THE MASTER CLASS
Round 7 Hopkins spent much of the seventh grappling on the inside and breaking up the flow of the fight. After a sixth where Trinidad had several good sequences, he didn’t seem to enjoy the choppiness of the seventh. Hopkins: “Being in close with Tito, I wanted him to know that I’m bigger. I wanted him to feel my mass. I wanted him to feel like I was pushing his legs back. He could try to stop me from doing that, but that would take even more strength away from him. So, there were a lot of games and strategy in the moments when you are grabbing and holding, at least from my Hopkins had a strong eighth, landing power shots from the outside and combinations from midrange. During a memorable sequence, Hopkins did an Ali shuffle after connecting with a punch, and then Trinidad responded with his own shuffle. Hopkins: “When I did that shuffle, I had perspective.” Round 8
it’s easy. I want him to walk in there trying to hit me with the left hook. See, the bait was for me to back into the corner or a rope, where he’s comfortable. He’s been comfortable there his whole career. Why think different now? I understand that as long as the fight went, he was going to get more desperate based on my decision to not engage with him when he wants to engage. That’s frustrating for a puncher. “Nobody told me to go to the ropes. It just happened. Anybody who would have said go to the ropes the next round as a game plan, it would have been absurd. But being a professional, growing up in Philadelphia, I had seen a lot of styles. I had a great sense of what could work in the ring as a fight went on.” Round 10 Round 10 featured Hopkins dominating again with his back against the ropes. It was one of his most debilitating rounds of the fight. Hopkins landed an enormous uppercut with five seconds left, perhaps his best punch of the fight to that point. Trinidad was hurt by
no idea that he was going to do it as well. When I saw him do that, I knew I had him there (Hopkins points to his head), because he’s watching and trying to imitate what I’m doing instead of focusing on what he needs to do. “So, I said to myself, ‘It’s time to pick it up.’ For the rest of the fight, I started putting, as they say, more mustard on the shots.” Round 9 In a surprising turn, Hopkins voluntarily decided to fight off the ropes. And he had a lot of success doing so. The last 30 seconds of the round showed his skill in using this tactic. Hopkins: “I’m having fun at this point in the fight. I want him to engage with me. I want to give him the bait like you do in fishing. I want him to see the worm off the hook and think
the shot and Hopkins continued to land punches after the bell. Hopkins: “I knew I had a chance to land that uppercut because I baited him on the ropes many times. And this time I was going to do that shoulder roll like James Toney and come back with a right uppercut that he didn’t expect. He was hurt! The bell saved him! I knew it was just a matter of time.” Round 11 Hopkins landed 29 of 60 punches, according to CompuBox, one of his best outputs of the fight. Trinidad was now a shell of himself, rarely letting his hands go. Hopkins: “I was draining his well in the 11th. I knew and my trainer knew it too. He said, ‘Let’s finish him’ after the round.” Round 12 Despite boxing masterfully throughout the fight, no one from
Hopkins’ side wanted it to go to the scorecards. The memory of Oscar De La Hoya-Trinidad two years earlier lingered, where most believed that De La Hoya did enough to win, but Trinidad took the majority decision. Coming out aggressive, Hopkins landed a picture-perfect right hand with 2:01 left in the round to drop Trinidad. Felix beat the count, but his father then threw in the towel and referee Steve Smoger waved off the fight. Hopkins: “I didn’t want to leave it up to the judges like Oscar did. Bouie Fisher said, ‘Let’s finish him.’ We’re giving the judges nothing to take away. “I knew he was done as soon as I landed the shot. 100%. Look, I rolled the dice. He didn’t expect a counter right hook from an orthodox fighter. With a southpaw, that punch could be expected. That punch is something very unorthodox to throw. And that’s what got him. What he didn’t see is what stopped him in the fight!”
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