Round by Round: Felix Trinidad vs. Ronald Wright.
| In the main event of the evening, Felix Trinidad and Ronald Wright meet to decide who might be in the running to fight undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins, as their fight is billed as a WBC middleweight title eliminator. Wright bounces towards the ring, |  |
smiling and the crowd respond very well to his entrance. Trinidad approaches the ring, soaking up the great atmosphere, looking confident, fired up and enjoying the crowd’s wild reaction to his presence.
Round one: Wright starts out with a good jab. Trinidad does nothing in the early going. Trinidad tries to get off some one-two combinations, but Wright owns the round with the consistency of his jab as he continually beats Trinidad to the punch. Wright’s accuracy is on point as he easily takes the first round.
Score: 10-9 Wright.
Round two: Trinidad has his moments early on and also with a late flurry of hooks and right hands, but for the most part, it is Wright once again dominating matters with his jab. Wright soon finds that he can land his straight left hand without too much of a problem. Trinidad cannot find a way to establish his jab here, a worrying sign for him.
Score: 10-9 Wright.
Round three: Wright simply cannot miss with his jab and left hand at this point. Trinidad tries to hook to the head and get in some body shots but Wright’s defense is just too solid. Trinidad cannot seem to make a dent in Wright who looks very comfortable at the 160-pound weight class.
Score: 10-9 Wright.
Round four: Trinidad is hooking but Wright is too good in defense once again. Wright comes back hard against Trinidad’s assault in the opening seconds, making for the fight’s first real excitement. Wright lands clean with just about everything he throws as Trinidad’s lateral movement leaves a lot to be desired. Trinidad is not landing enough, but Wright does not look worried even when Trinidad does manage to get through with a solid looking punch. Trinidad has his first success in the fight towards the end of the round as he lands two solid left hooks before the bell and Wright smiles in acknowledgement of their effect.
Score: 10-9 Wright.
Round five: Trinidad lands a right hand. Wright goes back to his jab and they trade lead jabs for a while. Wright is not doing as much as he was earlier in the fight. Trinidad is warned for a low punch. Wright reassumes his dominance once again as it becomes obvious that Trinidad is being shut out of the fight.
Score: 10-9 Wright.
Round six: Trinidad’s output is better in this round but he is not doing nearly enough to tire Wright. Wright begins to step in and double up with his jab followed by a straight left hand that rocks Trinidad. Trinidad might be getting weary because of the sheer consistency of Wright’s punches, even though they do not seem to have much effect.
Score: 10-9 Wright.
Round seven: Wright is not letting Trinidad have any advantage he does not already have and the fight is looking more and more like an embarrassing lesson for the Puerto Rican slugger. Trinidad tries to get through but he is completely ineffective for the most part as Wright is administering a perfect fight plan in offense and defense.
Score: 10-9 Wright.
Round eight: Wright is in complete control of the fight at this point. Wright’s defense is awesome and he is able to land on Trinidad seemingly at will. Trinidad must be remembering the lesson he got from Bernard Hopkins years ago as Wright is doing almost exactly the same thing in breaking Trinidad down and not allowing him any room to get his own work going.
Score: 10-9 Wright.
Round nine: Trinidad has a good moment in this round early on but Wright just goes back to basics and renders Trinidad completely useless. Trinidad gets a point deduction for a low punch infraction. The fight is almost hopelessly out of Trinidad’s reach and he almost certainly needs a stoppage or several knockdowns.
Score: 10-8 Wright.
Round ten: Barring a few minor outbursts, you could take a copy of one round preceding this one and paste it to represent the entire fight as round after round, Wright comes out and jabs, keeping Trinidad in his place and there is nothing that Trinidad can do about it. It is textbook boxing versus absolutely nothing from Trinidad. Wright punctuates the round with an eye-catching lead uppercut that jolts Trinidad.
Score: 10-9 Wright.
Round eleven: It is the same notes again as Wright outclasses Trinidad in every way. Wright has simply humilated Trinidad in this fight, and unless a sheer miracle arises, Wright cannot lose this fight as I would be surprised to see Trinidad given a single round on the scorecards.
Score: 10-9 Wright.
Round twelve: Wright closes out the perfect fight with a solid round, Trinidad tries to do something here but it is entirely hopeless now, and he knows it all too well. Where was the tactical switch, where were the gear shifts, where was anything whatsoever that might unlock the Wright defense?
Score: 10-9 Wright.
The winner, by scores of 120-107, 119-108 and 119-108, Ronald “Winky” Wright.
Jim Cawkwell can be reached at jimcawkwell@yahoo.co.uk