Félix Juan Trinidad García (born January 10, 1973), professionally known as Tito Trinidad, is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes and is considered to be one of the greatest Puerto Rican boxers of all time.
After winning five national amateur championships in Puerto Rico, Trinidad debuted as a professional when he was seventeen, and won his first world championship by defeating Maurice Blocker to win the IBF welterweight title in 1993, a title he would hold for almost seven years with fifteen defenses. As his career continued, he defeated Oscar De La Hoya to win the WBC and lineal welterweight titles in 1999; Fernando Vargas to win the unified WBA and IBF light middleweight titles in 2000; and William Joppy for the WBA middleweight title in 2001.
Trinidad's first professional loss was against Bernard Hopkins later in 2001, and following this, he retired from boxing for the first time. Trinidad made his ring return by defeating Ricardo Mayorga in 2004. After a losing effort against Winky Wright in 2005, he retired for a second time. In 2008 he returned once more and lost to Roy Jones Jr. Subsequently, Trinidad entered a hiatus without clarifying the status of his career.
Trinidad is frequently mentioned among the best Puerto Rican boxers of all time by sports journalists and analysts, along with Juan Laporte, Esteban De Jesús, Wilfredo Vázquez, Miguel Cotto, Wilfred Benítez, Wilfredo Gómez, Héctor Camacho, Edwin Rosario and Carlos Ortíz. In 2000, Trinidad was voted Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He is ranked number 30 on The Ring'''s list of 100 greatest punchers of all time and in 2002 named him the 51st greatest fighter of the past 80 years. In 2013, Trinidad became eligible and was voted into the 2014 Class of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He was officially inducted into the hall during a ceremony held on June 4, 2014, becoming the tenth Puerto Rican to receive such an honor.2014 Boxing Hall Fame Class. Associated Press via ABC News (December 4, 2013).
Amateur career Trinidad was champion in the International Boxing Federation, in the World Boxing Association, and the World Boxing Council. He had an impressive record with 42 wins and 3 losses, with 35 by knockout. His career as an athlete in this discipline began at 12 years of age, as he has won five awards at the amateur championships in his home country (100, 112, 119, 126, and 132 pounds), his amateur sheet was a record of 51–6.Félix Trinidad Amateur Record at the BoxingRecords. Last updated : March 1, 2006.
Professional career Welterweight Trinidad debuted as a professional on March 10, 1990, when he was 17 years old. The fight was against Angel Romero, another debuting boxer, in a contest that Trinidad won by knockout in the second round. At the beginning of his career, he knocked out nine of his first 10 opponents. He then competed against more experienced boxers like Jake Rodriguez, whom he fought on December 6, 1991. Trinidad won the fight by unanimous decision but suffered an injury on his right hand. He was then inactive for five months while recovering from the injury.
Raul Gonzalez fought Felix Trinidad on May 3, 1992, in Cayey, Puerto Rico. This fight was the main event of the night. Both Gonzalez and Trinidad weighed in at 142 pounds. Gonzalez had a record of 8-2-3 with 5 KOs, while Trinidad had a record of 13–0 with 10 KOs. Gonzalez went down three times, and Trinidad took the victory in round four by TKO. Trinidad would add another victory by KO to his record and would now make it 14–0 with 11 KOs.
Welterweight title Trinidad traveled to San Diego, California, and defeated the IBF welterweight champion Maurice Blocker in two rounds, in a fight card on June 19, 1993, televised by Showtime. Trinidad spent the first two minutes of the fight analyzing Blocker's style. With 11 seconds left in the first round, one of Trinidad's punches injured Blocker, who barely survived the round. In the second round, the champion's condition improved, but after the first 30 seconds, another Trinidad punch injured him. Trinidad followed with a combination, scoring a knockout at 1:49 in the round when the referee stopped the fight. Afterward, tournament organizer Don King's exclusive relationship to stage fights for the cable channel Showtime meant that Trinidad would be showcased regularly on Showtime Championship Boxing.
Trinidad vs. Camacho
Trinidad defended his title for the next three years against several opponents. Trinidad's first fight in Las Vegas was against Héctor Camacho on January 29, 1994. He was cautious during the first rounds and received a cut over his left eye. In the third round he connected a solid combination that made Camacho change to a defensive stance. Throughout the fight Trinidad was on the offensive and won the fight by unanimous decision, in what was his first decision since he won the world championship. The scores awarded by the judges were 117–109, 116–110, and 119–106.
Trinidad vs. Campas
On September 17, 1994, Trinidad traveled to the MGM Grand for a second straight fight to compete in a title defense against Yori Boy Campas, who had a record of 56–0. In the second round Campas scored a knockdown, the second knockdown in Trinidad's career. Following this Trinidad exchanged several combinations, injuring Campas' face and breaking his nose. In the fourth round, the referee stopped the fight, the first defeat in Campas' career.
