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Makijs
03-10-2004, 09:16
Trinidad batters Mayorga!

Saturday, October 2 2004

By Matt Richardson and David Greene at ringside

Felix "Tito" Trinidad returned to the ring for the first time in 28 months to stop Ricardo Mayorga in round eight after a wild war at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Mayorga opened the first round strong with his normal rough house tactics, but Trinidad landed some hard shots at the bell. Both traded hard bombs in round two. Mayorga was credited with a knockdown when Tito's glove touched the ground in round three. In round four, Mayorga appeared to be running out of gas as Tito took control. Trinidad tattooed Mayorga with a barrage of punches in rounds four, five and six. A low blow gave Mayorga a chance to rest in the sixth and he came back firing at the bell. Mayorga did his best to engage Trinidad in the seventh, but he was simply outgunned. Tito finally dropped the game Mayorga three times in round eight, prompting referee Steve Smogar to stop the fight. Official time was 2:39.

http://www.fightnews.com/fightnews_2/headlines//EpAyZZVZVpCVzqTrlp.html

Makijs
03-10-2004, 09:17
Trinidad wins on comeback

Trinidad had been out of action since May 2002
Puerto Rican middleweight Felix Trinidad showed all his class to defeat Ricardo Mayorga in his comeback fight at Madison Square Garden.
The 31-year-old, who retired after beating Hassine Cherifi in 2002, had a slow start and suffered an official knockdown in the third round.

However he clawed his way back into the fight and upped the tempo as his opponent started to tire.

And Mayorga was floored three times in the eighth before the bout was stopped.

"I've been in tough wars before, but I dominated this fight," said Trinidad.

"He can take a good punch and he took a lot, which was bad for him.

"I knew I could keep the pace up thanks to my discipline. I did. That was our game plan, to be cool and calm, and it worked perfectly."

Trinidad, who has claimed world titles in three different weights, did not have good start and he seemed to slip as Mayorga hit him with a right although referee Steve Smoger ruled it a knockdown.

Trinidad bounced back and after Mayorga received a cut in the fifth round, the contest was only going one way.

"I felt good about my performance, but my eye swelled up and I couldn't see some shots," said Mayorga.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/3709206.stm

Makijs
03-10-2004, 09:30
http://www.maxboxing.com/Gerbasi/Gerbasi100304.asp

The Latino Hagler-Hearns - Â* Trinidad Stops Mayorga in Unforgettable War

By Thomas Gerbasi
(October 3, 2004)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW YORK, October 2 Â* Felix "Tito" Trinidad's return to boxing tonight against Ricardo Mayorga at Madison Square Garden was fierce and it was violent, make no mistake about that.

It was also beautiful.

In eight rounds that were as hotly contested as the three round war between Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns, Trinidad, in his first bout in two years, stopped a courageous Mayorga in the eighth round after "El Matador" finally succumbed to the Puerto Rican assassin's steady attack of power and accuracy.

The Garden was subdued for much of the evening, but once Trinidad entered the ring to the strains of "Mi Bandera", the crowd erupted in raucous chants of "Tito, Tito". The drama continued as security guards blocked the combatants from each other, ala Lewis-Tyson.

Not surprisingly, once the bell rang Mayorga was the aggressor, winging bombs, most of which missed Â* yet those that did land seemed to get the rusty Trinidad's attention. Trinidad got into the action late in the first with his patented left hooks, and true to his word, Mayorga gave up his chin for the Puerto Rican superstar.

Yet even though Trinidad's flush hooks didn't faze Mayorga, his right hand rockets to the chin did, and by the end of an amazing first round, Trinidad had 'El Matador' on rubbery legs.

Both traded slamming hooks to the jaw in the second round with little effect, but again, Trinidad's underrated right hand was jarring Mayorga with regularity, even though both men were swinging for the fences with each punch, delighting the crowd with their show of power, chin, and machismo.

Using a tight boxing style to open the third, Trinidad jabbed effectively
while Mayorga's fight plan of kill or be killed didn't waver, even after
catching a swift combination flush on the face midway through the stanza.
With under a minute left, a wild right by Mayorga forced Trinidad to touch
his glove to the canvas for an unpopular knockdown call, but the Puerto
Rican's head was clear by the end of the round, even though Mayorga still
landed effectively with both hands.

