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More than just hype
Forget Ali-Frazier, Johnson-Jeffries, Dempsey-Tunney, Louis-Conn, Zale-Graziano, Hagler-Hearns, etc., etc. Trinidad-De La Hoya is the fight of the millennium!
And you know what the beauty of it is? They can the use the same title again NEXT year if they want.
Anyway, once you get past all the hooey and bombast, the fact is tonight's tussle is a legitimate, big bout. Two guys, unbeaten, in the primes of their careers, squaring off to find out who really is No. 1 in their division.
That they're actually facing each other instead of defending their silly belts against soft touches is cause for celebration in itself. My goodness, what will they think of next?
OK, it's taken $20-million-plus to get them together, but why quibble? Maybe the boffo box office they've done might encourage others to follow suit. Nah, probably not.
In any case, it should be an interesting night. The undercard starts with female boxer Mia St. John, who can't fight much but will appear starkers in next month's Playboy.
Then 315-lb. circus act Butterbean gets to whack out another lug unearthed at a truck stop somewhere. The Bean has apparently promised to perform "on his toes" this time. Hope they've reinforced the ring.
Quebec's Alain Bonnamie, a star kickboxer turned ordinary real boxer, was to fight for the British version of the "world" 168-lb. crown. But it fell through, replaced by local boy Dale Brown against IBF cruiserweight king Vassily Jirov.
A guy from Kazakhstan called the 'Russian Tiger' against a guy who lives in Montreal called `Cowboy'? Hmm.
Then Trinidad and de la Hoya finally get down to business.
And the winner will be?
How should we know?
But seriously, when even the wise guys are waffling about which way to go with their dough, you know you've got an intriguing scrap. And from this distant vantage point, what makes it so tough to call is not just that both Tito and Oscar are good, but that they both have obvious flaws.
That makes it a little different from the last welterweight megabout, Hearns-Leonard in '81. Going into that, Hearns looked awesome. Remember him starching Pipino Cuevas? And all Leonard had done was stop Wilfred Benitez, one of the best defensive fighters of the millennium (sorry), and make Roberto Duran quit in their rematch.
Can't put these dudes in that league yet. And the reason is largely because both have questions about their chins.
In a pick 'em bout, our inclination is to go with the guy with the better beard. But who is it?
Trinidad's been down six times in five fights. Oddly, every one was in the second round. Yet he's never really looked hurt. De la Hoya's been floored four times, twice by smaller men. Is it weak whiskers or just inattention to defence?
Flaws? Oscar's a one-handed fighter -- albeit a sweet left hand -- who can't seem to decide whether he's a boxer or puncher. Felix is an accurate puncher, but the pattern of his attack never seems to vary. Can he adjust if he has to?
De La Hoya's come through major crisis in a major fight and won. Trinidad's never really had to. Can he?
So let's look at it this way: Who seems to have improved more over the last couple years? The answer is Trinidad. Dunno, De La Hoya just seems to have plateaud.
Trainer and pundit Teddy Atlas predicts Oscar will be losing "right up until the moment he knocks Trinidad out."
It says here he won't get that chance. If Ike Quartey can hurt him, Trinidad can hurt him. And unlike Quartey, he won't let Oscar off the hook.
Trinidad by TKO in nine rounds.
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