Félix Trinidad Félix Juan Trinidad García (born January 10, 1973), popularly known as "Tito" Trinidad, is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes and is considere ...

vs.

Bernard Hopkins Bernard Hopkins Jr. (born January 15, 1965) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2016. He is one of the most successful boxers of the past three decades, having held multiple world championships in two weight class ...

, billed as ''And Then There Was One'', was a boxing match that took place on September 29, 2001, at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

in New York City, between WBC and IBF

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

champion

and WBA

champion

to unify all three titles and decide the first undisputed middleweight champion since

Marvin Hagler Marvelous Marvin Hagler (born Marvin Nathaniel Hagler; May 23, 1954 – March 13, 2021) was an American professional boxer. He competed in boxing from 1973 to 1987 and reigned as the undisputed champion of the middleweight division from 1980 t ...

. The winner would also become ''The Ring'' middleweight champion. The undercard featured championship fights in three other weight classes.

Background

Hopkins had made 12 consecutive title defenses as a

and was looking to make it 14, tying him with

Carlos Monzón Carlos Roque Monzón (7 August 1942 – 8 January 1995), nicknamed Escopeta (''Shotgun''), was an Argentine professional boxer who held the undisputed world middleweight championship for seven years. He successfully defended his title 14 times a ...

for record defences. At around the same time, Félix Trinidad had cleaned out the

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

division, defeating everybody in front of him, including a win over

Oscar De La Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born February 4, 1973) is an American Promoter (entertainment), boxing promoter and former professional boxing, professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 list of boxing sextuple ch ...

. Following this he made the move to Super Welterweight defeating

Fernando Vargas Fernando Javier Vargas (born December 7, 1977) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2007. He was a two-time light middleweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 1998 to 2000, and the WBA title from 2 ...

and was by this time considered to be one of the best boxers in the world by many. He then decided to move up to middleweight. Don King had then organized a middleweight tournament featuring Keith Holmes,

William Joppy William Torelle Joppy (born September 11, 1970) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2011, and held the WBA middleweight title three times between 1996 and 2003. Professional career Turning pro in 1993, Joppy built ...

, Bernard Hopkins & Félix Trinidad. On April 14, 2001, Hopkins defeated Keith Holmes by unanimous decision to retain IBF middleweight championship and also capture the WBC belt. By defeating Holmes, Hopkins advanced to the final.BBC, Sports
Hopkins waits for next 'victim'
''

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

.co.uk'', 2001-05-15, Retrieved on 2008-08-24 The bout was originally scheduled for September 15, 2001, but because of the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

it was postponed for two weeks until September 29.BBC, Sports
Trinidad fight rescheduled
''

.co.uk'', 2001-09-18, Retrieved on 2008-08-24 The event marked the first time it was aired on HBO PPV, following the rebranding from TVKO.

The fight

The fight began slowly, with both fighters circling the ring at a distance and trading jabs in a close first round. The second round follows suit, with Hopkins and Trinidad still feeling each other out and staying away from one another. Hopkins lands the first big punch of the fight, an overhand right just before the bell. Hopkins begins to get comfortable in the third and take the fight to Trinidad, landing his jab consistently from the outside. In the fourth, the pace picks up and Trinidad lands his first power punches of the night. Hopkins takes the punches well and comes back with big blows of his own in the round's closing seconds. Hopkins, typically known for his brawling style, continues to go against form in the fifth by constantly moving around the ring and outboxing Trinidad. The style seems to confuse Trinidad, who gets caught by good shots throughout the round. Trinidad has his best round in the sixth, backing Hopkins against the ropes and landing multiple left hooks. It is the first round that clearly goes to Trinidad. The pace slows again in the seventh as both fighters look to catch their second wind. Hopkins remains the more mobile fighter, dancing away from most of Trinidad's punches. Hopkins is really beginning to outclass Trinidad and lands numerous good combinations. Trinidad gamely continues to come forward, but cannot find the target with any big shots. Trinidad senses he is in trouble and comes out firing in the tenth. But after throwing several flurries that do no damage, it appears he has punched himself out. Hopkins lands huge punches in the last minute and stuns Trinidad with a right to the chin just before the bell. Trinidad comes for the eleventh on very shaky legs. By contrast Hopkins is looking completely fresh and Trinidad begins to hold on in desperation. Before the last round, Trinidad is slumped in his corner exhausted, while Hopkins smiles and looks animated on his stool. Hopkins lands punch after punch on an obviously beaten Trinidad. Midway through the round, he connects with a huge right to the chin that leaves Trinidad crumpled on the canvas. Felix Trinidad Sr. enters the ring and tells Steve Smoger to stop the fight. At the time of the stoppage, Bernard Hopkins was leading the bout on all three judges' scorecards. Don Ackerman had the bout 109–100 whilst both

Stanley Christodoulou Stanley Christodoulou (Greek: Στάνλυ Χριστοδούλου; born 31 January 1946) is a South African international boxing judge and referee of Greek Cypriot descent. Christodoulou has judged bouts in his native South Africa, as well as int ...

