Tweet
Eric Sloan
Go to Eric's Home Page
One of the fights that defined Oscar De La Hoya's career is his loss to Felix Trinidad on September 18, 1999. Both men entered the ring with perfect records in what was hyped as the best welterweight bout since Leonard-Hearns. Here is how I would have scored it:
Round 1. A lot of respect between the two fighters, but it was Oscar's round. (10 to 9, De La Hoya).
Round 2. A good round for both men; however, De La Hoya's jab was the difference on my card. (20 to 18, De La Hoya).
Round 3. This round was identical to round 2 in that it was Oscar's jab that prevailed. (30 to 27, De La Hoya).
Round 4. A much closer round than the first three, but the De La Hoya jab was not enough to win the round because Trinidad finally began to assert himself. (39 to 37, De La Hoya).
Round 5. This is a good round for understanding ring generalship, which is better known as control. Oscar is fighting going backwards and yet he is controlling the fight. Trinidad is constantly moving forward but seems to lack the ability to cutoff the ring and score consistently. (49 to 46, De La Hoya).
Round 6. Trinidad had the round until the last 30 seconds. Listen, judges don't care about anything outside of the relevant 3 minutes. If a fighter is going to chase, then fine; however, you still need to score punches. Trinidad chased and then chased some more. (59 to 55, De La Hoya).
Round 7. This is another round for De La Hoya. When Trinidad throws he scores, but the punches he is throwing are 3 to 1 from a dancing, boxing De La Hoya. (69 to 64, De La Hoya).
Round 8. For the most anticipated welterweight fight since Hearns-Leonard, this one is not living up to expectations. The favorite son of Puerto Rico is getting outgunned. (79 to 73, De La Hoya).
Round 9. De La Hoya is faster and the more frequent scorer. (89 to 82, De La Hoya).
Round 10. Trinidad finally makes an appearance in the fight and takes the round. (98 to 92, De La Hoya).
Round 11. Trinidad is closing the gap, but he's running out of rounds to win the fight on my card. I like the output from both fighters; however, I like Trinidad's more. (107 to 102, De La Hoya).
Round 12. De La Hoya did just enough to avoid a 10 to 8 round in favor of Trinidad. As such, it was 10 to 9 in the biggest round of the night for Tito. (116 to 112, De La Hoya).
The three judges who scored the bout saw a much different fight than I did by turning in a 115 to 113 (Trinidad), a 115 to 114 (Trinidad), and a 113 to 113 draw in order to hand Felix Trinidad a majority decision.
Oscar De La Hoya has taken endless criticism for the way he fought this fight and most observers believe that his run and gun style is what hurt him. My view is the opposite whereas I believe that Trinidad's too little too late approach hurt him on my card because he gave away the early rounds. Either way, it was Felix "Tito" Trinidad who prevailed on that night.
Comment