico’s Yori Boy Campas, Oba Carr and Pernell Whitaker, ahead of what many consider to be his most important and perhaps most controversial fight. He defended the title for the next six and a half years beating renowned boxers such as compatriot Hector “Macho” Camacho, whom he beat by unanimous decision in his first fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. He won his first world championship in 1993, when he knocked out Maurice Blocker in two rounds to secure the International Boxing federation (IBF) welterweight title at 147 pounds. The love Puerto Rican fans had for him, his successes in ring, plus his fame and humility, helped create “Titomanía”, with large numbers of his fellow islanders supporting his fights and traveling to wherever Trinidad fought, chanting his name while holding up the Puerto Rican flag. He debuted as a professional in 1990, at age 17, after a successful amateur career that saw championship conquests in five different divisions in Puerto Rico. Trinidad won multiple world championships in three different weight divisions. Today, we repost it following the same purpose.įelix “Tito” Trinidad is considered one of the best boxers to ever come from Puerto Rico, an island known for producing some of the top boxers of all time, such as Miguel Cotto, Wilfred Benitez, Edwin Rosario, and Wilfredo Gomez. This article was originally published in February 2022 as part of a project to celebrate the legacy and valuable contribution of Afro-Latino athletes for Black History Month.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |