William Joppy vs. Félix Trinidad

History in the Making

Date	May 12, 2001
Venue	Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBA middleweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer William Joppy Félix Trinidad Nickname "Tito" Hometown Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S. Fajardo, San Juan, Puerto Rico Purse $1,100,000 $10,000,000 Pre-fight record 32–1–1 (24 KO) 39–0 (32 KO) Age 30 years, 8 months 28 years, 4 months Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) Weight 158+3⁄4 lb (72 kg) 159+1⁄4 lb (72 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBA Middleweight Champion WBA and IBF Light Middleweight Champion The Ring No. 2 ranked pound-for-pound fighter 2-division world champion
Result
Trinidad defeated Joppy by 5th round TKO

William Joppy vs. Félix Trinidad, billed as History in the Making, was a professional boxing match contested on May 12, 2001, for the WBA middleweight championship.

Background

In March 2001 Don King held a press conference at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, to announce a three fight Middleweight World Championship Series in order to produce the first undisputed middleweight champion since Marvin Hagler was stripped of the WBA title in February 1987. The first bout would see the longest reigning of the Middleweight titlists Bernard Hopkins face Keith Holmes, with WBA champ William Joppy pitted against unified Light middleweight (and former long reigning welterweight) champion Félix Trinidad. King compared the four contenders former greats in the division like Sugar Ray Robinson, Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler saying "We're talking about legends here, pure greatness, Felix is the eye of the hurricane. The question is: Can he conquer the elements?" Trinidad was regarded as the favourite to win the tournament.

On 14 April, Hopkins scored a dominate decision victory over Holmes moving into the final to await the winner between Joppy and Trinidad.

Joppy would appear unimpressed with Trinidad in the build up saying "I think he's a little overrated, I want to show he doesn't belong in the ring with me." Trinidad, a 3-1 favourite to win the bout, predicted a knockout victory.

The fight

The crowd of more than 18,000 at Madison Square Garden would witness a dominate display from Trinidad in his middleweight debut. Knocking Joppy down in the 1st 4th and 5th rounds before Arthur Mercante, Jr. opted to wave off the contest with 30 seconds left in the 5th.

Aftermath

Speaking after the bout Trinidad said "You guys saw tonight I'm a true middleweight. I beat the best middleweight tonight, and I will beat Hopkins". Joppy would credit Trinidad saying "He's a great champion, I never thought he could hit that hard. I never thought he would have the power that he had coming from 154 to 160 pounds. I've never been hit like that before."

With the victory Trinidad moved on to the final against Hopkins as well becoming the first former welterweight champion to win a middleweight title, since Roberto Durán against Iran Barkley in 1989.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Winner	Loser	Weight division/title belt(s) disputed	Result
Chris Byrd	Maurice Harris	USBA Heavyweight title	Unanimous decision
Vernon Forrest	Raul Frank	IBF World Welterweight title	Unanimous decision
Christy Martin	Kathy Collins	Welterweight (10 rounds)	Majority decision
Non-TV bouts
Daniel Seda	Nana Konadu	WBA Fedelatin Featherweight title	9th round TKO.
Michele Piccirillo	Elio Ortiz	Light Middleweight (12 rounds)	No Contest
Felix Flores	Gerald Gray	Welterweight (10 rounds)	4th round TKO.
Julio Cesar Green	Charles Whittaker	Super Middleweight (8 rounds)	Draw
Shamir Reyes	James Baker	Lightweight (4 rounds)	Draw
Chantel Stanciel	Alex Lubo	Light Middleweight (4 rounds)	2nd round TKO.
Freddie Cadena	Andre Baker	Super Lightweight (4 rounds)	Unanimous decision

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
United States	HBO