The Oscar DeLaHoya - Felix Trinidad decision is controversial among the fans and sportswriters who witnessed it. Can any big fight be without controversy anymore? It's almost ridiculous. I thought DeLaHoya won the fight with a beautiful display of boxing skills. In fact this was the best DLH ever! He landed the most damaging punches, and clearly landed the "clean and hard punches" until the last few rounds. He landed the crisper punches, the hardest body shots, and the best combinations. Trinidad didn't know what the word "combination" meant in this fight. He was throwing one punch at a time. It turned out to be a boxer (DLH) out- boxing a slugger (Trinidad). Only the better boxer was robbed of a deserved decision. The Associated Press had it 7-5 in rounds for DeLaHoya. An informal poll of newspapers at ringside had DeLahoya winning 12 of 17. Oscar won the "newspaper decision".
Most of Trinidads punches were blocked, hit DLH's gloves, and just plain missed. DeLaHoya boxed a beautiful fight. He landed nice body shots, he made Trinidad miss and he made him pay. A nice exhibition of boxing. I guess most modern fans don't understand what defense is. Many are not use to seeing fighters tuck their chin, block punches with their gloves, and counter-punch effectively. Aggression means nothing. There is no scoring category for aggression, only "effective aggression". Defense, ring generalship, and clean and hard punching are the other categories. DeLahoya was clearly the better defensive fighter and ring general, fighting his fight, making Trinidad miss- badly at times, and reducing him to a one punch at a time stalker. DeLahoya certainly landed the cleaner shots, while landing his share of the harder punches including buckling Trinidad on a couple of occasions. He gave away the last few rounds which was unpopular with many fans and the judges but he still won the fight.
I spent three hours reviewing the film at regular speed and slo-mo. I have changed my original score, both fighters missed frequently. But the film bears out that most of the loud "snaps", and "pops" of Trinidad's punches were landing on DeLaHoya's gloves. Only punches that land cleanly count. Compubox numbers show that Oscar landed nearly 100 more punches than Trinidad. The name of the game is "boxing" not "slugging". Oscar was the better boxer this night.
Here is an in-depth breakdown of the DeLaHoya-Trinidad fight round by round!
The bout opened with DLH having a jab blocked. A hook by Trinidad is blocked. A left jab by Trinidad hits Oscars glove. In the first 30 seconds no punch lands. Trinidad misses a jab. Fighters are circling cautiously at ring center. A jab by Trinidad is blocked by DLH. Trinidad misses with a left uppercut. A jab by Trinidad is short just before 2:00 minute mark. Trinidad misses another jab against dancing DeLaHoya. Trinidad grazes DLH with a jab at 1:44 mark of the round. He misses a second jab. A L-R by DLH grazes Trinidad. Neither fighter is effectively establishing themselves at mid-way point of round -the 1:30 mark. A jab is short by Trinidad. Both fighters miss with a left. DLH paws with a jab. A left hook by Trinidad is blocked by Oscar's elbow. Felix is short with a jab. They exchange jabs at 1:05 mark, neither is very effective. Trinidad misses yet another jab, and another is blocked by DLH's glove. Felix lands a light jab to the forehead at :51 second mark. Two jabs hit DeLaHoya's gloves. Trinidad misses a jab. He is throwing more punches, is the "aggressor", but is not landing. Trinidad misses another jab. Two more jabs hit DeLaHoya's glove by :35 second mark. Oscar moves in and opens up with a four punch combination, of which only one right lands, then moves back out. Trinidad lands a left hook to the body, a follow up hook is partially blocked by DeLaHoya's forearm. a right by Tito hits DeLahoya's glove. A left hook aimed at oscar's body misses. Trinidad lands a left hook to the body at :17 second mark. Felix lands a jab before the bell ends the first round.
Result: 10-9 Trinidad
Trinidad wins an uneventful first round.
The second round opens with DLH feinting two jabs. A right by Trinidad hits DLH's glove. Trinidad lands a left hook to the mouth at 2:45 mark, followed by a left jab. Trinidad misses a long left against a back peddling Oscar. A right is blocked by DLH. Trinidad is short with two jabs at 2:30 mark. Oscar is moving to his left. A light left lands by DLH. Trinidad is short with a jab. Felix lands a solid jab. Both fighters miss with lefts. A right by Tito is blocked by DLH's glove. Felix is the aggressor. Both fighters are again short with lefts, measuring each other. A left that makes allot of noise hits DLH's glove at 1:45 mark. Oscar then lands a strong left jab counter. Trinidads nose begins to bleed. Trinidad lands a right to the head before 1:30 mark. Another strong left jab lands to Tito's nose. A left by Trinidad hits DLH's glove. DLH opens up with a 3 punch flurry all missing. A left hook by Oscar hits Tito's glove. At one minute mark to go neither fighter is landing effectively with jabs. Trinidad lands a long right at :51 seconds. A left is short as DLH dances away. The announcers are impressed by a loud "hard left hook" at :42 second mark, which is blocked by Oscar's forearm. Trinidad misses a jab, another hits Oscars glove. DLH bursts forward with two jabs that miss and a grazing right. A right cross by Tito hits DLH's glove. DLH finishes the round with a straight left, a grazing right, and a left hook to the body which all land. DLH lands a right before the bell.
