Tito had been inactive for two years, and in his last big fight he had been dismantled by Hopkins in a way that could have a serious psychological impact on a fighter. Mayorga had knocked out Lewis and Forrest, and then lost his titles to Spinks in a close decision. According to Wikipedia ''many predicted Trinidad's doom at the hands of a man like Mayorga'' for these reasons the article says people were expecting it to be similar to Ali-Holmes or Marciano-Louis. Were people at the time expecting Mayorga to massacre Tito and send him into retirement for good? Or did you see Mayorga's brawling style playing into Trinidad's hands? I'd be curious to know what the odds were for this fight.
There was a sense that Trinidad had peaked as a fighter. He was a known commodity - he had problems with slick boxers with a jab plus he was prone to be rocked early in fights but he would still knock your block off if you stood and traded with him. I can't recall a strong feeling of Tito facing near doom or anything like that. It would be a tough fight for both men but Mayorga was so wild in and out of the ring you got a sense he was burning candles at both ends. I still saw Tito as a clear favourite in coming into this fight. Mayorga was coming up in weight and that KO shine from the first Forest win nearly 2yrs before was gone. Mayorga would stand and trade what else was he going to do. I didn't see it being as exciting as it turned out to be. I thought Tito would show more rust and take longer for his offense to get into rhythm. Even with the layoff Tito was the bigger man with better technique and heavier hands. Style wise I thought Mayorga really suited Tito well.
I figured Mayorga was tailor-made for Tito and Tito would look very good. Fight went basically as expected, although I didn't think Mayorga would be able to withstand so much punishment. I definitely didn't expect Winky to dominate Tito though. I thought that was going to be a tough, competitive fight.
I thought Trinidad would win by ko I don't think many thought Tito was shot. He may have been past prime but he was only a little past 30 yrs. old. There was no similarity to Ali-Holmes or Marchiano-Louis going in.
I am with you on both counts. Picking Tito to destroy the face-first Mayorga was easy money. (And I previously won twice picking Mayorga to upset Forrest). But, the way Tito performed against Winky was a true head scratcher. I expected Winky to survive, but, no way did I think he would win. It was definitely the low point in Tito's career. Maybe his heart was no longer in boxing. Other than picking up a paycheck to lose to Roy Jones, he never fought again. He retired at an early age with no real signs of damage.
To me, Mayorga beating Forrest the first time was a huge surprise. Not many saw that one coming. You must have won a lot of $$ on that one. Wright was around solid, and much bigger than Mayorga - in hindsight him beating Tito was not that big a shock, to me.
Yes, the odds on Mayorga Forrest were very favorable. I had watched Mayorga coming up on several Don King undercards and thought he was being severely underrated by both the bookies and Vernon Forrest. Believe it or not, he was still the underdog in the second fight so I doubled down. (Admittedly, that was a bit of a nail biter as Mayorga narrowly squeaked out the rematch)
