Felix "Tito" Trinidad vs Ronald "Winky" Wright

[H2O Man]

Saturday, May 14, 2005, from the MGM Grand, Las Vegas! Live, on PPV!

Okay, DU boxing fans! Let's hear some predictions on this one. I've got great respect for Wright. Officially, he's never been decked. I believe that changes come this weekend. Tito is one of the greatest boxing talents of this generation. I have to go with Trinidad.

[rinsd]

1. Tito! Tito! Tito! Tito! Tito! Tito! Tito! Tito!

How much are they asking for PPV?

[H2O Man]

2. $50

The undercard is Zab Judah defending his crown against a tough foe; the guy's name escapes me at the moment -old age!- but the kid says he he is the next great Mexican champion, and he is going to prove himself in the Judah fight.

I think that Tito and Zab are two of the most talented fighters today. Both are exciting to watch. And both are facing tough challenges. So I think it's a little steep, but it is also a very interesting fight card.

[rinsd]

3. It is a little steep but at least the undercard has someone good. (nt)

[H2O Man]

16. Zab Judah

is one of the most talented athletes in professional sports.

[bigwillq]

4. TITO!

HE's my fave boxer of all time and a cutie to boot!

I hope Tito wins. I think he's going to. He looked good in his last fight. :bounce:

[H2O Man]

5. Both Wright and Tito

looked good in recent matches. Both are near the top of their game. Winky is moving up in weight a little, but he's a big strong guy who should do well at Jr. Middleweight.

Zab Judah vs Cosme Rivera should also be a heck of a fight. Judah and Trinidad are two of the slickest boxers in the game. And they both have explosive power.

[Lauri16]

6. Tito

Too much for Wright

[H2O Man]

8. How about Judah?

I think Rivera is a hard puncher, who has a good crisp delivery. I hope Zab Super Judah is up for the fight. When he was younger, he used to relax too much on defense. This isn't a guy he can afford to get hit by. He has to stay balanced. Agree?

[Lauri16]

9. Ditto

Like you said, Rivera is a hard puncher, but I do think that Zab is up for it. He's tightened up his defensive game alot.

[H2O Man]

11. He is so much fun

to watch, because he has skills that most athletes never dream of. In a strange way, he reminds me of Wilfred Benitez, in that both were given the ability to avoid getting hit .... it's almost like they have radar.

[bigwillq]

7. I saw Tito last year

at the Puerto Rican Parade in NYC! He's even cuter in person!:evilgrin:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. Which Felix Trinidad will show up?

The one who looked awful when he was stopped by Bernard Hopkins or the punching machine that cleaned the floor with Pernell Whitaker? Wright is lighter and not quite the consummate craftsman that Bernard Hopkins is, but he's still a very good boxer. I imagine he's been looking at footage of Hopkins' overwhelming victory over Trindad, where he really made him look bad. Wright is one of the best defensive fighters in the game. But Trinidad is one of the quickest and most accurate punchers in the game, and a heavy puncher at that. Between the two, I think Wright takes a punch slightly better, but Trindad delivers a better punch, having knocked out the vast majority of his opponents, whereas Wright has only knocked out about one-half. Trinidad I think hits harder and may have even quicker hands than Wright. But Wright is no slouch, having beaten "Sugar" Shane Mosley not once, but twice, using his head as well as his hands. This is a classic puncher-boxer match-up, but with the added dimension that both fighters also have qualities of the other (Trindad can also box very well, Wright can also slug it out). The way they match up against each other will tell the tale.

These are two excellent fighters and really anything can happen. I like them both. But just because others here are all going with Trinidad, I'll pick Wright to be the contrarian.

[H2O Man]

12. Wright has some advantages.

He has been more active, which is a big bonus in boxing. The move up in weight shouldn't hurt him, in my opinion, because he has the frame to carry it. Good boxer, smart, strong, and really has deserved to be in the elite group for some time .... but promoters didn't want to give him the matches.

