By Micah Pollack
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 13, 2001 Page D1

NEW YORK, May 12 – When the questions finally stopped about Felix "Tito" Trinidad's weight, it was the heaviness of the moment that was too much for William Joppy. Trinidad, in his debut as a middleweight, took Joppy's WBA title with a devastating performance, knocking down the champion three times before referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped their fight at 2 minutes 25 seconds of the fifth round.

Trinidad, who improved to 40-0 with 33 knockouts, added another chapter in a growing legacy as one of the greatest fighters of his generation. A nearly full Madison Square Garden crowd of 18,235, almost totally partisan to their Puerto Rican hero, rocked the rafters into the morning's early hours.

Trinidad set the tone for the fight early, flooring Joppy (32-2-1), a Silver Spring native, with a devastating left hook in the first round. He followed it with a straight right, then another left hook and it looked as if the fight would end almost as soon as it began.

Although Trinidad had won titles at 147 and 154 pounds, Joppy had doubted the challenger could retain his power at the heavier weight. He was wrong.

"He's a great champion," Joppy said. "I never thought he could hit like that. I didn't think he'd have that much power coming up from 154 pounds to 160. I've never been hit like that."

Trinidad's left hook found the mark again in the fourth round, then a final time in the fifth. Although Joppy threw twice as many punches (400 to 191, according to CompuBox punch stats), he never hurt Trinidad.

"I always knew I was a middleweight. You guys saw it tonight," Trinidad said, dedicating the win to the mothers of Puerto Rico on Mother's Day. "I knew I was going to stop the bout. . . . I like knockouts. I look for the knockouts."

The win sets up a championship bout in Don King's Middleweight Championship Series against Bernard Hopkins on Sept. 15. Hopkins beat Washington's Keith Holmes last month in the first leg of the tournament.

"I will prove to the world in September I am a true middleweight again when I beat Hopkins," Trinidad said.

That the crowd would belong to Trinidad tonight was obvious outside the arena, hours before the fight. On 7th Avenue, cabs drove past waving Puerto Rican flags. Groups gathered, beat drums and spontaneously broke into chants of "Tito! Tito!"

Inside, even early on a card that had an almost-unfathomable 11 fights scheduled, the crowd erupted every time the massive overhead video screen flashed a shot of Trinidad getting ready in his dressing room. The same shots of Joppy garnered boos.

By the time the main event approached, it was a full-fledged Garden party, with dancing in the aisles, drums, trumpeters and a steady stream of Spanish chants. The atmosphere was akin to a soccer game.

Highlights of the undercard included Vernon Forrest (32-0) winning the vacant IBF welterweight title with a unanimous decision over Raul Frank (23-4-1). After the fight, Forrest had the line of the night: "On a scale of 1 to 10 on grading myself, I'd give me a C+." The title had been vacant since 1999, when Trinidad left the division for the land of the 154-pounders.

Also on the undercard: Heavyweight Chris Byrd (33-2) moved one step closer to challenging for the IBF title when he won a lackluster decision over Mo Harris (18-11); veteran Christy Martin improved to 43-2-2 with a majority decision over Kathy Collins (14-2-3).

Trinidad, who came into the ring tonight a 2½ to 1 favorite, had spoken in the weeks leading up to the fight of being "a natural middleweight." In his first fight at 160 pounds, he very much looked the part. Perhaps it was due to his many sparring sessions with bigger men in his native Puerto Rico, where he trained in Old San Juan at the Casa Olimpica ("Olympic House") under the watchful eye of his father, Felix Trinidad Sr., who also is his manager and trainer.

"We did not have so many fighters in the style of Joppy. Joppy does not fight like Puerto Rican fighters," Don Felix said before the fight. "But we put Tito in with bigger men. And we worked on things, new things, different things."

There is small irony in his father putting Trinidad in the ring with bigger sparring partners. It may have acclimated his son to getting hit by bigger men, but when he stepped into the ring tonight against Joppy, it was Tito who enjoyed an inch height advantage and they were even with their reach. And he just looked bigger and broader in the shoulders.

Trinidad's skills were never in question. It was the weight issue that dogged him entering this fight. It is an issue that will bother him no longer.