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Saturday, September 18
 
De La Hoya-Trinidad: Round-by-round

ESPN.com news services

The Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad fight in Las Vegas, originally expected to start around 11:30 p.m., began shortly after midnight ET.

At ringside for the much-anticipated championship showdown were Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard, who put on a welterweight title showdown of their own in Las Vegas on Sept. 16, 1981. Leonard won that memorable match when he stopped Hearns in the 14th round.

Also on hand were three other fighters: former heavyweight champion George Foreman, part of the pay-per-view telecast; former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson; and former middleweight champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

Trinidad wore a white karate-style outfit into the ring with a straw hat native to Puerto Rico. De La Hoya wore a hooded blue robe.

Decision
Felix Trinidad of Puerto Rico wins on majority decision. Judge Glen Hamada of Tacoma, Wash., scored the fight 114-114. Judge Jerry Roth of Las Vegas saw it 115-113 and Bob Logiste of Belgium had it 115-114, both for Trinidad.

Round 12
Both fighters reluctantly touched gloves to start the final round. De La Hoya got his feet tangled and stumbled at 30 seconds, bringing a roar from the crowd. Trinidad did not take advantage as the crowd shouted "Tito, Tito."

Trinidad got in two good right hands, then another at 1 minute. Action slowed.

De La Hoya was doing little punching, but then landed two stiff jabs. De La Hoya got in a short right to the head, then another. De La Hoya got in two more jabs. Trinidad got in a right hand and De La Hoya went backward with 50 seconds left. De La Hoya appeared to be out of gas, but stayed out of danger.

De La Hoya got in two punches to the head, then they exchanged punches as the fight ended. A decision is pending.

The Associated Press gives the round to: Trinidad.

Round 11

Trinidad opened with a jab and then missed two punches. De La Hoya was swollen around the left eye and Trinidad's left eye did not seem to be bothering him as much as might have been expected.

De La Hoya was backpedaling and the crowd booed. Trinidad got in two left hands to the head, then missed two big punches. De La Hoya got in a light left lead.

De La Hoya got in a jab at mid-round as Trinidad missed with one. They clinched for the first time in the fight and were separated by referee Mitch Halpern.

De La Hoya got in two jabs, but Trinidad got in a hook to the body, followed by two hard jabs by De La Hoya. Trinidad landed a hook high on the head, but missed a right hand.

Trinidad got in a right to the head and De La Hoya looked tired, but he came back with a flurry to the body and the head. He got in a good left hook to Trinidad's head as the crowd was screaming.

De La Hoya got in another flurry at the end of the round.

The Associated Press gives the round to: Trinidad.

Round 10
Some fans were voicing displeasure at the start of the round because there had been no knockdowns or anyone in serious trouble.

Trinidad landed a couple of jabs in the first 30 seconds. He simply could not get set in time to nail the constantly moving De La Hoya, who got in a left-right to the head.

Trinidad was wild with a big left hand. Trinidad got in a left hook to the head and then a short right at mid-round. De La Hoya got in a good hook to the body.

De La Hoya got in a couple of jabs, but missed to the body. He kept landing the jab. Trinidad came back with a right, but his left was blocked. Trinidad got in a left to the body. De La Hoya got in a jab, but Trinidad came back with two big rights to the head. De La Hoya landed three punches at the bell and they went at it toe-to-toe at the bell.

The Associated Press gives the round to: Trinidad.

Round 9
Trinidad got in a short right to begin the ninth round and De La Hoya circled away, landing a late jab. Trinidad got in a left to the body but De La Hoya came back with a jab. De La Hoya got in two punches to the body, a left to the head and three more punches to the body. Then a right to the body by De La Hoya connected.

De La Hoya got in two more jabs just past 1 minute. De La Hoya landed a right lead and two light jabs at mid-round. De La Hoya missed with two punches, and Trinidad hit him with a right to the jaw. Trinidad got in a right to the head and missed with a hook. De La Hoya got in a right hook in return.

De La Hoya got in two short rights. Then he got in a 1-2 with 30 seconds left and landed a counter-hook.

The Associated Press gives the round to: De La Hoya.

Round 8
Trinidad missed with a right hand as the crowd roared in anticipation of some action. De La Hoya got in two jabs at 30 seconds, then another jab. The jab was definitely his main weapon.

Trinidad got in a hard right to the face and De La Hoya came back with a hard right to the head. A left jab and right hand rocked Trinidad at 1:10. De La Hoya landed a right and left to the body and was warned to keep his punches up. They didn't appear to be low blows.

Trinidad threw a short left uppercut with not much on it. De La Hoya landed a right-left-right to the head coming off the ropes, then landed a right lead and a jab.

Trinidad appeared frustrated.

De La Hoya got in a jab and blocked one. De La Hoya got in a hook to the side of the head with 30 seconds left. Trinidad landed a left to the head with 15 seconds left, but De La Hoya moved away. De La Hoya got in a left-right to the head, then did it again.

