Boxing: Trinidad vs. Hopkins preview

The middleweight unification title fight between Felix Trinidad and Bernard Hopkins should be one of the most brutal and entertaining fights that we have seen in a long time.

The animosity between the two fighters has reached a fever pitch because of Hopkins relentless bad mouthing of Trinidad and his Puerto Rican fans. This has made Trinidad avoid contact with the media and caused him to focus on going for a quick, devastating knockout.

Trinidad fights an aggressive counter punching style, which is a direct contrast to Hopkins bruising, slow-paced style. Hopkins likes to grab and hold to frustrate his opponent and has been known to use a low blow or two to gain an advantage. Low blows could be a problem in this fight because both fighters won't shy away from using them, which could lead to points being taken away or even one of them being disqualified.

Trinidad will more than likely come out looking for a knockout in the early rounds to see how it affects Hopkins. This could be dangerous because Hopkins is a very effective counter puncher. Hopkins will also look to taunt Trinidad in hopes of making him fight overly aggressive.

The difference in the fight will be Trinidad's experience in big fights. If Hopkins makes a mistake, Trinidad will capitalize on it and knockout him out with either hand. Trinidad has also proven that he can recover from being hurt and come back to win a fight.

I think Trinidad will stop Hopkins in the late rounds because he is motivated to inflict serious pain on Hopkins. After this fight he can start looking towards a superfight with Roy Jones.