Result: 10-9 DLH
Oscar landed more often with the cleaner and most damaging punches. Most of Trinidads blows were blocked.
The third opens cautiously with both missing jabs. Tito misses a left uppercut at 2:40 mark. Trinidad is short with a left jab as Oscar remains elusive. They exchange left jabs after 2:30 mark, DLH's is stronger. DLH blocks a Tito jab. Trinidad lands a left hook at 2:13 of the round. Both are short with jabs. A left hook misses by Felix. The round is about even at mid-way point. DLH lands a very strong jab at 1:23 mark. Tito misses a L-R, a left by Tito hits DLH's glove. Oscar moves in, lands a quick and light 3 punch combo, and moves out. DLH lands a left jab, Tito misses. Oscar has definitely established that he has the superior speed, better jab, and better defense in this fight. DLH lands a right to the head at :55 mark. Tito lands a jab, misses a second. Tito lands a jab. Oscar lands a sizzling right uppercut at :45 sec's of the round. It is the best punch of the fight so far. A follow up hook and a right miss. They exchange jabs. Oscar throws a light combo of which one right lands. Oscar punctuates round with a real solid jab, two more quick lefts, and a right to the head which lands. A left by DLH is blocked.
Result: 10-9 DLH
Oscar gave him a boxing lesson in second half of round, and landed the hardest and cleanest punches of the round.
Tito opens the round by missing a big L-R (obvious in slo-mo) which impresses the crowd. DLH lands a left jab, followed by a strong right at 2:45 mark. He misses a left uppercut. Tito misses a left and a right. A left jab by Tito hits Oscars glove. DLH is short with a jab. DLh lands a right at 2:20 mark. Felix misses a jab, and Oscar counters with a good right to the head. An exchange of light jabs before 2:00 mark. Trinidad lands a solid right. DLH lands a left as he moves to his left. Trinidad misses a big right cross, Oscar is not there to be hit. DLH lands a light left jab, Oscar a solid jab at 1:38 mark. Tito misses a big hook. Oscar looks to have the edge at mid-way point of round. DLH lands a strong jab at 1:23 mark. They exchange jabs. DLH lands a hard left hook to the body, takes a hard left hook to the head, the exchange is equal but the crowd favors the head shot. Two snapping jabs by Oscar land at :50 mark. DLH lands a left hook. More than the first two minutes of the round belong to DLH. Trinidad lands a light right to the body as Oscar moves away from punch. Trinidad misses a left uppercut at :23 mark. DLH lands a jab at :18 mark. Trinidad lands a right, and a left-right before bell, his best punches of the round.
Result: 10-9 DLH
I guess some people think that Trinidads final three punches in last 10 seconds was enough to win a round that Oscar otherwise clearly outboxed Tito. Interestingly enough one judge Jerry Roth had Tito ahead 3 of the first four rounds?? What fight was he watching?
The crowd "oohs and aahs" as Trinidad throws a left hook that lands on DLH's glove and grazes the top of his head as he ducks. Tito is clearly the aggressor as he lands a solid jab. Trinidad then misses a long right that falls short. DLH lands a counter left, and misses a right at 2:30 mark. DLH lands a good L-R to the face at 2:22 of the round. DLH slips a Tito jab. A leaping left hook by Trinidad misses, a counter hook by DLH lands. Trinidad lands a right to the jaw as Oscar moves away. They exchange lefts at 2:00 mark. DLH wins first minute with crisp counter-punching. Solid left jab by DLH at 1:48 mark. A left hook by Tito hits DLH's glove. A right by Tito hits Oscar's glove. Trinidad lands a jab before half-way mark. Tito again misses, this time with a L-R at 1:25. DLH misses with a big hook. A nice 3 punch combination by Oscar, the last 2 land and jar Tito at :55 mark. The first two minutes of the round belong to DLH. Tito misses a wild hook. They exchange jabs. Trinidad misses a right. Trinidad lands a grazing right as Oscar moves back and away. A 3 punch combination by Oscar punctuates the round for DLH, of which a strong right lands by Oscar. Oscar finishes round with another hard right before the bell.
