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TITO SHOULD HAVE STAYED RETIRED... By Elisa Harrison |
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TITO SHOULD HAVE STAYED RETIRED... By Elisa Harrison |
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I never thought the day would come
when I would welcome an announcement regarding Felix Trinidad’s
retirement from boxing. Well, it
has happened, for a second and hopefully final time, as both Tito and
his father called it a day Sunday
evening.
On Saturday, May 13, Winky Wright and his best friend, Mr. Jab Wright, demolished an outclassed and befuddled Tito Trinidad. It pained me to watch Mr. Jab Wright find his way to Tito’s forehead time and time again, almost like a magnet. It was even more painful to watch Tito’s corner, where his dad looked almost as lost as Tito was when faced with the ever presence of Mr. Jab Wright. Bernard Hopkins made the invincible Tito look human; Winky Wright made him look pitiful. As is the case in most professional sports, when the result doesn’t translate to a win, heads must roll, and in this case, the elder Trinidad resigned shortly after their arrival in Puerto Rico. Allegedly, father and son had a moving, heart to heart conversation while en route to their home base, in which Tito reiterated that if his father retired he would not continue without him.It had always been my hope that Tito remained retired, and I greeted his return to action several months ago with a certain degree of skepticism. However, Tito’s painful demolition of Ricardo Mayorga rekindled my enthusiasm for the man who has always ranked high among my favorite fighters. Perhaps you can go home again, I thought to myself… In a recent conversation with don Felix I became surprised by what I perceived to be a slight disregard for Winky Wright. Don Felix clearly told me that their ultimate goal was avenging the loss to Bernard Hopkins, and while he did acknowledge that Winky was a dangerous fighter, he seemed consumed by the desire to get to Hopkins. Hopkins," he told me, "is the reason why we came back."I came away from our conversation somewhat concerned and disappointed. After having watched Saturday’s performance, I wondered who had Tito sparred with while in preparation for this fight. He fought as if he had never been in the ring with a southpaw with a jab. Unfortunately, Tito just couldn’t make a quick adjustment, and his corner never came up with helpful advice or plan B for him to execute. Did they even look at tapes on Winky Wright? One must wonder... Allow me to congratulate Winky Wright on a superb performance that probably will not bring about many phone calls to his promoter. As for Tito and his father, I would like to say thank you. Thank you for the great memories, thank you for all that you have given to the sport of boxing, and even more importantly, thank you for having set the standard by which boxers will be measured for a long time to come. God bless, and please stay retired this time… ~~~~~~~~~~~ Winky Wright was fighting at middleweight for the first time. He collected an estimated $4 million dollars, his biggest purse to date. Even though Wright - Tito was not a championship fight, it drew a near sell-out crowd of 14,176 to the MGM Grand casino. Felix 'Tito' Trinidad closes the show with a 42-2, 35 KOs record. ~~~~~~~~~~~
5-15-2005
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