The Associated Press gives the round to: De La Hoya.

Round 7
Trinidad also had a cut at the edge of the left eye at the beginning of the round.

De La Hoya got in a couple of light jabs and Trinidad hit with a left to the body. De La Hoya answered with two more jabs. He landed a short right and two more jabs.

The action slowed and there were some boos. De La Hoya got in two more jabs, then another two at the minute mark. De La Hoya got in a right lead and Trinidad got in a hard hook at mid-round. De La Hoya got in another jab, then circled away at 2 minutes.

Trinidad got in a right hand, but there was little action. Trinidad appeared to be loading up the right hand, looking for one punch to take control.

The boos grew louder late in the round, when De La Hoya landed a left and right and then a good right counter, but Trinidad came back with a right, then got warned for throwing a punch after the bell.

Both fighters made like they were going after each other following the bell.

The Associated Press gives the round to: Trinidad.

Round 6
Trinidad's left eye was swollen and seemed to be closing. De La Hoya got in a left, a right, and a left at about 30 seconds. Through the first five rounds, De La Hoya had connected with 48 left jabs to 19 by Trinidad.

De La Hoya continued to circle, then would stop to throw punches. Trinidad got in a right at mid-round and another right seconds later. Then De La Hoya answered with a jab and two strong rights.

Then it was back to circling and stalking for a long stretch. De La Hoya landed a left to the body with 20 seconds left, Trinidad got in two punches to the head. De La Hoya got in a right to the head, then two more rights.

The Associated Press gives the round to: De La Hoya.

Round 5
Trinidad got in a left hook to the head that was partially blocked and landed a right lead. De La Hoya landed a counter right at 30 seconds and got in another right to the head. Trinidad's big left hook was blocked.

De La Hoya got in a short left to the face. The round was following the pattern of the previous rounds. The action was very slow in the first half of the round.

De La Hoya got in a left jab. Trinidad got in a right to the face as De La Hoya backed away. De La Hoya missed a right and left hook, but then shook Trinidad at 2:10 with a combination. De La Hoya came back with a jab. He was not letting Trinidad get set and landed two more jabs before Trinidad landed a left. De La Hoya got in a right and left to the head with 5 seconds left.

The Associated Press gives the round to: De La Hoya.

Round 4
Trinidad missed with a right, but landed a hook. De La Hoya came back with a stiff jab. Both fighters remained cautious, respecting each other's power.

De La Hoya landed a right lead and a stiff jab at one minute. Trinidad landed a good right just past one minute.

De La Hoya went back to circling, then got in two jabs at 1:40, then they exchanged jabs. De La Hoya got in a good left to the body and Trinidad landed a right to the head. But De La Hoya came back with two more jabs.

Action slowed again. De La Hoya landed another jab and circled away as Trinidad stalked but was unable to get close. Trinidad landed a right to the head with 10 seconds left.

The Associated Press gives the round to: De La Hoya.

Round 3
The third round began much like the first two, with nothing happening in the first 30 seconds. Both fighters were being extremely cautious. Trinidad got in a hook. Trinidad also appeared to be bleeding from the nose, obviously caused by jabs.

The crowd was just waiting for something to happen at mid-round, when De La Hoya got in two stiff jabs. He then got in another jab. He kept getting in jabs, which were more effective than Trinidad's at this point.

Then De La Hoya got in three good jabs and a right uppercut. He kept hitting Trinidad with the jab. He missed a hook, but got in two jabs, then missed a right.

Near the end of the round, De La Hoya got in two more jabs, then a left and right to the head.

The Associated Press gives the round to: De La Hoya.

Round 2
Trinidad missed a right-hand lead to open the round and then landed a short hook. De La Hoya again circled, while Trinidad stalked, but not with much pressure.

There was more posing than punching in the first minute. De La Hoya got in a late jab and Trinidad answered with a jab. De La Hoya got in a fairly hard jab. Trinidad answered with a jab at mid-round and the crowd began chanting for Trinidad.

De La Hoya threw a flurry that missed, and then landed a right-hand lead near two minutes. Trinidad was short with a right lead and then got in a hook to the head with 40 seconds left.

Trinidad had a left hook blocked and then missed with another. De La Hoya missed with a right and a left, and Trinidad got in a right to the head before De La Hoya got in two jabs, a right and hook to the body, then a right hand lead to the head at the bell.

The Associated Press gives the round to: Trinidad.

Round 1
The start was delayed several minutes because Trinidad did not have a mouthpiece.

Little happened in the first 30 seconds as both men circled. De La Hoya got in a stiff left jab just before one minute. De La Hoya got in a left-right at mid-round. But he missed a big left hook that had the crowd oohing and aahing. They continued to circle, with little action. Trinidad was short with his jab for most of the round. He got one in with 40 seconds left, but De La Hoya came back witha left-right to the head and Trinidad got in a left to the head. The crowd started chanting "Oscar, Oscar" near the end of the round.

The Associated Press gives the round to: De La Hoya.




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