Trinidad vs. Carr
Trinidad's fourth fight outside Puerto Rico or the United States took place on Estadio de Beisbol'' in Monterrey, Mexico. Trinidad was scheduled to defend his title against the undefeated Oba Carr. In the second round, Carr scored a knockdown, which was the product of a quick right hand punch. Trinidad continued the fight and pursued the challenger, who displayed a quick pace throughout the fight. In the fourth round Trinidad connected a solid punch that injured Carr, and in the eighth he scored three consecutive knockdowns before the referee stopped the fight by technical knockout.
Trinidad spent the next four years defending his title against numerous fighters in bouts televised on Showtime. Among these fights was a defense against Mahenge Zulu, the number two challenger for Trinidad's championship. This fight was part of a card that took place on April 3, 1998, in Bayamón, Puerto Rico and marked the first time that Trinidad had performed in the island in five years. Trinidad began the first round by cautiously analyzing the challenger's style, but the round ended with quick exchanges after Zulu took the initiative in the offensive. In the second round Zulu was actively pursuing the champion, but retreated when he received a solid jab sequence. Early in the third round a series of jabs opened a wound on Zulu's mouth, while the challenger's punches were not reaching their target. Trinidad began the fourth round heavily on in the offensive connecting several combinations which hurt the challenger, using this to land more punches in Zulu's head and body. One punch hit Zulu in the jaw, he fell to the floor and tried to rise, but the referee stopped the fight before he could do so.
Trinidad vs. Whitaker
On February 20, 1999, Trinidad defended the welterweight championship against Pernell Whitaker, winning the fight by unanimous decision in a contest that marked his thirteenth successful defense. The fight began with both boxers displaying aggressive styles, which included excessive pushing. In the following rounds both boxers used their jabs most of the time with Trinidad gaining an advantage when Whitaker attempted to attack inside, eventually scoring a knockdown in round two. In the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds the fighters exchanged combinations. Later in the fight both boxers fell to the floor in what were ruled as "accidental slips." On the seventh round Whitaker displayed more offense, trading power punches with Trinidad, but the champion retained control in the fight's tempo during the eight, ninth, and tenth rounds. In the last round Whitaker, with a badly swollen right eye, displayed a purely defensive stance, avoiding his opponent throughout the round while Trinidad continued on the offensive until the fight concluded. The judges gave the champion scores of 117–111, 118–109 and 118–109.
Trinidad vs. De La Hoya
In the spring of 1999 Don King and Oscar De la Hoya's promoter, Bob Arum, agreed to co-promote a mega-fight for the Lineal, WBC and IBF welterweight championships on September 18, 1999, at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. Early in the fight De la Hoya employed boxing to connect combinations while avoiding Trinidad's attacks. The second round began with both boxers trading punches but De la Hoya quickly returned to his previous tactic, which he employed in the third round. In the fourth round Trinidad pressured the offense while De la Hoya tried to avoid his punches by moving, both boxers eventually exchanged punches. In the fifth round Trinidad continued in the offensive while De la Hoya attempted to remain on the outside corners of the ring, Trinidad's eye was swollen following a trade of punches, and his nose was also bleeding. Trinidad was having a lot of problems finding De La Hoya and couldn't connect as flush as usual with his punches, although he scored at times, Oscar's movement was not letting him land in combination and it was proclaimed by many to have been a lackluster fight. In the eighth round the swelling on Trinidad's eye was worsening. Oscar was scoring on Trinidad but halfway through the tenth, De La Hoya stopped sticking and basically disengaged under instruction of his corner who thought the match was won. De La Hoya was to remain on his toes for the remainder of the bout, and Trinidad won the final 2 rounds. The judges controversially gave Trinidad a close, majority decision, with scores of 115–113, 115–114 and 114–114.
Light Middleweight Light Middleweight title
In 2000 Trinidad vacated the welterweight championships and moved to the junior middleweight division, in order to challenge the World Boxing Association's champion David Reid. Early in the fight Trinidad concentrated his punches on Reid's body, connecting hard punches to his ribs and belly. In the second round Reid connected a solid punch to his opponent's jaw, and in the third round scored a knockdown. In the fourth and fifth rounds Trinidad used his jab consistently, gaining control of the fight's tempo in the sixth round. The fight's score was close at the beginning of the seventh round but Trinidad opened the second half of the contest in the offensive, scoring the fight's second knockdown. Controlling the fight in the eighth, ninth and tenth rounds, and opening a cut over Reid's eye. Trinidad dominated the eleventh round, scoring three consecutive knockdowns. Reid tried to close the fight on the offensive but his opponent boxed and countered his attacks. The judges gave scores of 114–107, 114–106 and 115–106, all in favor of Trinidad.
Trinidad vs. Vargas