Mayorga tried the right again in the fourth, but this time Trinidad made him
pay with whipping shots to the face which sent sweat spraying into the
crowd, only to have the Nicaraguan answer with his own particular brand of
return fire. At the midway point of the round Trinidad landed a stiff
uppercut, and Mayorga responded in kind with hooks to the head. But as
Trinidad pressed the action, he got wild in his zest to finish his foe, and
Mayorga was able to counter with power shots.

Trinidad walked to Mayorga's corner to kick off the fifth round, and while
the crowd noise dipped as the arena took a collective break, the fighters
kept up their frantic pace, truly fighting like two guys who didn't like
each other. In the final minute, Trinidad used his reach advantage to lance
Mayorga from long range, and then moved in assassin-like to severely punish Mayorga with shots that have felled lesser men and left the courageous Nicaraguan with a nasty gash under his left eye and not nearly enough time to rest.

Before the sixth round, Trinidad raised his hand to the crowd, smiled, and
pounded his chect, but Mayorga still rose to meet him in the middle of the
ring, even though his bombs were coming less frequently, and Trinidad¹s were rarely missing as he sent Mayorga's head ricocheting from side to side in vicious fashion. As the round drew to a close, Trinidad started attacking
the body, but one stray shot below the belt earned Mayorga a brief reprieve
from the onslaught that enabled him to roar back into the fray in the final
seconds of the round, and as Steve Smoger broke the fighters at the bell,
they both defiantly stared and shouted at each other, ready for another go
at it.

That go came a minute later in round seven, and with stamina rarely seen at
any level of the game, both fighters started and fought each round as if it
were the first. Mayorga complained of a low blow again late in the seventh,
but as Smoger told them to continue fighting, "Tito" pounced with the heavy
artillery, only to see Mayorga pull one out of the fire again with his
trademark haymakers.

Mayorga opened the eighth strongly, driving Trinidad to the ropes with a
barrage of hooks, and followed up with some effective work in the middle of
the ring. Yet Trinidad coolly stood in the pocket and picked at his foe
with heavy shots to the head. Finally, at the midway mark of the round,
Mayorga finally fell, ironically from a body shot. He gamely rose before
ten, but was sent to the canvas by Trinidad again seconds later by a hook to
the jaw. Hurt, but unable to quit, Mayorga stood in the line of fire once
more, and after a third knockdown put him on his knee, Smoger had seen
enough and halted the bout at the 2:39 mark of round eight.

Someone asked me midway through the fight who I had winning the fight. I
looked around and simply said, "We are."

At the time of the stoppage, Trinidad led on all scorecards, 68-64 twice,
and 67-64.

With the victory, Trinidad improves to 42-1 with 34 KOs. Mayorga falls to
26-5-1 with 22 KOs.

In a welterweight undercard bout, Zab Judah sent overmatched Wayne Martell to the canvas five times en route to an unsurprising first round stoppage.

"I felt great fighting in my hometown and I did spectacular," said
Brooklyn's Judah. "I am very powerful at 147 and my next opponent must be
Cory Spinks. That's it."

The end came at the 2:08 mark as Benji Esteves finally rescued North
Dakota's Martell (24-3, 15 KOs) from further punishment.

With the victory, Judah, who improves to 32-2 with 23 KOs, earns the fringe
WBO intercontinental welterweight title.

"There's nothing to be proud of, I did not do what I was supposed to,' said
Martell.

In the HBOPPV opener, "Tremendous" Travis Simms retained his WBA super welterweight title for the first time with a solid but unspectacular 12
round unanimous decision over veteran Bronco McKart.

Scores were 116-112, 118-110, and 117-111 for the unbeaten Norwalk, CT
native, who improves to 24-0 with 18 KOs. McKart falls to 47-6 with 31 KOs.

I knew he was a tough guy, that¹s why we took the fight," said Simms. "He
never hurt me, but I did get a little sloppy at times."

The first two rounds were cautious, with Simms displaying his superior hand
speed in spurts as McKart coolly got his bearings in the relatively small
ring.

Simms finally got close in the third, landing a stiff left that briefly
jarred McKart, but the Michigan native paid Simms back seconds later with a
hard right, followed by a strong left and some showboating at the bell.

Having tasted each other¹s leather in the third, McKart and Simms picked up
their workrates in the fourth and fifth, with Simms¹ speed earning him the
best of the exchanges, even though both were now sporting bruises under
their eyes.

