Boxing

Fighting for the fans

Another chance at glory lures Felix Trinidad back into the ring.

By TOM JONES
Published May 13, 2005

Tito, Tito, Tito.

The chant grew louder and louder each time his name was said.

Tito, Tito, Tito.

This is why he was in the ring. To hear his name cried out by his adoring fans. To be center stage with all eyes and hopes on him.

This is what you want to know, isn't it? Why was he standing in the middle of Madison Square Garden in October trading jabs and hooks and haymakers when he could have been back in his native Puerto Rico living the life of a king?

Felix "Tito" Trinidad had not fought in more than two years when he stepped into the ring against Ricardo Mayorga. He was two years removed from all the running, all the sparring, all the sweating, all the bleeding it takes to stand toe to toe with someone trying to knock your block off.

He didn't need the money. He didn't need the fame. He had plenty of both.

What he missed was the glory.

"It was one of the most exciting times of my life," Trinidad said. "Just to hear the fans chanting "Tito, Tito,' when I stepped up into the ring. The only way I knew how to pay them back was to give them every single round and give the best performance that I could ever put together. It was kind of hard to describe, to go back into the ring and hear my name and to hear people screaming."

Trinidad unleashed a savage performance, cutting down Mayorga with an eighth-round TKO.

That fight gave him the fever again. The good life back in Puerto Rico can wait. That's why he will back in the ring Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas taking on St. Petersburg's Winky Wright in one of the most anticipated fights of the year, a 12-round middleweight nontitle match.

Forget a tuneup to fight Wright, one of the most dangerous and crafty boxers in the world and a 154-pound world champ who is moving up to 160. To heck with an easy payday against some overrated and underskilled fighter just to pad the record and sharpen the skills. At 32, Trinidad is not interested in taking the back roads to a showdown.

"Winky has been willing to fight me and that's what I want to do," Trinidad said. "I want to fight the best guys out there that are willing to fight me."

That's part of Trinidad's style, just like his powerful left hook. He will fight anyone. Anywhere. Anytime. His style has never including ducking.

He has taken on and beaten Hector "Macho" Camacho, Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker, golden boy Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas. He bulldozed opponents to a 40-0 record and world welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight titles. He finally lost to Bernard Hopkins in September 2001 and fought just once more, beating Hassine Cherifi with a fourth-round TKO before announcing his retirement in May 2002.

But he couldn't stay retired.

"My reaction wasn't really that of surprise," Papa Trinidad, his father and trainer, said. "In the back of my mind I knew that there was the possibility that he would come back. His fans were always pushing him and everyone was asking for him to return to the ring. When he decided to come back to boxing, I went along with the idea and told him I would help him as I always did in the past."

The question is does Trinidad have anything left? Is he the same unstoppable fighter he was four years ago or has time and brief retirement eroded his skills? He had little problem with Mayorga, but there are questions about Mayorga. It was Mayorga's second loss in three fights. In addition, Wright (48-3) suggested Mayorga was a blownup welterweight who was fighting at 157 pounds instead of his usual 146.

"It doesn't really matter if you think about it," Trinidad said. "Mayorga was not a welterweight anymore, and I gave him the beating of his life and nobody can question that. That was the end result and we already went through that. I knocked him out and that is that."

And that brings us to Saturday. A rematch likely will follow, and the winner of that fight probably gets a crack at the winner of the Hopkins-Jermain Taylor fight July 16. Trinidad expects to get that crack.

"I don't want to take anything away from Winky Wright or be disrespectful ... but I have no worries about what he will do," Trinidad said. "I have no concerns about that and I'm not thinking about that. I only know that he will be in great condition and he will come to fight."

As will Trinidad, who had a final warning for the 33-year-old Wright.

"You still have time to walk away from this fight because I am ready to punish you," Trinidad told Wright at a news conference. "I hope your corner will not allow me to hit you a lot. You are going to get out of the ring hurt.

"If Winky thinks I am playing games with him, he is wrong. ... I am here to win and I will win by knockout."

He plans to do it while his fans are chanting that familiar refrain.

Tito, Tito, Tito.

"I am doing this for my fans and for my country," Trinidad said. "This is for Puerto Rico and my people will not be let down."

WHAT: Winky Wright vs. Felix "Tito" Trinidad.

WHEN: About 11 p.m. Saturday.

WHERE: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas.

TV: HBO Pay-Per-View.

[Last modified May 13, 2005, 00:57:16]