THE MASTER CLASS
A t the time it was referred to as Trinidad-Hopkins, as Felix “Tito” Trinidad, the undefeated, hard- hitting cash cow from Puerto Rico, was the clear A-side over Bernard Hopkins in terms of popularity and industry backing. He’d just made his 160-pound debut in his previous fight, continuing his trail of destruction with a fifth-round stoppage of WBA middleweight titleholder William Joppy. Against Hopkins (39- 2-1), Trinidad entered the fight at 40-0 with 33 knockouts and was the clear favorite in the sportsbooks. That Trinidad and Hopkins were even destined to fight each other owes a lot to HBO and Don King. The business interests of the time believed that Trinidad had the potential to be a generational figure in the sport. They devised a middleweight tournament with Trinidad, Joppy, Hopkins and Keith Holmes vying to be crowned the first undisputed champion since Marvelous Marvin Hagler. And
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER HIS DRAMATIC CLASH WITH FELIX TRINIDAD FOR THE UNDISPUTED MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP, BERNARD HOPKINS DESCRIBES HOW HE TOOK DOWN TITO By Adam Abramowitz
if, as expected, Trinidad won the tournament, then enormous dollar signs would be on the horizon. Hopkins, the longtime IBF titleholder coming into the tournament, was inconvenient but necessary. Already in his mid-30s, Hopkins had lost to Roy Jones in 1993, and although his resurgence in recent years had been impressive, many skeptics believed that he would again taste defeat when fighting another elite talent. Hopkins beat Holmes in the first round of the tournament by a wide decision and picked up the WBC title. The Trinidad-Hopkins fight was originally scheduled for September 15, 2001, at Madison Square Garden, but with New York still reeling from the horrific events of 9/11, it was subsequently pushed back two weeks. The fight would become one of the first major sporting events to occur in the city after the attacks. The night was one of Hopkins’ best. He dominated the
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