Tweet
Trinidad’s Legacy: Good Champion, but Overrated
Todd Thorpe
05/20/2005 - Philadelphia
Felix “Tito” Trinidad has been has been wonderful for the sport of boxing. And if he decides to once again return from retirement, I'd welcome it.
He’s exciting, he’s got great power and his cult-like following in his native Puerto Rico has made him a great attraction for the last six or seven years. If he decides to fight again after Saturday’s one-sided boxing lesson at the hands of Winky Wright, he’ll still have all of that.
But one of the things Saturday’s bout proved again is that in terms of the top pound-for-pound fighters of his generation, Trinidad has been terribly overrated.
Years ago when in the middle of blowing out the likes of David Reid and Fernando Vargas, many thought Trinidad better than even Roy Jones, Jr., and some said if they ever fought he had a legitimate chance to defeat Jones. But that’s drinking the “Tito” Kool-Aid to the extreme.
Trinidad has always been a very one-dimensional fighter. He walks straight forward, and tries to hit opponents with either a big left hook or a power overhand right. He is very persistent, recovers from knockdowns very well, is always willing to do whatever it takes to win, and is a great finisher.
But he never beat a fighter that he wasn’t supposed to beat. And every time an opponent boxed with any type of intelligence against Trinidad, the Cupey Alto, Puerto Rico native looked lost in the ring.
Is Trinidad a Hall of Famer? By the standards of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, absolutely, seeing that he won versions of titles in three different weight classes. He certainly ranks up there with the likes of former junior middleweight champ Terry Norris, who will be inducted into the Hall in the summer, as well as 2004 inductees Carlos Palomino, Dwight Qawi, and Daniel Zaragoza.
But he doesn’t have the quality wins to quantify him as an all-time great.
Trinidad’s career, if he stays retired for good this time, can be broken into three segments: Pre-De La Hoya, De La Hoya to Hopkins and Post-Hopkins.
Before his controversial win over Oscar De La Hoya in September 1999 (I thought it was a clear win by De La Hoya thanks to masterful boxing through the first nine rounds), Trinidad’s best win was in February ’99 against future Hall of Famer Pernell Whitaker.
He boxed great and dominated Whitaker, who was 35, well past his prime and for some reason chose to slug with Trinidad rather than use his elusive skills that made him a Hall of Famer.
Aside from that there’s Maurice Blocker and Yory Boy Campas, both good fighters but B-minus quality at best. Please don’t give me Hector Camacho, maybe the most over-hyped fighter of the last 25 years.
After his sketchy majority decision over De La Hoya, Trinidad moved up to junior middleweight and enjoyed the best success of his career with wins over former Olympians Reid and Vargas. Both Reid and Vargas were skilled fighters who at times gave Trinidad fits, and Trinidad was spectacular in finishing off both fights.
But Reid was a complete bust after his loss to Tito and has to be graded at best as a ‘C’. The jury’s still out on Vargas, but he was knocked out by De La Hoya two years later and injuries have left his career unfulfilled up to this point.
Then, Trinidad moved up to middleweight and smoked William Joppy in five rounds and it certainly looked like he was one of the sport’s bests. It’s to be noted, however, that Joppy later was blown out in similar fashion by both Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor.
What clearly separates Trinidad from all-time great status is the way he lost to both Hopkins and Wright. He wasn’t a 40-year-old Muhammad Ali losing to Trevor Berbick. Tito was 28 when he lost to Hopkins in the Garden, and still just 32 now, and he lost virtually every round in those two fights.
He was blown out on Saturday against Wright, a junior middleweight coming up in weight who was about a 2 ½-1 underdog by most of the Las Vegas sportsbooks. Trinidad didn’t seem prepared for Wright’s awkward southpaw style, nor did he make any adjustments throughout the course of the fight. Like he did against Hopkins, Trinidad simply wilted.
There’s no shame in losing to Hopkins and Wright, arguably two of the top three fighters pound-for-pound in the sport today. There’s also no taking away that two-year stretch where he won major high-profile PPV events against Reid, Vargas and Joppy.
And if Trinidad opts to return from this retirement in the near future, he could still compete with a lot of top fighters. I’m not so sure he’d lose to unbeaten young middleweight Jermain Taylor, and I think he’d probably beat either Joe Calzaghe or Jeff Lacy if he moved up to super middleweight.
Trinidad will leave boxing as an adored ex-champion, but to say that he ranks at the top of his own generation or with the great welterweights and middleweights of all time would be a gross exaggeration.