Result: 10-9 DLH
I don't understand how anyone could give this round to Trinidad. He misses badly and is blocked. He is one punch at a time. DLH lands almost all clean and hard punches. The boxing lesson continues.
DeLaHoya opens the sixth with a strong R-L to the body. DLH lands a jab as he moves left. DLH throws a 4 punch combination of which the last two land. They exchange light jabs before 2:00 mark. Oscar boxing very well winning the first minute easily. Trinidad missing. A right by Tito lands on Oscar's glove, a second right lands on Oscar's jaw at 1:35 mark, a left hook is blocked. Tito misses a right. Felix is still throwing one punch at a time, his lack of combination punching is obvious as he cannot get set. Tito lands a solid right. Oscar lands a jab. Oscar throws a five punch combination of which two rights to the head land. DLH lands two jabs, tito one. Another nice jab by Oscar. Tito paws with 4 jabs, all of them miss as he pursues an elusive DLH. Oscar lands a light short right at :30 mark. Oscar lands a hard left hook to body. Oscar blocks a left hook. A beautiful jab by Oscar. A hard right by Oscar lands at :18 mark. Rest of round is quiet.
Result: 10-9 DLH
No question about this one. Trinidad also has a cut above edge of left eye now.
DLH dancing, moving, jabbing at start of 7th. DLH lands with a couple of light jabs. Trinidad lands with a left hook to the body at 2:42 mark. DLH lands with two jabs as he moves away. A right by Tito hits DLH's glove. DLH lands two more jabs at 2:25 of the round. Tito lands a right high on the forehead, misses a left. Felix misses with a left, a right hits Oscar's glove. DLH lands two light left jabs before 2:00 mark. A 3 punch combination by Oscar is partially obscured by the camera angle, two of the punches appear to land. Oscar lands a solid jab. A right to head by DLH lands partially obscured also. A right by Tito is blocked. Trinidad explodes with a left hook, but to no avail, it lands on Oscar's glove at 1:37 of the round. Oscar lands a solid jab before mid-point of round. Tito misses a right cross by several feet as Oscar deftly dances away. Oscar lands a light jab. Tito again misses badly with the right (still one punch at a time). A double hook by Felix hits Oscars gloves before 1:00 mark. Tito misses two lefts, Oscar lands a straight left. Oscar lands a right, misses a left. Oscar lands a jab to the nose. DLH misses two jabs. DLH lands a light right with :36 left in the round. DLH boxing a smart fight. DLh lands a solid right at :18 left. DLH lands a left to the body. DLH lands a solid right. DLH misses 2 rights, then lands a right. Tito manages to land two jabs and a straight right before the bell. Trinidad lands a jab after the bell.
Result: 10-9 DLH
DeLaHoya simply giving a boxing lesson. Trinidads nose bleeding again after this round.
Tito misses a right at the start of eighth. DLH lands a light right at 2:40 mark. Tito lands a light left. Nothing much by 2:30 mark. A left hook by Tito is blocked. Trinidad misses a right badly at 2:12 left. Oscar lands a left hook, takes a right, lands a jab, makes Trinidad miss a huge left hook. Oscar opens up with a flurry none of which land cleanly at 2:00. in a second flurry lands a solid right. DLH lands a stronger right at 1:54 mark. Tito misses a hook. DLH opens with a L-R-L to body, a jab and a right to the head all of which land. DLH lands a left jab to the body, misses a right to the head. DLH lands a right to head at 1:29 mark, misses a left uppercut. Tito lands a solid right at 1:25, misses a left uppercut. Tito lands a straight right at 1:10. DLH counters with a flurry of which one left to the head and one right to the body land. Tito lands a right. Oscar lands two jabs after 1:00 mark. DLH lands a jab. A right is blocked by DLH, and he has a left hook blocked by Tito. DlH lands a left, takes a straight right of the face at :30 mark. Both fighters block hooks. Tito lands a nice hook near end of round.
Result: 10-9 DLH
Oscar won first two minutes, Tito final minute. DLH wins 2/3 of round.
Tito lands a short right before 2:45 of round, the first punch of the round. A left hook hits DLH's glove. They exchange jabs. Tito is short with a right. Felix lands a left hook to the body. DLH lands two jabs. A right by DLH hits Tito's glove. Oscar explodes with a four punch flurry; a L-R-L to the body, and a strong left uppercut to the head, then misses a right to the head. DLH lands another 3 punch combination to the body. DLH is short with a left and a right. DLH lands a hard right to the body at 2:08 mark. Trinidad lands a right before 2:00 minute mark. DLH wins the first minute. Tito lands a grazing right, then misses a left, another left misses. Oscar lands two jabs. Tito lands a L-R. Oscar lands a jab. A left hook by Tito is blocked at 1:25, a right is short. Trinidad lands a straight right, misses a hook, followed by another miss, and lands a right at 1:00 mark. The second minute is Tito's as effective aggressor. DLH misses a left, Trinidad misses a hook. DLH lands a right at :53. DLH pitt-pats out of corner at :44. Tito's right grazes DLH, he misses two lefts. DLH dancing misses a hook to body, and a right to head. DLH lands a strong right at :32 mark. A light left uppercut lands by Tito at :15. A light right by Tito lands.
