Through the magic of Bit Torrent, I have been able to get a rip of the Mayorga Trinidad fight from PPV last night. Holy crap, what a fight.
The torrent picks up at the tale of the tape, as Jim Lampley makes a joking comment aboyt Mayorga wearing a sweatsuit "with coins or other stuff in his pockets" to make 158 lbs. As Tito makes his way to the ring, HBO shows that he hasn't fought in two years and 143 days. After 14 minutes of prelim, including three seperate national anthems, the fight gets underway. Mayorga, by the way, has dyed his hair bright freaking red. As the first round starts, the commentators observe that hopefully this fight will be closer to Hagler/Leonard then the Hopkins/DeLaHoya fight.
Round one: Mayorga comes out blasting, and Tito seems a bit shaky on his feet at the start, though Lampley and Jones observe that he's usually shaky in the early going. The crowd is obviously for Tito, as they are chanting his name. Mayorga is just bombing Tito, then begins to taunt him, saying hit me and dropping his hands. Tito does take a couple of large shots but stays up. Tito makes a big comeback as the round ends because Mayorga seems to tire. 10-9 Mayorga. (Lederman had it 10-9 Tito)
Round two: Both fighters get some shots off as the round starts, then Tito starts to go to work on Mayorga. Mayorga is getting some stuff in, but it doesn't seem to be affecting Tito much. As the round progresses, Tito continues to just pound away at Mayorga, and he doesn't seem to know what to do, dropping his hands a couple of itmes. Mayorga does rally late, but too little too late, as this was easily 10-9 Tito, maybe even 10-8. (Lederman: 10-9 Tito)
Quick stat graphic: Power punches after two rounds - Tito is 47/78 for a 60%(!) connect rate, while Mayorga is 29/104 for only a 28% rate. Between rounds, Mayorga's corner is telling him to jab more and keep his hands up, while Tito's corner is basically cheerleading.
Round three: Tito and Mayorga trade shots evenly, as Lampley observes that the 35 connects that Tito had in round two are the most ever landed on Mayorga. Tito gets some heavy offense in, but Mayorga soaks it and fires back with some of his own. At 50 seconds, Mayorga hits Tito with a flurry that makes him touch one glove to the canvas. That's enough to score a knockdown, as the ref jumps in and counts the 8 on Tito. Mayorga continues to push as the round comes to a close, and it's 10-8 Mayorga, though without the knockdown, he probably would have won the round anyway.(lederman: 10-8, and he says that Tito is clearly winning).
They show a couple of replays during the break, and it does appear Tito was more off balance then anything else, but his glove does hit the canvas, so it's a knockdown.
Round four: More of the same, as Tito and Mayorga go toe for toe. The commentators discuss fatigue, as it does appear that Mayorga is BLOWN UP~!(TM ITVR). Tito nearly slips again with about 1:10 in the round, but Mayorga is not able to take advantage, and Tito finishes the round with some punishing body work and combinations. 10-9 Tito, easily. (Lederman: 10-9)
Mayorga's corner is telling him to relax and go to the combos more. He's obviously tired.
Round five: Tito turns it on. Mayorga is beginning to back up, and Tito's not having it, as he continues to press forward. As the round wears on, Roy Jones notes that perhaps Mayorga should go back to the 147 ranks. As the round draws to a close, Tito pounds away at Mayorga, and I find myself wondering how Mayorga is standing. Mauorga also has a nice cut under the left eye. Definitely a 10-8 round for Tito. (Lederman: 10-8)
Trinidad - 48/66 Power punches in round five~!
Round six: Tito is obviously smelling blood. He pounds his chest and smiles at the crowd as the bell rings, and then comes out pounding. Mayorga's barely even putting up an effort as Lampley observes that Tito's giving him the biggest pounding he's ever gotten. Lampley also says that Mayorga's never been knocked down in a fight, to which Roy Jones retorts "he is tonight." With 45 seconds left, Trinidad apparently hits Mayorga in the hip with a low blow, which gets Mayorga a rest, but no point deduction for Tito. Lampley wonders if Mayorga's acting, and HBO gets a nice closeup of his face, which is banged up nicely. They show the punch, and it's definitely a low blow. After about two minutes, Mayorga comes out, and they finish the round rather spectacularly, as Mayorga seems to get something back. 10-9 Tito, as the flurry by Mayorga was still not enough to win him the round. (Lederman: 10-9)
Round seven: Also known as Tito Takes A Round Off. Mayorga pours on some offense as Tito seems to be conserving his energy. Lampley notes Tito's consistent 60% work rate over the fight so far, though not in this round. With 55 seconds left, Tito seems to throw another low blow to the hip, though as Mayorga tries to take his break, the ref tells him to turn around and get back into it. Tito does seem to get back on his horse after that, but they finish the round trading, and I'd probably say this one's a 10-9 round for Mayorga, though Tito made it close late. (Lederman disagres with me, giving it to Tito 10-9)
In the break, they show the "low" blow, and it's on Mayorga's butt, so I suppose it's low, but Jones correctly observes that you shouldn't turn away from your opponent, even if you think you've got a call.
Round eight: Mayorga comes out firing, as the commentators speculate about a second wind. Lampley says Mayorga's thrown 512 punches in the fight so far. This has been a very clean fight so far, but now Mayorga holds Tito's head down and then clinches up. With 1:45 left, Tito turns it on huge, and at the 1:24 mark, Mayorga goes down for the first time ever in his career on a huge body blow. Mayorga gets up from his knees at the count of nine. Mayorga tries to come back, and gets knocked down again at :52. He gets up at 8 this time. Tito, who has been standing up on the top rope, assuming he's won, has to come back down and goes in for the kill. At :22, Mayorga goes down for the third time, and the ref waves it off.
Your winner, at 2:38 of Round 8, after a two and a half year layoff, Felix "Tito" Trinidad. Let me say this, in no uncertain terms, and for the cheap seats:
MATCH OF THE YEAR, KIDS.
Lampley notes that Trinidad was 39/47 on power shots in round 8, "that's what you call target practice." Total punches: Tito 290/460, for an amazing 63% workrate. Mayorga on the other hand, was 141/564 for a 25% rate. Power punches: Tito was 218/329 for a 66% power rate(after a 2 1/2 year layoff, let's not forget.) Mayorga, 128/391 for a 33% rate.
Post fight, Tito says he dominated the fight(no shit), that Mayorga took a lot more of his abuse then he expected, but that Mayorga never hurt him, and that the knockdown wasn't really a knockdown. He also dodges the "who's next" question, saying it's up to Don King. Mayorga is shown heading to the back, electing not to be interviewed. The torrent stops before Jones and Lampley's post-mortem on the fight.
So what's next for Tito? Larry Merchant posed the obvious question. A grudge match with Bernard Hopkins, or a bigger money match with Oscar De La Hoya? If I'm Tito, I'd say take the match with De La Hoya, because I just don't think anyone's gonna beat Hopkins anytime soon. But if anyone does, then maybe Tito might be the guy. But he should definitely chase Oscar back to 154 first before he goes after Hopkins.
Again, kids, MOTY stuff here, and if you see one fight this year, this should be it. Mad props, as it were, to "Snoopy360" for being kind enough to upload this on the torrent site that I go to.
