Felix Trinidad Boxer News

Felix Trinidad

A phrase I read more frequently 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 arguable statement to direct at a 6 division champion who is also the most financially successful non-heavyweight of modern times, having been concerned many of the finest fights of the last twenty years. I always find such statements at least a little dubious, not the least as it is often the job of a reporter to stir the pot by making a controversial statement. Also, it usually appears the higher a person rises, the more some folk will try to reject what he has accomplished. However , the writers who make this claim are as familiar with the important 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.


Felix Trinidad caught his first welterweight 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 till he moved up to 154lbs, at that time a puny division.

In February 1999, Trinidad fought Pernell Whittaker, winning a lopsided decision victory against the slick defensive master. by that time, Whittaker was extraordinarily far past his game. His close loss to de le Hoya had been almost two years before, and it had been more than a year since his tune-up fight with Andrei Pastraev. He fought only once again, losing by knockout to an unknown in 2001.

The Mega-Fight : Oscar de la Hoya
Other writers simply say the fight was close and hard to score, which is fine, but then it hardly makes for a outlining statement in Trinidad's career.
triumphant 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. However , was either Reid or Vargas really great champions? Reid definitely was not. Before Trinidad, his 2 opponents of note were fringe contenders Laurent Bouduani and Keith Mullings. After Trinidad, he never got his career back on course and quit 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 champion William Joppy in his first fight at 160lbs, knocking out Joppy at Madison Square Garden in 5 rounds. That set the stage for the clash with long-reigning IBF middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins. Out boxed and roughed up,'Tito' lost by 12 th round knockout.
The result was Trinidad's 2nd defeat, a humiliating decision loss.

Nobody disagrees that when the day comes,'Tito' will deserve his place in the Hall-Of-Fame. However , 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 questionable and contested to this very day.

So what does this mean for Oscar de la Hoya, and all of the critics who say Oscar'never beat a great fighter in his prime?' Simply this : the more you achieve, the more the critics try to tear you down.

For more information on the greates living boxer Felix Trinidad check out felixtrinidad.com