The pace slowed in the middle rounds, though there was some fairly good
infighting taking place between the lulls in the action.

Simms potshotted McKart to the body in the tenth, taking advantage of the
veteran's high defense, but McKart wasn't offering enough offense in
response to win rounds.

Perhaps sensing the fight slipping away, McKart pushed the action in the
11th and 12th but Simms' pinpoint counters continued to reshape the
challenger¹s swollen face as the final seconds ticked away.

"Simms deserved the win and now I go back to the drawing board," said a
gracious McKart.

Rosendo Alvarez pounded out a 12 round split decision over Beibis Mendoza in a bout originally scheduled to be for Alvarez' WBA light flyweight title, but which turned into a non-title contest when Alvarez came in three and a half pounds overweight.

"Nothing effected me more in this fight than my opponent," said Alvarez.
"My weight was not an issue. My delay in the trip for my visa was not an
issue either, because thpse would just be excuses."

Scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 113-115 for Alvarez, who improves to
33-2-2 (21 KOs). Mendoza drops to 30-3 (2 KOs). There were no knockdowns.

"This will be the last time I fight in the 108 pound divison," said Alvarez,
the longtime king at junior flyweight.

Featherweight Elio Rojas (5-0, 4 KOs) made short work of Corey Goodwin (3-1, 1 KO), stopping him at 1:05 of the opening frame.

In a welterweight barnburner, Brooklyn's Louis Collazo won a lopsided
unanimous decision over Puerto Rico¹s Felix Flores in a bout that was
anything but one-sided.

Scores were 100-89, 97-92, and 97-90 for Collazo (22-1, 9 KOs), who scored the bout's only knockdown in round two.

"I think the judges never saw me throw a punch, like I had my hands behind
my back," said a disappointed Flores (19-4, 15 KOs), who was the aggressor the entire night, but who ate more than his share of combinations from Collazo. "I guess you have to live here (in New York) to win. I think I won
the fight."

Miami light heavyweight Danny Santiago sent once-promising Elvir Muriqi to
defeat in the fourth round of a scheduled ten, dropping ³The Kosovo Kid²
twice before referee Dan Schiavone halted the contest at the 2:12 mark.
Santiago, who was trailing on all three scorecards, lifts his record to 24-2
(16 KOs). Muriqi falls to 30-2 (18 KOs).

Promising cruiserweight prospect Steve Cunningham scored four knockdowns of Ann Arbor, Michigan¹s Forrest Neal (16-5, 12 KOs) en route to a fourth round stoppage. The Philadelphian improves to 16-0 (9 KOs) with the victory.

In the opener, Croatian heavyweight Mario Preskar (5-0-1, 3 KOs) remained
unbeaten with a 37 second KO of Ft. Smith, Arkansas¹ Danny Weiland (1-1, 1 KO).

Makijs
03-10-2004, 15:24
http://www.secondsout.com/USA/news.cfm?ccs=229&cs=14560
Awesome Tito trounces Mayorga in eight

By Ant Evans, ringside at Madison Square Garden, New York: Well, he's back!

In a battle of walking weapons of mass destruction that left ringsiders breathless, winded and emotionally drained, Felix 'Tito' Trinidad overcame a dangerously defiant Ricardo Mayorga in eight fantastic rounds of all out power-punching.

Mayorga won perhaps only two of the completed seven rounds but most definitely had his big moments - he hurt Tito several times and even scored a third round knockdown for the Puerto Rican superstar - but not only did Trinidad have the higher-yield nuclear bombs but he also had the superior delivery systems. That won him one the fight of 2004 and also served notice that he is back to his thunderous best.

The Don King promoted bazooka-fest was everything boxing fans wanted it to be. Tito and 'El Matador' blasted each other with broadside after broadside, the likes of which have been unrecorded since the days of the ironclad. This was perhaps the most exciting fight I've been ringside for in my two decades of following this sport.

The Garden fans were massively pro Trinidad. Even as the card kicked off at 18:15, there were chants of "Tito! Tito! Tito!" and the reception the former three-division world champion got from the estimated 17,000 fans was deafening. The fans erupted with excitement at the opening bell and waved flags, t-shirt and homemade signs throughout.

