Tito Trinidad

Leonard lost by only a few points fighting Durans fight and completely clowned him hin the rematch with smart boxing. He could be out boxed easily. If Tito can hurt him like Hearns did its plausible he can finnish him.
How come you never saw Duran fight? Youtube, off you go.

 

First time I watched him fight was in 1994 versus Oba Carr on the undercard of the Chavez/Tony Lopez PPV. I was hooked. He was always at his best at WW. Went on a great run there. It took an ATG Middleweight to stop him. That says it all.

 

:rofl

 

I realize this is an old thread, but I recall I had meant to reply to it at some point when I was active. But now it's more than a decade old -bonkers! Perhaps no one who posted on this thread is even around?

Still, let's take a stroll down the memory lane. Trinidad, in his heyday, was the #1 fighter at the time that I used to "hate on" most, and I thought then he was the perfect example of a protected fighter who was the momentary flavor of the day - and who would be dismissed once he stepped up in competition. I think my instincts were proven correct subsequently. I thought he was easily out-boxed by de la Hoya until de la Hoya stopped fighting (I still had de la Hoya won though), and Hopkins plain, outright demolished him. I won some money on that fight, too. I think I watched it with four friends/acquaintances, and we all bet $100, and I was the only one who bet on Hopkins. I was neither financially comfortable nor a bettor. So I had to be extremely certain that Trinidad would be wiped, to risk losing $400 as a penny-pinching law student.

The main reason why I did not fancy Trinidad against truly elite fighters was the fact that he was vulnerable to both boxers and punchers. On the one hand, I think his near shut-out type of decision against a very faded Whitaker gave people the wrong impression of his ability to outbox people. Sure, Trinidad was technically well-schooled (this goes to the skills versus natural talent debate we've had recently), but this did not give him the ability to outbox people. I think fundamentally Trinidad's problems versus movers was akin to the problems Arguello had. Like Arguello, he was very good from a fundamentals perspective, but the predictability that his textbook approach bred- along with plodding footwork and mediocre hand speed - made it easy for him to be outboxed. And it isn't just de la Hoya and Hopkins who outboxed him, Vargas did it in stretches, too - and nobody would mistake him for Ray Leonard.

The second problem is his chin. Yes, he got up from many flash knockdowns, but, like in Hearns' case, I've never equated the ability to come back from frequent knockdowns as evidence of the lack of a chin problem. In some of those cases, it's alarming he went down in the first place. More germane, a fighter may be able to rebound from being down simply because he doesn't get tagged much again - whether due to the opponent's inability to finish or wariness to come foward against the return fire (absolutely true in both Trinidad and Hearns' case). So I don't know if he survives a true war against top-quality opposition either.

So to answer your final question, frankly I cannot off the top of my head favor any all-time weterweight or junior middleweight of my time I'd favor Trinidad against. I think the movers run circles around him, and the bangers get him out of there.

 

Yes, the Trinidad hype was insane. People actually favored Trinidad against Hopkins and thought he had a legitimate shot against Roy Jones.

I think my Trinidad "hate" at the time was a product as much of the HBO-fueled hype machines and his fan(-atics)s.

 

Yes, the Louis comparison is sound; the man I always likened him to was Arguello though.

 

Yup. Pre-Forrest I would have picked Mosley to beat Trinidad. But now we have more information, this is one fight where I'd favor Trinidad.

 

Amen!

 

Double ROFL!

 

Lots of power and good technique, but I can’t see him beating any real great welters. He wasn’t fluid enough to be in that highest echelon of welters

 

Yeah, it was annoying at time, especially on boxing forums.

I love watching Tito. Beautiful punching technique. With the possible exception of Chico-JLC 1, I’ve watched the Vargas fight more than any other fight.

I’ve gone back and rewatched all his fights (barring the Stephens one) from the Blocker fight. 2000 was his best year; unfortunately 95-98 were more or less wasted years for such a terrific fighter. Part of me thinks he may have actually been at his best in 94’ against Oba Carr. He seemed more patient, and didn’t load up on as many shots. He picked him apart after suffering his traditional 2nd round knockdown.

In addition to the early KDs, he also could be exposed for flat footedness, as Oscar & Hopkins showed. They both also showed he was fairly vulnerable to a straight right hand. That’s a big reason why I would make him an underdog against Hearns. I think Tommy would get there too often with that fast powerful right hand.

 

I think he was awesome . A good solid welterweight with a big punch, solid chin, and fast hands. Probably underrated these days too. I wonder how long he might have gone undefeated had he not taken on Hopkins

 

Tito was a great fighter. But I still think if he had kept the punches up against Vargas he would have lost that fight.

 

I think Trinidad has become a bit underrated tbh. He was pretty fearsome back in his 90s heyday. I think he would always have struggled against truly elite movers and technicians. But you had to be very good to beat him. And he wasn't the same after the Hopkins loss and subsequent retirements.

 

Same.