[kenyan_cheena]

SAN JUAN SHOCKER:
TRINIDAD FALLS AT FIRST HURDLE

Monday 9 September 2002

The opening series of bouts in the International Boxing League's Welterweight division regional qualifiers kicked off tonight at San Juan's Escobar Stadium, the card producing a stunning upset when home crowd favourite Felix Trinidad lost a unanimous decision verdict to Cuba's Jose Stable in the evening's Main Event.

Following the losses of Mike McCallum (Middleweight) and Graciano Rocchigiani (Light-Heavyweight) during the first two weeks of IBL competition, Trinidad becomes the third Sydney Olympics medallist to experience the bitter taste of professional debut defeat. His failure might just be the most shocking of the three, as he was expected to find little trouble against Stable and came into the fight in superb condition, something McCallum did not do back on August 29.

Having seen his friend Wilfred Benitez score a convincing victory in the Co-Feature Trinidad made his way to the ring with a smile on his face and in high spirits. By comparison Stable looked to have undertrained for the fight, almost as if he had conceeded defeat weeks beforehand. After the opening two rounds the fight was following that exact script, Trinidad dominating with speed and precision, outlanding the Cuban 70-38 in those two frames. The silver medallist appeared to be on his way to an easy victory, to say the least.

But in round three the fight turned in Stable's favour and, astonishingly, stayed there for the remainder of the contest. Although Trinidad made no excuses afterwards many at ringside were saying that he must have suffered some sort of injury sometime during the 3rd, a round that Stable was able to control with a snapping left jab and greater aggression. Trinidad came back into the contest somewhat in round four, but something had lit a fire under Stable and he threw a remarkable 131 punches in the round, landing 27 of them. He also cut Trinidad under the right eye, a region which was starting to show some worrying swelling.

The Puerto Rican looked completely and utterly bemused before the start of round five, as if he had not expected to encounter anything close to this level of resistance. He's regarded as one of the top Welterweights in boxing and should have been able to get himself back in the contest, but what happened in the final two rounds defied logic and was even more shocking than what transpired in the 3rd and 4th. Jose Stable didn't just win the last two rounds. He battered, punished and humiliated Felix Trinidad in front of his own people, who could only sit in stunned silence, some booing their hero, others making an early trip to the exits.

It was surreal to see the Cuban picking a rapidly tiring Trinidad off with that potent jab and a chopping right hand. Apparently underdone and having no chance of victory coming in, Jose Stable had just delivered one helluva surprise to the boxing public. In rounds five and six combined he outlanded Trinidad 105-29, more than doubling his total for the fight in those six minutes.

Punch totals

Jose Stable: 202/490 (.412)
Felix Trinidad: 117/313 (.373)

By the time the judge's decisions were revealed more than half the stadium was empty. All three were in uniform agreement: Stable the winner by a 58-56 verdict. After losing the first two rounds, he swept the final four on all three cards. This was a defeat of the type that Trinidad had never suffered over the course of a storied, fantastic amateur career, a fact that made it all the more extraordinary.

(to be continued)