Cuevas and early. Trinidad and that slow start of his would lead to his demise. Cuevas did not come out of the gate looking to feel guys out. He was winging. And he had a lot of speed on that left hook of his. Now he lost speed as the bout went on, but early on it sizzled. trinidad gets hit by everyone early and then he picks things up in the 3rd or 4th & settles into the fight. I don't think he makes it that far and like mentioned previously, when he gets hit by this guy he is badly hurt & not one of those bad balance/not warmed up knockdowns. Simply the wrong opponent to get off to a slow start against.
I think it comes down to that. If Trinidad gets dropped early as was his habit he might not survive the follow up. To be fair, Trinidad was rarely badly hurt when he suffered those early knockdowns. So if he can recover and make it past the first 4 rounds I reckon he would pick Cuevas apart and TKO him before the 10th.
Pipino by KO. I think he knocks Tito down, Trinidad comes back and boxes his way into control by the middle rounds but then gets a little too brave and gets caught again. Left hook. Lights out. Round 9.
I agree somewhat, but! if Tito hits the canvas against Pipino Cuevas he'll get ko'ed when he gets up. Tito could win a decision but he won't stop Cuevas
Trinidad couldn't stop Cuevas??? Huhhh??? Tito, one of the best punchers in welterweight history, and Cuevas... never a defensive genius.... you do the math. Tito absolutely COULD, and WOULD stop Cuevas.
Tito had the power to make Pipino dance again. At '47 he was an elite puncher. Ceuvas had a strong reign but so did Trinidad. He had like 12 defenses of the IBF belt. Most were knockouts..
And yet... he had a better resume and accomplished more than Cuevas. Trinidad is actually underrated on this forum.
Cuevas wasn't a good defensive fighter. So I see Tito knocking him out if Pipino doesn't catch Tito quickly.
I think some of us overated him during his run up to middleweight. Then sometimes it goes to the point a guy actually gets under rated. That type of thing happened with Tyson.