Clearly revelling in his ring return, Tito entered the arena smiling and waves to the crowd as if about to make an Oscar acceptance speech. In fact, Trinidad seemed to enjoy the pre-fight cheers a little too much; he didn't settle down to his work in the opening two minutes of the scheduled 12 rounds (the vacant NABF middleweight title was at stake) and paid a price.

Mayorga crashed in some wicked looking hooks to Trinidad's face in the opener and you could feel the Puerto Rican fans suck in deep intakes of air as their hero, who had not fought since 'retiring' in May of 2002, was drilled by some real humdingers by the former unified welterweight champion.

And, almost unbelievably, the Nicaraguan nutter actually dropped his guard and allowed Trinidad to smash him with three left hooks to the chin. But Trinidad is not Vernon Forrest and seconds after Mayorga did the phoney "wobbly knee" routine Tito cracked in two right hands right down the pipe which visibly stunned Mayorga.

The cigar smoking bad-boy didn't try that stunt again and Trinidad, reminding us why we've missed him so much, immediately went for the finish but the bell sounded to end a sizzling opening round. Tito's round.

War had been declared; war had been accepted. In the second, Mayorga hurt Trinidad again with a lightning fast left hook, moments later Tito responded in kind and snapped his foe's head around on his neck. Trinidad was slightly ring-rusty and Mayorga was surging forward with his characteristically barbaric assaults

But, minute by minute the rust was falling off the Puerto Rican powerhouse. Gradually, Trinidad began to find room to fire his long ranged shots with the accuracy of old, his footwork improved step by step and the combinations which annexed world titles in three different divisions began to land with increased regularity.

The 31 year-old Tito's jab was heard from in the third but Mayorga stormed forward and clipped Trinidad right on the top of the head with a swinging cross/hook. Trinidad wasn't hurt but he touched down with his right glove and a count was given against him. Despite that, I still couldn't give Mayorga the round and scored it 10-10.

Mayorga was buoyed by his success and blasted away with abandon at the start of the fourth; this time, though, he was countered beautifully and was badly hurt by a jab, cross, left hook combination against the ropes. By now most of the Garden crowd had decided to watch the entire fight on their feet, screaming at the tops of their lungs. A sickening sounding hook to the body and good right cross won 'El Matador' the round, though.

Trinidad took over in the fifth. He hurt Mayorga early with a pulverising left hook which would have ended many a fighter. Instead Mayorga pressed his right glove against his chin to protect against another hook - so Tito stabbed him with two mighty right crosses. Rocked to his boots, Mayorga still fired back but was almost swept aside by a Dessert Storm like bombardment. The fight was very nearly over in the fifth and Mayorga suffered a deep gash below his left cheekbone.

In the sixth Trinidad went right after Mayorga. However, Mayorga made a meal out of a low blow to the hip and bought himself some valuable time. After calling Trinidad all the names under the sun Mayorga was prepared to fight on to the end and you could see it in his eyes that he never stopped believing that he could end the fight with one single shot.

But he was now getting outclassed, despite making every and all efforts to fight fire with fire. In rounds 4 though 8, Trinidad outlanded his rival 142-54 in powershots and that is something you just can't do with one of the hardest hitting fighters of his generation.

Mayorga also neglected the jab; that is to say he hadn't developed a sufficiently decent one in preparation for this fight to stop Trinidad marching in. It was now a matter of time for a desperate Mayorga, who was taking an absolute pasting.

Nearly knocked out in the seventh, a Tito bodyshot had the former WBA and WBC welterweight champion rolling in agony on the canvas in round eight. He got up and - bravely - tried to fight back but a right hand turn off his lifts and a left hook put him down on all fours. Most fighters - even some of the great ones - would have stayed down but Mayorga groped himself to his feet one last time. Another massive right, another arching left hook and another knockdown later and referee Steve Smoger waved it off at 2:39 of the eighth round of a modern classic.

Afterwards, Trinidad paid tribute to his fallen nemesis: "I respect him. I think everyone has to respect him. He took some many great shots and hit very hard. He came to fight and I thank him. We had a $100,000 bet and he signed that (wager); I expect to collect but we will see. I want to thank my fans for giving me the energy to return."

And, responding to questions on how long he plans to continue in the sport, he smiled and said: "I told you in May that I'd be back. I am now back and I intend to stay."