Trinidad would have a a decent fight on his hands. Taylor really didn't know what he was doing. Eventually Tito connects with enough powers shots to get the referee to intervene.
I know Taylor's pair of victories over Hopkins are controversial, but... this is still a fairly large natural MW (and not undersized at SMW) that fought on at worst pretty even terms with B-Hop twice. In the other corner you have Félix Trinidad, an elite welterweight and formidable 154lber but let's face it - he wasn't the same creature at middle, leaving behind an underwhelming body of work in the division even if you flatter to deceive by subtracting the pair of losses from his 3-2 mark ...and their common opponent at the weight kinda famously dominated him. Having said all that, however, to play the devil's advocate - Jermain was known at one point for dragging up challengers from the welter and junior middle ranks and then struggling with them more than anticipated (Winky/Spinks/Ouma) so there would be precedent for Tito having success. And, of course, there is ample supporting evidence that he was knockoutable if thrown in with a savage puncher (although we're talking natural 160/168lbers in all cases...something Tito isn't).
Trinidad was a very good middleweight. The guys that beat him at 160 (1 was post prime coming off two year layoff) both had airtight defenses. Hopkins and Wright. It didn't really take a great middle to beat Jermain. He didn't possess the ring IQ or elusiveness. He was a good athlete and he looked the part with HBO forcing him on us. His career was alot of bluster. At the end of the day though Tito hit much harder than Hopkins as both their fights with Joppy showed. That power would be the difference IMO.
This is it. Good mythical matchup in that there’s no clear winner. I can see Tito getting on top and stopping Taylor but I can also see Taylor winning. I’m leaning towards Trinidad who I think was just a better fighter overall but it’s not clear cut.
Taylor of the Hopkins fights wins. The Froch fight also showed that Tito wouldn’t be able to deal w him.
Oh and small thing but it's been kind of bugging me - Jermain, no "e" on it. Thinking of making a poll thread version of this in General since they're both fighters of the fairly recent past, and get a slate of perspectives to compare with those in here.
I don’t deal with general fans on any forum. I remember on boxing scene seeing tons picking Khan over Tito. Current scene fans aren’t the brightest bunch generally. Very hateful and/or biased.
I do get the urge to believe that, but will say that you're missing out interacting with some actually quite knowledgeable posters if you're willing to dig through all the chaff. That and, if we're to eschew kidding ourselves about it, every Classic section including this one is hardly immured against ridiculously bad takes and trolls. Just a tad more subtle, generally.
A scary fight for Trinidad, who would NOT be in his prime at 160. Taylor wasn't anything special, but he was naturally bigger and did manage to beat Hopkins twice ( Not as big a deal as some make, Hopkins wasn't as special as some make him out to be) Joppy, Osama, and Lacy. Talent vs Talent, Taylor's not close to as good as Trinidad was in his prime. But his prime was at Welterweight, slightly past it at Jr.middle. Middleweight? My heart says Trinidad, but my mind says this would be a very dangerous fight for him. Though Taylor isn't in his area code as far as greatness.
This could be a tough fight In a sense. I'm sure Jim Lampley would have more than a few believing Taylor was ahead right before he gets sparked.