Hopkins Defeats Trinidad- Unifies Middleweight Title
The first sound you heard after referee Steve Smoger waved his hands in front of Felix Trinidad's face at 1:18 of the 12th round in Madison Square Garden on Saturday September 28th, was promoter Don King's spiked hair falling in unison with his slacked jaw.
The middleweight unification fight between the new undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins and Trinidad was, in King's mind, supposed to be the coronation of Trinidad, King's biggest moneymaker, if you don't count heavyweight king Hasim Rahman. And with Rahman, you don't know which promoter he will sign with next week, or maybe even ten minutes from now.
But with his complete domination of Trinidad, Hopkins threw the cliqued monkey wrench into King's venal machinery, designed to line the two-time felon's pockets with his favorite color -- green, not black, as he would like everyone to believe.
Although Hopkins said before the fight he would dominate Trinidad, almost no one believed him. Even the great boxing analyst Teddy Atlas thought Hopkins would not be up to the task.
"Hopkins has never been in a fight of this magnitude before," Atlas said on the Wednesday before the fight. "Trinidad has. We don't know how Hopkins will react to the pressure of the moment. With Trinidad, he always rises to the occasion."
But Atlas did give the 36-year old Hopkins a slight chance against a man 8 years his junior.
"Hopkins best chance is for an early knockout," Atlas said. "He has the ability to knock Trinidad out, but as the fight wears on, Trinidad's youth gives him the advantage."
Hopkins promised a "War" before the fight, definitely a bad choice of words considering the recent devastating developments in Lower Manhattan. And most experts expected him to jump on Trinidad at the opening bell and go for the quick stoppage.
Yet round one was more a waltz than a war, as both fighters circled each other, like two wary animals waiting for the other one to make the first mistake. Hopkins did land a few body blows and a couple of jabs in the first round, while Trinidad mainly posed for the proverbial animal crackers.
"He's nothing, I got him,'' Trinidad told his father-trainer Felix Trinidad Sr. at the end of the opening round.
Big mistake.
Hopkins obviously saw how Oscar de la Hoya baffled Trinidad with movement and he spent the next several rounds jabbing, spinning and punching in flurries, while Trinidad shuffled after Hopkins like Frankenstein on Valium. When Trinidad did land a punch, they had an effect on Hopkins like a fly on King Kong.
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