Felix "Tito" Trinidad Biography

Felix Trinidad is without a doubt the most well loved and distingusished fighter to come out of Puerto Rico. His dramatic and distinguished career has been followed closely by boxing aficionados and fans alike since he captured the IBF Welterweight championship of the world from the veteran hands of Maurice Blocker in June of 1993. After becoming world champion Felix defended the belt against all comers, amassing a staggering 15 title defeses against the likes of such renowed peers as Hector "Macho" Camacho, Luis Ramon "Yori Boy" Campas, Oba Carr and the legendary Pernell "Seet Pea" Whitaker. Trinidad thoroughly dominated Whitaker, after knocking him down in round two. "Tito" pressured and picked apart the veteran, hurting him on a number of occassions throughout the fight on his was to a unanimous choice win. Fascinatingly enough, Whitaker was the first of four former United States olympians to succumb to the unrelenting pressure, power and heart of Cupey Alto's prodigal son.

Folowing his huge win over Whitaker, Trinidad's would reach his defining moment in the sport on Sept. 18, 1999, when he finally got the man he had sought after for years, WBC welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya. The “Fight of the Millennium.“ which was bought by a record setting 1.2 million people on Pay Per View, the largest ever to watch a non-heavyweight event, was to prove if Trinidad was to indeed one of the pound for pound best. Victory would not come simple for "Tito" who came in expecting a Toe to Toe figh, but got a De la Hoya who carefully and soundly boxed the first half of the fight, managing to keep Trinidad off balance and uncomfortable. But "Tito's heart and his unrelaenting desire to win allowed him to take control of the second half from a terribly winded De la Yoya who ran for most of the ever vital championship rounds. De la Hoya was continuously booed by his largely partisan crowd who cheered on "Tito" until the closing bell.

Tito's persevarance and courage ultimately rewarded him with a majority choice and the bragging rights of having handed the "Golden Boy" his first loss as a professional. De La Hoya also became the second former olympian to fall to the idol of Puerto Rico.

Tito's reception on the island following the win was simply staggering. To the point that the Goverment gave the population the day off in order to greet and celebrate with their young boxing embassador.

After negotiations broke down for a rematch with De la Hoya, Trinidad’s would go up in weight on March 3, 2000 to challenge his third former olympian in WBA Jr. Middleweight champion "The American Dream" David Reid. Tito would find himself on the canvas early in the third round, but as was his custom, rose to tear his antagonist apart, flooring Reid four brutal times in route to an unanimous choice. Reid would never recover professionaly from the loss and would later retire after losing to journeyman Sam Hill.

After further trying to secure a lucrative rematch with Oscar de la Hoya, but failing to do so, Tito would challenge the undefeated and perilous "Feroucios" Fernando Vargas on December 2, 2000. Tito nearly finished things early in the risst with two huge knockdowns but Vargas survived and even came back to floor Tito in the fourth. But Tito's power and experience proved to be too much for the younger Vargas who received a savage beating culminating in three knockdowns and a TKO win. The bout would later become the fight of the year and Tito would be recognized as boxer of the year.

When De la Hoya balked at a possible rematch at 154lbs. Trinidad would again opt to go up in weight, this time to the Middleweight level and participate in promoter don King's Middleweight Championship tournament. On May 12, 2001, at the Mecca of sports in Madison Square Garden, Tito would face WBA champion William Joppy. Just as he had done to Fernando Vargas Tito used his power and experience to demolish his opponent. Joppy tasted the canvas on rounds one, four and five before referee Arthur Mercante Jr. called of the hostilities awarding Tito a 5th round TKO win.

The ultimate showdown for middleweight supremacy with long time champion Bernard Hopkins was set for September 15th, 2001, but as fate would have it it would be the toughest time he would ever Tito would live both in and out of the ring. For starters Hopkins beagain a campaign of terror, which emcompassed three Puerto Rican flag throwing incidents, slanderous comments about the Puerto Rican people and a near riot. But behind the scenes Trinidad was facing personal problems that took his attention away from the upcoming bout. But the situations Tito had endured were nothing compared to waht was to come as he found himself in the middle of the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Trinidad chose to remain in New York and do his best to help the people of the city instead of heading back to Puerto Rico. Tito lent his moral and physical suppot to the crews at Ground Zero along with promoter Don King. With the fight incredibly and quickly rescheduled for September 29th Trinidad did his best to stay prepared for the keenly awaited showdown.

The day of reckoning arrived on September 29, 2001 and an uncharacteristically dull Trinidad was dominated from bell to bell by "The Executiner" who boxed like never before in his career to break Trinidad down round by round. The end of Tito's undefeated record came to an end in the 12th round, following a crsuhing right and a push that sent Trinidad sprwaling to the canvas. Tito valiantly summoned his remaining energy and got back to his feet, but it was evident that he could not continue. Father and Trainer Don Felix Trinidad place an end to the hostilities by throwing in the towel thereby giving Hopkins a TKO win.

Tito returned back home to a massive homecoming with thousands of fans chanting "Rematch! Rematch! Rematch!". Clearly, Trinidad may have had lost the fight but not the like and respect of his fans.

Trinidad steped back into the ring on May 11, 2002 at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, in San Juan against durable frenchman Hacine Cherifi. Trinidad place the Hopkins loss behind him and proceeded to blast Cherifi with heavy bombs, ultimately forcing the frenchman to say no mas in the fourth stanza.

After the victory Tito set his mind on a Hopkins rematch, and gave promoter Don King the green light to negotiate the terms. But Hopkins seemingly went back on his promise to give Trinidad a rematch, forcing Tito to look at other opponents namely Oscar De la Hoya. Promoter Bob Arum and the Golden Boy yet again turned down to fight based on their view that the terms of a proposed rematch were not to their liking. This left Team Trinidad in limbo and after exhausting all viable avenues and opponents, father and son announced their joint retirement in July of 2002.