Félix Trinidad: “Tito”, 15 welterweight defences and the night he beat Oscar De La Hoya | Ultimate Boxing Reunion

Why fans still care

FÉLIX TRINIDAD held the IBF welterweight title for nearly six years and won world titles at three weights. He beat Oscar De La Hoya, Who’s Who number 10 in one of the biggest pay per view fights outside the heavyweights, and he stopped the unbeaten Fernando Vargas in a fight with six knockdowns.

He was a power puncher who was often put down early and came back to win. Boxing News calls him a Puerto Rican hero.

Early life

He was born on 10 January 1973 in Cupey Alto, Puerto Rico. His father, Félix Trinidad Sr, had been a Puerto Rican featherweight champion in the 1970s, and he guided his son’s career as trainer and manager.

He started boxing at 12, according to Encyclopedia.com, or at 10, according to the Associated Press. As an amateur he went 51 and 6 and won five Puerto Rican national titles at different weights, but he never boxed at the Olympics.

The early fights

He turned professional on 10 March 1990 in San Juan, stopping Angel Romero in round 2.

On 19 June 1993 at the Sports Arena in San Diego he knocked out the IBF welterweight champion, Maurice Blocker, in round 2 to win his first world title.

Career chapters

1. 1990Turns professional in San Juan
2. 1993Knocks out Maurice Blocker to win the IBF welterweight title
3. 1994Beats Héctor Camacho, Yori Boy Campas and Oba Carr in defences
4. 1999Beats Pernell Whitaker, then Oscar De La Hoya, Who’s Who number 10 to add the WBC title
5. 2000Wins the WBA light middleweight title from David Reid, then stops Fernando Vargas to add the IBF title
6. 2001Wins the WBA middleweight title from William Joppy, then loses to Bernard Hopkins, Who’s Who number 9
7. 2002Stops Hacine Cherifi in San Juan, and his retirement is announced in July
8. 2004Comes back and stops Ricardo Mayorga
9. 2005Loses to Winky Wright
10. 2008Loses to Roy Jones Jr, Who’s Who number 4 in his last fight
11. 2014Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame

The IBF welterweight years 1993 to 1999

He defended the IBF title 15 times. On 29 January 1994 at the MGM Grand he beat Héctor Camacho on a unanimous decision. On 17 September 1994, also at the MGM Grand, Yori Boy Campas, unbeaten in 56 fights, put him down in round 2, his first official knockdown as champion, and Trinidad stopped him in round 4. On 10 December 1994 in Monterrey, Mexico, Oba Carr dropped him in round 2. Trinidad put Carr down twice in round 8 and won by stoppage.

Pernell Whitaker 20 February 1999

On 20 February 1999 at Madison Square Garden he beat Pernell Whitaker on a unanimous decision over 12 rounds to keep the IBF title, and put him down in round 2.

Oscar De La Hoya 18 September 1999

On 18 September 1999 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas he met the unbeaten Oscar De La Hoya, Who’s Who number 10, with the IBF and WBC welterweight titles at stake. De La Hoya’s jab and movement controlled much of the fight, but he eased off in the last rounds, and Trinidad took them on the official cards. Two judges scored it 115 to 113 and 115 to 114 for Trinidad, and the third had it 114 to 114. It was a majority decision, and it is still debated. The early count was about 1.25 million pay per view buys, a record outside the heavyweights at the time.

David Reid and Fernando Vargas 2000

On 3 March 2000 at Caesars Palace he moved up to light middleweight and won the WBA title from David Reid on a unanimous decision, after Reid put him down in round 3.

On 2 December 2000 at Mandalay Bay he fought the unbeaten IBF champion, Fernando Vargas. He dropped Vargas twice in round 1, and Vargas put him down with a left hook in round 4. In round 12 Trinidad dropped Vargas three more times, and the referee, Jay Nady, stopped it at 1:33. That unified the WBA and IBF titles.

William Joppy 12 May 2001

On 12 May 2001 at Madison Square Garden he put the WBA middleweight champion, William Joppy, down in rounds 1, 4 and 5, and it was stopped at 2:25 of round 5. That made him a world champion at a third weight, and the first former welterweight champion to win a middleweight title since Roberto Durán, Who’s Who number 13 in 1989.

Bernard Hopkins 29 September 2001

The middleweight unification final against Bernard Hopkins, Who’s Who number 9 was set for 15 September 2001 and moved to 29 September after the 11 September attacks. Trinidad came in unbeaten. At Madison Square Garden, before 19,075 people, Hopkins led on all three cards after 11 rounds. In round 12 Hopkins put him down, Trinidad beat the count, and his father came into the ring as the fight was stopped at 1:22. It was his first loss.

Comebacks and the last fights 2002 to 2008

On 11 May 2002 in San Juan he stopped Hacine Cherifi in round 4, and in July his retirement was announced. He came back on 2 October 2004 at Madison Square Garden and stopped Ricardo Mayorga in round 8. On 14 May 2005 at the MGM Grand he lost to Winky Wright on a unanimous decision in a WBC middleweight eliminator, and retired again.

His last fight was on 19 January 2008 at Madison Square Garden against Roy Jones Jr, Who’s Who number 4, at a catchweight of 170 pounds with no title at stake. Jones put him down in rounds 7 and 10 and won on a unanimous decision.

Style, technique and the corner

How he fought

He was a power puncher, and the left hook was his best known weapon. Boxing News describes a “dynamite left hook”. He was often put down early, by Campas, Carr, Reid and Vargas among others, and came back to win. Bernard Hopkins, Who’s Who number 9 called him a rhythm fighter who rocked from side to side before he threw.

The name

He was known as “Tito”.

Training

His father, Félix Trinidad Sr, trained and managed him throughout his career.

The corner

His father was in his corner against Wright in 2005. The day after that fight his father said he was retiring, and Trinidad said he would retire too. “If you are not here, I am not continuing in boxing,” he told him.

Stories people still tell

1. The last rounds against De La Hoya.

   De La Hoya was ahead on many ringside cards and boxed carefully at the end. The judges gave Trinidad the late rounds and the fight, and fans still argue about it.

2. Six knockdowns.

   Against Vargas, two unbeaten champions put each other down six times between them before the stoppage in round 12.

3. The hardest puncher.

   Asked about the hardest puncher he faced, Trinidad named David Reid. “David Reid had the power to knock me out; he hit hard,” he told The Ring.

Legacy

He won world titles at three weights and finished with 42 wins from 45 fights, 35 by knockout. The Ring and the Boxing Writers Association of America named him Fighter of the Year for 2000, and he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on 8 June 2014 in Canastota, in the same class as Oscar De La Hoya, Who’s Who number 10. In 2023 he and Miguel Cotto met the young Puerto Rican champion Oscar Collazo to give him advice before his first title defence.