Let's Speak Frankly About Felix Trinidad

Great fighter. But at the lower end of historically great fighters.

 

Pretty much this.

 

An excellent dangerous Welter who dropped off a notch or two towards the end of his reign and as he moved up.imo the hype around him after the Vargas, Reid, Joppy run was thoroughly over the top, with loads ignoring a lot of the flaws he had shown over the years(and in those fights).It eventually polarised opinion on him for many.

I think he's a good example of a contentious borderline\near-great fighter.I don't really do strict numbered lists though.

Also, one criticism i rarely see mentioned is that for a long running Welter champ who was starting to get serious P4P accolades, his competition at the time was pretty damn bad.I know publications like ring etc were trying to build the titlists up and force unification fights, which is fine that's something they've always done, but i can recall little criticism of some of the very soft defences he took.Much of it was more like the thing you would expect to see from a champ in a newly established jr division yet to hit its stride, or the many mid-late 80s\early 90s IBF\WBO chumps that passed those belts around in many of the weightclasses.Maybe it was the brutal easy KO of a shopworn, but relatively well known Blocker that quickly caught the eye and stopped him from having to toil harder for recognition.

 

I think he was a great welterweight to be honest... Not saying that he was the next coming of Ray Leonard, but he was certainly worthy of remembrance. He had 20 wins in world title fights, including guys like Car, Campus, Delahoya, and Blocker. His fight with Oscar was a classic war, and if you don't believe it, just ask anyone from Puerto Rico exactly what it meant to them... Following the match, the whole country took the day off in honor of Felix's win.....

I myself think highly of Tito, but for some reason I think he may end up being one of these guys who's memory will fade with time...

 

The fight with Oscar was no classic war.It was one of the biggest let-downs ever considering it was hyped on the level of a leonard Hearns-esque showdown

 

Leonard vs Tito would have been a very good fight.

If Ray knocks him down early, the fight might be over quick.

But Tito might survive, and start doing some dirty sh!t and TKO Ray late.

 

He came in era where he's bound to get lost in the mix of too many names, ie Roy Jones, Oscar De La Hoya, Ceasar Chavez, Berhard Hopkins, etc.. I don't think he SHOULD be forgotten, but I can see his memory suffering the same fate as Mike McCallum's.

As great as he was, Tito did not have the kind of Charisma that someone like Sugar Ray Leonard had to rise above the pack and capture the public's imagination.

 

i don't post a lot but i would have to contest this.

it was an awful fight. 2 unbeaten fighter , 2 punchers, 2 good amatuers, 1 a multi weight classed golden boy, 1 a long reigning baby faced demolisher.


nothing happend. nothing tito stalked but oscar didnt let him close enough, popped a jab and right hand and a stubby left hook but just circled the heavy footed puerto rican, it was boring my man. puerto rico went crazy because del ahoya was groomed as the p4p best fighter in the wrold and puerto ricos favorite athlete and boxer had won nothing more.

my school used to have a half day when england where playing a international match or world cup etc. to watch the match. eveyrone was wtching and when they scrapped by with a unimpressive 1-0 over a ex bloc country the country went crazy. i dont think that makes the match a classic.


bad fight, bad judging but oscar did himself NO favours, tito just kept doing what he had done for the last 13 defences, pace forward with a jab when they are close let loose with a left hook.

and thats really titos career a left hook form hell form a tall fragile wall of gloves that continuously paces towards you.


good fighter. great fighter to watch, hearty ****er. but his title defences where weak, his drawing power was coupled with purto rico carnival culture that was missing when camacho went south, and made las vegas and the east coast a great place to watch a fight. so what he did with the sport i can only compliment but he was a celebrity fighter with real talent, similar with chavez and de la hoya.

 

There have been lots of fights throughout history where fans were unhappy with the verdict. It doesn't mean that a guy should be disregarded for the good work that he DID do.. Trinidad was a long reigning champion, beat some good fighters and had some nice performances. His biggest enemy is that he fought in an era where it was hard to stand out as a superstar because there were so many of them..

 

A fair observation.

 

It wasn't exactly Sanchez/Gomez II. DLH outclassed him for the vast majority of the fight before he went total poon. I can understand PRs celebrating the victory, but it isn't nearly as satisfying as the way Chava beat the hell out of their boy @ The Battle of the Little Giants. :yep

(Not to mention Sal and Wilfredo being greater fighters than Tito and Hoya)