And yet his current support is but a fraction of the backing he received when he was 28, undefeated and on the cusp of winning a world title in his third division. The world was Trinidad’s oyster.

At the end of 2000, Trinidad battered Fernando Vargas and scored a last-round stoppage to unify the junior middleweight title. He was The Ring's No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter, second only to Roy Jones Jr.

Don King’s enthusiasm for promoting Trinidad waned around the time the fighter and his father Félix, Sr. took King to court in the late 1990s. But when the group reunited, King and the Trinidads worked toward a singular purpose: get “Tito” Trinidad to the top.

A showdown between Trinidad and Jones seemed more inevitable than impossible, weight difference be damned. Besides, Trinidad already did a chunk of the work by defeating fellow welterweight star Oscar de la Hoya before moving up to unify junior middleweight. But Jones was still all the way up at light heavyweight, 21 pounds heavier, and his shredded physique suggested he wasn’t cutting a single pound. Trinidad would have to keep moving up.

Apart from simply being a star or being popular, the best way for Trinidad to drum up credibility for an eventual fight with Jones was to collect titles in new divisions on his way. In early January of 2001, boxing writers talked about meetings between King and HBO brass over the future of Trinidad and the middleweights who held titles, Bernard Hopkins, Keith Holmes and William Joppy.

By late January, Trinidad and all three middleweights inked a deal to stage a middleweight tournament, with the winner of a Hopkins-Holmes fight meeting the winner of Joppy-Trinidad. The ultimate victor of the tournament would hold all three major sanctioning organization belts, then considered an undisputed claim to the title.

Hopkins had his belt the longest, and the reigns of both Holmes and Joppy had been interrupted by lesser fighters who briefly won their belts, thus Hopkins, the only one of the four who wasn’t already aligned with King, needed to be part of the tournament. King’s promises won Hopkins over and the Philadelphia darkhorse signed a three-year, six-bout contract with the promoter. On the other hand, many experts favored Trinidad to win the tournament outright, but only if he could get by Joppy.

Over the next few weeks, Trinidad and Joppy negotiated before agreeing to fight on May 12 at Madison Square Garden. The location made it easy to attract partisan support, though only for Trinidad, as Joppy fought more in Las Vegas than at home in the Washington, D.C. area during his time as a top fighter.

A lack of distinct personality and star potential prevented Joppy from becoming an in-demand fighter, and he wasn’t much of a trash talker. At a press conference or two he accused Trinidad of being fat, not a natural middleweight. Trinidad laughed off the accusation before actually affirming it: “[Joppy]’s saying the truth. He’s been a middleweight. I’m going there for the first time.”

Hopkins defeated Holmes by lackluster decision in April, confirming that he would be in the middleweight tournament finale. But on the heels of other top fighters like Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed recently suffering upset losses, fans and pundits feared other fighters might fall victim. Hopkins in particular wanted Trinidad to win so he could land the world class opportunity he’d sought for nearly a decade.

At 32-1-1, Joppy was confident despite never appearing on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list. But he had to fight his way through a thick wall of boos emanating from a crowd that already professed its love for Trinidad along with the rhythmic bumping of the star’s salsa music. Announcer Jimmy Lennon, Jr. fought the same crowd during the introductions. Trinidad fought only for victory.

Trinidad was a slow starter at times, and it hadn’t yet affected him. Even the opponents who managed to knock him down quickly realized the error of their ways when Trinidad simply regained his senses and found a home for his left hook. Joppy was, unfortunately for him, no different than the others.

Joppy’s quick hands and strong jab put Trinidad on his heels early in Round 1, though it only took about 90 seconds for “Tito” to get his timing down. In the final minute of the round, Trinidad used his underrated right hand to set up a left hook that clearly affected Joppy’s legs. Another left hook landed and sent Joppy down. He got up in time to beat the count and he leaned and clinched his way through to the bell.

Round 2 began and Joppy was surprisingly sharp, all things considered. Trinidad laid a trap by retreating, though, and he connected with more sneaky right hands over Joppy’s lazy left. Joppy kept making two other mistakes on defense as he leaned away from punches without moving his feet and tried to parry everything else. To his credit, Joppy fought with authority for much of the round.

Again Trinidad’s right hand became a factor in Round 3, though he began using his elbows to set up punches inside and threw low blows, both of which drew referee warnings. Joppy’s jab was also forcing Trinidad to work harder and find his range. Just as it appeared Trinidad might be struggling, he signaled to his corner that all was well and worked his vaunted left hook at the start of the fourth.

Trinidad’s left hook was a hammer, but was also a huge distraction for opponents. He landed on Joppy's body with a hook, then moments later landed a few right hands, freezing Joppy for a hook that sent him tumbling backwards. The champion rose on incredibly shaky legs and tried to fight his way out of trouble. Trinidad missed with a number of overzealous punches, Joppy worked his way backwards behind jabs and right hands, but it felt like he was on borrowed time as the bell rang.

Fleeting success must have gotten to Joppy’s head as he opened up in Round 5, snapping Trinidad’s head back with a few shots in the first two minutes of the round. As he stepped forward to battle through more trouble, Joppy took a full force right hand on the cheek and he fell backwards, only to take another glancing right hand. The fight was stopped amid zero protests.

Doubts were quieted. Joppy understandably didn’t have much to say after the bout, and Trinidad said he proved himself a true middleweight by stopping one of the division’s reigning champions and becoming a three-division world champion.

Nobody involved knew how different the world would become months later, before Trinidad and Hopkins could even meet. But in the meanwhile, Hopkins licked his chops at the idea of facing the smaller and more basic Trinidad to end the tournament.

Hopkins said: “I feel like I just hit the lottery even though I didn’t win the tournament yet.”

Trinidad’s message was aimed at his people, the ones who supported him for years and would carry on for more: “Thank you, my people. Puerto Rico forever!”