What is your enduring memory of Tito Trinidad?

awesome power, glove/tape controversey, followed by diminished power and one-sided losses.

 

My enduring memory of Tito is that he had the single biggest fanbase in message board history. Theres never been a legion of groupies like it.

Other than that, the first things that come to mind are the Vargas war, and his violent KOs of Blocker, Zulu, and Joppy.

Also, Doub's obsession with his gloves.

 

He's also safely either the 3rd or 4th greatest Puerto Rican of all time.

He has an argument over Benitez for greatness because of Will's inconsistency, though Benitez on song was the better of the two.

 

I was never a huge fan personally, although I think a large part of that was due to the fact we didn't get to see a lot of his fights in the UK for the majority of his welterweight reign. He was really exciting and I had a lot of respect for his ambition. I loved his run up to the Hopkins fight but I did pick him to lose that one, not as one-sided as it ended up being though. Once that momentum went, and the way it went, you knew he was never going to be the same again.

 

Agreed with X that he had a really passionate fan base on the old forums like SecondsOut. Great times.

 

Some of my first message memories were of Cupey arguing with Jones fans like Muzse and Phonetap over who was P4P.

 

Tito was a very good fighter, good right hand, good hook, and he could beat you into a gargoyle with his jab. He moved well and was no dummy in the ring.
He certainly did have one punch power; he could, at any time and with any punch, change the course of, or bring about the end of, a fight.

 

The win over Vargas. It had all the ingredients that you could want in a big fight. Puerto Rican vs Mexican American, they didn’t like each other, and they actually fought like it. Both hit the canvas, and a climactic finish in the 12th round.

The win over Oscar. It was controversial and as much as I would have loved Trinidad to KO De La Hoya, that fight right there broke the Oscar mystique and tarnished De La Hoya’s image. Oscar never wanted a rematch and I think he knew deep down that he couldn’t win so he cherry picked Mosley and it backfired.

The win over Joppy. Tito mania at its peak. That atmosphere in the garden was absolutely insane. It’s easy to pick apart this win in hindsight, but Joppy was highly regarded as a solid, capable fighter and even those that were picking Trinidad to win did not expect him to do so in the fashion he did. Not even Hopkins destroyed Joppy like that.


But I think outside the ring it was even more felt. Tito was the true definition of a PEOPLE’S CHAMPION. Humble, down to earth, never turned down a fan for an autograph or a picture. Greeted everybody and always shook everybody’s hand. The island literally WEPT when he was beaten by Hopkins. He was the boxing version of Roberto Clemente. The guy who carried the same torch that Gomez carried.

Tito was a huge part of my youth. I was always a boxing fan since the 80s thanks to my dad. But it’s hard to think of many fighters who truly captured the heart of fans the way he did. When Tito came back against Mayorga, you truly saw how missed he was that night in the garden.

He had one helluva run.

 

Ohhhh, and another unforgettable Tito memory - Esk claiming he could KO Tito .

 

The Vargas fight. One of my most watched fights ever.

 

Tito was a great fighter. My memories of him are his wins over Vargas, Reid, Joppy and the build up to the Hopkins fight and a possible Jones Jr super fight. For some reason I remember during fight week Hopkins snatched a little puerto Rican flag out of Tito's hands and threw it on the ground and all hell broke loose. He was surrounded by Puerto Ricans that were literally trying to kill him. One guy swung what looked like a 2 × 4 at Hopkins he dodged it and came back with a picture perfect overhand right and dropped the crazy fan. Then he ran from the crowd hopped over a wall and jumped to safety into a helicopter. You can't make this shit up . If anybody has a video of that I'd love to see it again.

 

Surprisingly, one of my best memories of Tito’s career is his return fight against Mayorga. It was one sided but it was so entertaining. I watched it in a bar with my father and a few friends and when Mayorga gave him free shots the whole bar went totally crazy, people getting up, screaming while spilling beer. I thought « This is what boxing is about ».

 

I don't even know who the opponent is, but it's a body shot KO where he feints with his right and steps around to land a left hook through a high guard. It's essentially the exact same thing Lomachenko does, except it was done without the needlessly flashy aspects and resulted in a brutal body shot.

 

Pretty sure you're referring to the Larry Barnes fight.

 

Just watched it, nah it's not the one.

 

That crazy run leading up to Hopkins when all his Rican fans believed he could beat RJJ. Hype squared. As you watched him bounce Joppy around like a rubber ball you almost started to believe

 

He also KOd Hugo Pineda with a body shot.

 

At that time (2001) Jones-Tito was far and away the second biggest potential matchup in the sport. The only bigger matchup was Lewis-Tyson.

 

Im thinking either the Pineda fight or the Pendleton fight.

Trinidad was masterful agaisnt Pineda.

 

I always knew Jones would beat Trinidad and even if Tito would have beaten Hopkins I still felt that way.


I was disappointed because what I really wanted was a showdown with Shane Mosley or a rematch with Oscar.

Tito was a bit mismanaged by that point in his career or Don King. He went up to 160 too soon.

 

Tend to agree yeah- the big business was all at 154 for him. Its a real shame the Mosley fight couldnt be made in early 2001,it would've been mega....basically DK keeping things inhouse, wasnt it

 

Yeah that was a big mistake. Trinidad very likely WINS that fight at 154 lbs. He also could have rematched Oscar and beaten him a second time. Hopkins wasn’t going anywhere and he’d have been a couple of years older had Trinidad waited.

It was mismanagement and bad match making. Trinidad-Mosley was a MUST in 2001.

 

If that handwrap controversy happened today it would have some gay nickname attached to it like “tape-gate” or something.

Hopkins didn’t destroy Joppy the way Tito did but he beat him just as one sided and impressively. Hopkins never had the kind of power to do what Tito did but like Hopkins, Joppy had just gone on a huge run. Joppy-Hopkins was supposed to be the fight to decide the best in the division. Hopkins beat Joppy in such a one sided fashion that I think it was a surprise to everyone. It was one of Hopkins best performances.

 

there's no doubt dk made out better going the 160 tourney route as opposed to 154 opponents. but it's also possible tito made out better as well.

 

I still think the money was bigger at 154 lbs. Mosley and De La Hoya we’re bigger names than Hopkins and Joppy, for sure.

Trinidad was the only draw in the 160 lb tourney.

Trinidad-Mosley would have been a ppv blockbuster.

 

It would have been crazy on the boxing forums as well... Just the perspective of this fight was unleashing passions! I wish it had been made!

 

Throw Vargas & Quartey in the mix, too. Itd all have been amazing fun....until boring-ass winky spoiled the party by beating them all

 

I don't think he was mismanaged, I think it's Tito himself who was deadset on beating Jones and becoming the undisputed P4P #1. Pretty sure King wasn't too keen on it but had no choice but follow through.

 

The two knockdowns he scored in the opening round against Vargas, followed by him running to the corner and celebrating. The fight was pretty far from over but it was an awesome start to a great fight.