& Anek Hongtongkam scored the bout 107–102 all in favour of Bernard Hopkins.

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

unofficial ringside scorer

Harold Lederman Harold Lederman (January 26, 1940 – May 11, 2019) was an American boxing judge and analyst. He began his career as a boxing judge in 1967 and joined the cast of '' HBO World Championship Boxing'' in 1986, and was there until HBO dropped boxin ...

had Hopkins up 108–101.

Aftermath

After the fight, Bernard Hopkins was named 2001 Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year, and also won this award from the World Boxing Hall of Fame. Félix Trinidad went on to fight Hacini Cherifi before announcing his retirement from boxing. He then made several comebacks, defeating

Ricardo Mayorga Ricardo Antonio Mayorga Perez (born October 3, 1973) is a Nicaraguan professional boxer and former mixed martial artist. In boxing he is a former two-weight world champion, having held the unified WBA (Unified), WBC, ''Ring'' magazine, and li ...

and losing to

Winky Wright Ronald Lamont "Winky" Wright (born November 26, 1971) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2012. He is a two-time light middleweight world champion and was the last to hold the undisputed title at that weight until ...

and

Roy Jones Jr. Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes, including middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. As an amateur he r ...

In September 2009, Trinidad announced that he had officially retired from Boxing. His father, Félix Trinidad, Sr. announced that his son had not even entered a gym following his January 2008 defeat to Roy Jones Jr. Bernard Hopkins went on to defeat several big names, including

and

as well as defend his middleweight title another six times, making it twenty defences before finally being dethroned by

Jermain Taylor Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed champion in the middleweight division, having defeated Bernard Hopkins in 2005, and in doing s ...

. Following the two Taylor fights, Hopkins defeated 3-to-1 betting favourite,

Antonio Tarver Antonio Deon Tarver (born November 21, 1968) is an American former professional boxer and boxing commentator. In boxing he competed from 1997 to 2015, and held multiple light heavyweight world championships, including the WBA (Unified), WBC, ...

. He then defeated

in a catchweight 170 lb fight. Following this he lost a close split decision to

Joe Calzaghe Joseph William Calzaghe ( ; born 23 March 1972) is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including unified and lineal titles at super-middleweight, and ...

, but rebounded with a dominant victory over undefeated

champion,

Kelly Pavlik Kelly Robert Pavlik (born April 5, 1982) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2012. He won the unified WBC, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine and lineal middleweight titles by defeating Jermain Taylor in 2007, and made thr ...

. On 21 May 2011, Hopkins at the age of 46 became the oldest world champion in boxing history by defeating Jean Pascal by unanimous decision for the WBC and The Ring Light Heavyweight Championship.

Rematch

Following his victory over

, Hopkins began a search for an opponent. Many names were thrown around including

Tomasz Adamek Tomasz "Tomek" Adamek (; born 1 December 1976) is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2018. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC light heavyweight title from 2005 to 2007, and the IBF a ...

Chad Dawson Chad Dawson (born July 13, 1982) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019. He held multiple world championships at light heavyweight, and was one of the most highly regarded boxers in that weight class between 2006 ...

and

Steve Cunningham Steven Ormain Cunningham (born July 15, 1976) is an American professional boxer who held the IBF cruiserweight title twice between 2007 and 2011. His nickname, "USS", is a reference to his US Navy service on the aircraft carriers and betwee ...

as well as potential rematches with

Glen Johnson Glen McLeod Cooper Johnson (''né'' Stephens; born 23 August 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played predominantly as a right back. Johnson began his career at West Ham United, spending time on loan at Millwall, and was ...

and

. None of the aforementioned bouts materialised during this time, and Hopkins was approached by

Don King Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups. King's career highlights include, among multiple other enterprises, promoting "The Rumble in the Jungle" and the ...

about a potential rematch with Trinidad. Representatives for the pair met but were unable to hash out a deal. Bernard Hopkins instead opted to face

Enrique Ornelas Enrique Andrade Ornelas (born September 17, 1980) is a Mexican professional boxer. A two-time world title challenger, Ornelas challenged for the WBO super middleweight title in 2010, as well as the WBA light heavyweight title in 2012. Backgroun ...

and to fight

in a rematch. He won both bouts by unanimous decision.

Fight card

Confirmed bouts:

Broadcasting

Notes

:1.Originally scheduled on September 15, 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trinidad, Hopkins 2001 in boxing 2001 in sports in New York City 2000s in Manhattan September 2001 sports events in the United States Boxing matches at Madison Square Garden

Hopkins Hopkins is an English and Welsh patronymic surname derived from the personal name Hopkin and the genitive ending -''s''. Hopkin is itself a pet form of the name Hobb, a shortening of Robert (with alteration of the initial consonant). Notable peop ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

Boxing matches refereed by Steve Smoger Boxing on HBO Middleweight championship matches Pay-per-view boxing matches Sports events affected by the September 11 attacks