Trinidad-Hopkins: By the numbers

By Paul Upham: This Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York, WBC and IBF middleweight champion Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins will face WBA middleweight king Felix “Tito” Trinidad to determine the first undisputed middleweight champion of the world since 1987 with the winner collecting the Sugar Ray Robinson Memorial trophy.

Looking closely at Hopkins and Trinidad by the numbers, there is not much doubt that both have been very dominant boxers in their divisions over the last six years and we are likely to witness something very special at The Garden this weekend.

Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 15, 1965, Bernard Hopkins’s amateur career is reported as 95-4. He made his professional debut in October 1988 as a 23-year-old and lost a six round points decision to Clinton Mitchell in Atlantic City. After a 15 month absence, Hopkins returned to the ring and, in 42 subsequent fights, he has only lost once, to Roy Jones Jr in May 1993. Hopkins’ record now stands at, 39-2-1 (28) with 1 no contest. Fifteen of his 28 knockouts have come in two rounds or less.

Hopkins won the IBF super-middleweight title in April 1995 with a seventh round TKO in a rematch with Segundo Mercado. Since then, Hopkins has defended the title 13 times, winning the WBC crown from Keith Holmes on points over 12 rounds in his last fight in the semi-final of the Middleweight World Championship Series on April 14.

He is only one defence short of equalling the great Carlos Monzon’s record of 14 successful middleweight world title defences. Since winning the title, it took Monzon six years and eight months to reach 14 defences. If Hopkins is successful in defeating Trinidad this Saturday night, since first winning the IBF title, it will have taken him six years and five months to equal Monzon’s record.

Hopkins’ record in 15 world title fights is 13-1-1 (9) 1 no contest and he has been taken the 12-round distance in world title fights by Roy Jones Jr, Segundo Mercado, Andrew Council, Antwun Echols, Syd Vanderpool and Keith Holmes. Hopkins has a career KO percentage of 66.67, a record of 2-0 (2) fighting in September and a record of 1-0 (0) in New York.

Felix “Tito” Trinidad

Born in Cupey, Puerto Rico on January 10, 1973, Felix Trinidad’s amateur career is reported as 51-6. He made his professional debut in March 1990 as a 17-year-old and defeated Angel Romero by second round TKO. In June 1993 with a record of 19-0 (16), Trinidad defeated Maurice Blocker by second round KO to win the IBF welterweight title. He went on to make 15 successful defences of the title and won the WBC welterweight title by defeating Oscar De La Hoya in a close points decision in September 1999.

In the two years since that fight, Trinidad won the WBA junior middleweight belt by defeating David Reid on points in March 2000. He defended it against Mamadou Thiam in July 2000 with a third round TKO and won the IBF junior middleweight title by defeating Fernando Vargas by 12th round TKO in December 2000. In May this year, Trinidad moved up to middleweight and won the WBA title by fifth round TKO over William Joppy. Trinidad’s record now stands at 40-0 (33). Fourteen of his 33 knockouts have come in two rounds or less.

Trinidad’s overall record in world title fights is now 20-0 (16). He has been taken the 12 round distance on four occasions by Hector Camacho Jr, Pernell Whitaker, Oscar De La Hoya and David Reid. Trinidad has a career KO percentage of 82.50 and has a record of 4-0 (3) fighting in September and a record of 3-0 (2) in New York.

Tale of the Tape

Looking at the boxer’s physical dimensions, Hopkins enjoys a two inch height advantage and four inch reach advantage over Trinidad. In their last fights, Hopkins weighed in at 159 lbs on April 13 for his bout with Keith Holmes and Trinidad weighed in at 159.5 lbs on May 11 for his bout with William Joppy.

Paul Upham
Contributing Editor