Result: 10-9 DLH
Most of the last half of the round was about equal. DLH won the early part of the round big. DLH's round.
DLH lands a jab. Felix lands a jab to the forehead, misses a right and a big left hook/uppercut. A left hook hits Oscar's glove. Tito lands a right to the head at 2:32, and a solid left hook around Oscar's glove. Felix, in one of his few attempts at a combination, fails to capitalize as the left hook and left uppercut are partially blocked, and the right misses. Tito lands a right at 1:55 mark. DLH lands a L-R. Tito misses four consecutive rights. Tito misses a big hook after mid-way point. Tito lands a left, a big hook is blocked, and he misses a jab. Tito lands a light right. Oscar pounds a hard L-R-L to the body at 1:10 mark. DLH lands a hook. Tito misses an uppercut. DLH lands a left, as he is jabbing and moving, but missing more than earlier rounds. A left hook by Tito hits Oscar's glove at :31 mark, a second hook lands to the body. Tito continues to back up DLH. Oscar lands a left to the head. Tito has a hook blocked, alnds a right to the body. Tito is short with a right to the head. Tito lands a solid right to the head at :15. DLH opens with a flurry of which only the right lands cleanly with 7 sec's left. DLH lands a right to head before bell.
Result: 10-9 Trinidad
Trinidad managed to be busier fighter as DLH slows down.
Trinidad misses an uppercut and is nailed by a good left hook. Tito misses a right. They exchange jabs. Trinidad lands a solid L-R. A left hook hits DLH's glove. Tito misses a right. Tito lands a right at 2:13 mark. Tito lands a stiff left as DLH dances away in coast mode. Tito lands a right. Oscar misses a jab. Oscar misses a left and Trinidad lands two left uppercuts. DLH is short with a right, and misses a hook. Tito misses a hook and a right before 2:00 mark. DLH lands a right to the nose. Tito lands a right to the jaw at 1:47. DLH lands two jabs. Tito misses one in return. Tito lands a solid right at 1:30 mark. They fall into a clinch as DLH holds. Tito lands a right to the head and a right to the body. DLH lands a hard left jab. Tito lands a solid hook to the body. Another good hook lands at :47 to go. Tito grazes Oscar with a long right to the jaw. DLH throws a L-R-L to the body, misses a hook to the head. DLH blocks a hook by Trinidad. DLH lands a hook at :20 mark, and ducks a counter-hook as he slips off ropes. DLH lands a jab, Tito misses a hook.
Result: 10-9 Trinidad
Trinidad in control this round.
DLH has a jab blocked. Trinidad misses a right. DLH just running now. Tito lands a straight right to the chin at 2:40 mark. Tito lands a L-R. Tito lands a long right to the jaw at 2:06. and lands another right. DLH lands a solid right before 2:00 mark. DLH jabs, moves. Tito lands a jab. Felix lands a right. A nice jab by Oscar snaps Tito's head back at 1:44 of round. Oscar then does nothing but dance and run until 1:17 of round when he lands a jab. Tito misses a right. DLH is short with a right. Tito misses a hook. DLH lands two jabs, has a left hook partially blocked. Tito lands a hard right to the body after 1:00 mark. A long glancing right by Tito lands. A hard right to the body Tito at :37. Neither fighter does much of anything as Oscar runs until :12 mark when Tito lands a solid hook. Neither land cleanly in flurry of final seconds.
Result: 10-9 Trinidad
Trinidad wins last round as Oscar runs to protect his lead.
Final Score Based on Intensive Study of Film Evidence:
8-4 rounds, or 116-112 DeLaHoya.
Official Scoring:
Judge Glen Hamada 114-114 Even, Jerry Roth 115-113, Bob Logiste 115-114 Both for Trinidad.
Final Conclusion: This decision was unjust. It wasn't the exciting slugfest fans expected, but DLH gave Trinidad a boxing lesson. Tito threw virtually no combinations, and was reduced to a punch at a time fighter who was out-classed. Yes, Oscar shouldn't have coasted the last few rounds, especially the final round, but he did win that fight. It's too bad the Judges didn't see it that way.