Tito moved up one too many weight classes against Bernard. The move from welterweight to middleweight is tough, even with the jr. middleweight class. Great welterweights like Napoles couldn't do it when there was a big middleweight champion. I like to think of Ray Robinson: surely at the top of the welterweights, but not the top middleweight even though he is often more closely associated with that class. (And of course he tried going to light heavyweight! Unreal!)

It's a fight where both guys could win, and it's good for boxing that this type of match is being made. There was an era of King-promoted mis-matches, where the best fighters could avoid each other for years. This is what boxing is all about.

[TroubleMan]

13. I hope it's as good as the Corrales/Castillo fight that just past.

Did anybody other than me see that?......it was incredible.


Also Trinidad's last fight vs Mayorca was very good. I think Trinidad will win, though.

[H2O Man]

14. Oh yes.

That was an outrageous fight! I posted on it, but it didn't seem to have caught people's attention. One of the most brutal fights in the past 50 years. Excluding fights with fatalities, the Corrales vs Castillo was second only to the Manilla fight for back & forth slugging. The ending was almost surreal.

[H2O Man]

15. The "pre-fight" show is playing ....

Other than having a strong dislike for Don King, who tries to be the central attraction, the pre-fight show is intense. This is going to be a very interesting fight. Winky is confident of victory, and he is a tough man. I think that he'll make a good fight of it for the first half. After the 6th, he may change tactics.

Then again, he may be able to out-gun Tito.

I wonder who the ref is going to be? That could be a factor. I really hope it is not Jay Nady.

[H2O Man]

17. Winky Wright by decision!

He beat Trinidad surprisingly easy. I scored the fight 10-2. None of the judges saw it that close! Tito was mechanical, and his father did a poor job in the corner. Tito rarely has had to adjust in a fight -- I only saw him adjust when he beat Oscar years ago. He kept moving to his right, standing straight in front of Wright, with his foot on the inside. I don't thinke he moved left, putting his foot on the outside, thus giving his right a shot shot down the pike ..... Wright fought a flawless fight. His corner was impressive.

On the undercard, Zab "Super" Judah was very impressive. Decked his 6 inch taller foe in about 20 seconds, and stopped him in 3 (or was it 4?). Judah has matured. Unreal reflexes & speed.

[bigwillq]

18. That sucks!

I'm going to have to pay my future hubby (Tito) a visit to make him feel better!:evilgrin:

I didn't watch the fight but it seems Winky kicked his ass. Oh well.

[H2O Man]

19. Heck of a display

of boxing ability. Wright hit him with a lot of punches. Never hurt Tito, and didn't bruise him. But Tito never hurt Winky, either, and hardly hit him with the few punches he threw.

[Awsi Dooger]

20. Shockingly easy

I screwed myself by watching the Trinidad/Mayorga replay a night before this fight. Tito looked so great in that one I couldn't pull the trigger and bet on Winky, even at nearly a 2/1 payoff. For weeks prior to watching that replay I kept thinking about the loss to Hopkins, and that a tough no-nonsense fighter like Winky was just the type to replicate it. But the value just didn't seem to be there on Winky. He was more than a 3/1 underdog to Moseley and now you were being asked to take a much lesser price versus a fighter undeniably bigger and superior to Moseley.

Jabs are lethal. Especially from southpaws. I'm always amazed more fighters don't emphasize the jab.

[H2O Man]

21. The jab ....

can keep an opponent from ever starting his attack, as we saw with Winky. (The jab, brought back at should-chin level, leaves no opening. Tito wasn't able to counter, or even shoot a punch over that jab, a single time in 12 rounds.)

[anonymous44]

22. winky gave tito a boxing lesson

tito got owned

[MessiahRp]

23. Speaking of Boxing...

Anyone got a copy of Castillo-Corrales captured anywhere? I keep hearing about it but haven't seen it. I have seen almost every good fight on HBO the past three years or so but since this was on Showtime. :(

PM me if you have it and we can figure something out.

Rp