***
Todd Thorpe
05/20/2005 - Philadelphia
Felix “Tito” Trinidad has been has been wonderful for the sport of boxing. And if he decides to once again return from retirement, I'd welcome it.
He’s exciting, he’s got great power and his cult-like following in his native Puerto Rico has made him a great attraction for the last six or seven years. If he decides to fight again after Saturday’s one-sided boxing lesson at the hands of Winky Wright, he’ll still have all of that.
But one of the things Saturday’s bout proved again is that in terms of the top pound-for-pound fighters of his generation, Trinidad has been terribly overrated.
Years ago when in the middle of blowing out the likes of David Reid and Fernando Vargas, many thought Trinidad better than even Roy Jones, Jr., and some said if they ever fought he had a legitimate chance to defeat Jones. But that’s drinking the “Tito” Kool-Aid to the extreme.
Trinidad has always been a very one-dimensional fighter. He walks straight forward, and tries to hit opponents with either a big left hook or a power overhand right. He is very persistent, recovers from knockdowns very well, is always willing to do whatever it takes to win, and is a great finisher.
But he never beat a fighter that he wasn’t supposed to beat. And every time an opponent boxed with any type of intelligence against Trinidad, the Cupey Alto, Puerto Rico native looked lost in the ring.
Is Trinidad a Hall of Famer? By the standards of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, absolutely, seeing that he won versions of titles in three different weight classes. He certainly ranks up there with the likes of former junior middleweight champ Terry Norris, who will be inducted into the Hall in the summer, as well as 2004 inductees Carlos Palomino, Dwight Qawi, and Daniel Zaragoza.
But he doesn’t have the quality wins to quantify him as an all-time great.
Trinidad’s career, if he stays retired for good this time, can be broken into three segments: Pre-De La Hoya, De La Hoya to Hopkins and Post-Hopkins.
Before his controversial win over Oscar De La Hoya in September 1999 (I thought it was a clear win by De La Hoya thanks to masterful boxing through the first nine rounds), Trinidad’s best win was in February ’99 against future Hall of Famer Pernell Whitaker.
He boxed great and dominated Whitaker, who was 35, well past his prime and for some reason chose to slug with Trinidad rather than use his elusive skills that made him a Hall of Famer.
Aside from that there’s Maurice Blocker and Yory Boy Campas, both good fighters but B-minus quality at best. Please don’t give me Hector Camacho, maybe the most over-hyped fighter of the last 25 years.
After his sketchy majority decision over De La Hoya, Trinidad moved up to junior middleweight and enjoyed the best success of his career with wins over former Olympians Reid and Vargas. Both Reid and Vargas were skilled fighters who at times gave Trinidad fits, and Trinidad was spectacular in finishing off both fights.
But Reid was a complete bust after his loss to Tito and has to be graded at best as a ‘C’. The jury’s still out on Vargas, but he was knocked out by De La Hoya two years later and injuries have left his career unfulfilled up to this point.
Then, Trinidad moved up to middleweight and smoked William Joppy in five rounds and it certainly looked like he was one of the sport’s bests. It’s to be noted, however, that Joppy later was blown out in similar fashion by both Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor.
What clearly separates Trinidad from all-time great status is the way he lost to both Hopkins and Wright. He wasn’t a 40-year-old Muhammad Ali losing to Trevor Berbick. Tito was 28 when he lost to Hopkins in the Garden, and still just 32 now, and he lost virtually every round in those two fights.
He was blown out on Saturday against Wright, a junior middleweight coming up in weight who was about a 2 ½-1 underdog by most of the Las Vegas sportsbooks. Trinidad didn’t seem prepared for Wright’s awkward southpaw style, nor did he make any adjustments throughout the course of the fight. Like he did against Hopkins, Trinidad simply wilted.
There’s no shame in losing to Hopkins and Wright, arguably two of the top three fighters pound-for-pound in the sport today. There’s also no taking away that two-year stretch where he won major high-profile PPV events against Reid, Vargas and Joppy.
And if Trinidad opts to return from this retirement in the near future, he could still compete with a lot of top fighters. I’m not so sure he’d lose to unbeaten young middleweight Jermain Taylor, and I think he’d probably beat either Joe Calzaghe or Jeff Lacy if he moved up to super middleweight.
Trinidad will leave boxing as an adored ex-champion, but to say that he ranks at the top of his own generation or with the great welterweights and middleweights of all time would be a gross exaggeration.
***
Comment