It was everything it was hyped up to be and then some.

And if you get a sadistic pleasure from watching one man lay a vicious, brutal one-sided beating on another man until he can't even stand up anymore, then Trinidad-Mayorga was the fight for you.

It was a storybook comeback, as Felix Trinidad, the greatest Puerto Rican boxer of all time, literally beat the shit out of Nicaraguan bad-boy Ricardo Mayorga and stopped him in the 8th round in front of 19,000 delerious fans at Madison Square Garden in New York last night.

The fight couldn't have come off better if it had been scripted in Hollywood. Trinidad entered the ring wearing red, as the mostly Puerto Rican crowd welcomed their hero back with deafening cheers and applause. Trinidad relished the adulation, as he turned to the crowd upon reaching the ring apron and raised his arms to acknowledge thier support. Then, after the Nicaraguan and Puerto Rican national anthems had been sung, Mayorga rolled his eyes and bangd his head with his fist as the "Star-Spangled Banner" was being sung (and given the history of the relationship between Nicaragua and the U.S., Mayorga could have been excused for spitting on the American flag, as far as I'm concerned). Moments later, the stage was set, the introductions had been made, and the two fighters who had promised to knock one another out came out of their corners for round one. You couldn't have cut the tension with a machete.

Mayorga came out swinging wildly, as 'Tito' weathered 'El Matador' but looked shakey and unsteady on his feet. It looked at first as if Mayorga was going to score a first round knockout if he kept up the pressure, but Trinidad, seasoned veteran that he is, stayed poised and began landing his jab. And his right hand. A lot. Then, in a moment in which Mayorga cemented his status as the Jake LaMotta of his generation, stood in front of Trinidad and dared him to hit him. Trinidad obliged, ripping three consecutive left hooks to Mayorga's chin.

And Mayorga was still on his feet.

In fact, he teased Trinidad by wobbling his legs to act as if he was hurt, and surely Trinidad must have been concerned at how well Mayorga was taking his punches.

Round 2 saw Trinidad landing flush right hands while blocking most of Mayorga's arsenal. Mayorga landed a left hook, but Trinidad seemed to be handling the Nicaraguan's power much better now. In the 3rd round, Mayorga scored a knockdown when he hit Trinidad around the back of the left ear and Trinidad's glove touched the canvas. The knockdown call was questionable, but it just added to the drama and familiarity of Trinidad suffering a flash knockdown early and then coming back with all guns blazing. And that's what he did in round 4, when Mayorga began to tire.

And round 5 replaces round 1 of Hagler-Hearns as the greatest round in middleweight history.

In a round that had to be scored 10-8 for Trinidad because of the vulgar display of power he unleashed upon Mayorga, Trinidad landed almost all of his power punches accurately, busting up Mayorga's face and snapping his head back while the crowd roared with approval. Trinidad moved in for the kill, trapping the iron-jawed Nicaraguan against the ropes and showing him why he's considered the best finisher in boxing.

Except that Mayorga wasn't finished.

After taking a series of unanswered punches to the head in a segment where the referee probably would have stopped the fight had it been any other fighter (actually, that's a lie - any other fighter would have been lying on the canvas by that point), the courageous but out-gunned Mayorga started firing back and had Trinidad covering up after hardly taking a backward step the whole round. It was pure fireworks. The atmosphere was electric, 19,000 fans had their blood boiling, and at the sound of the bell, the greatest round in middleweight history was in the books.

In the 7th round, Trinidad hit Mayorga with a "low blow" on the left thigh, and though Mayorga's exaggerated showing of pain was an obvious attempt at getting some rest, he didn't take the full five minute recovery time. It was a telling moment in the fight, however. Mayorga, mentally, was starting to capitulate. He came into the fight thinking he was going to knock Trinidad out, and he was getting his head handed to him on a platter. He thought he would intimidate 'Tito', but he was the prey, Trinidad the predator. 'El Matador' was being outbullied, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was being outboxed and out-gunned. Mayorga's fifteen minutes of fame was up.

Round 8 would be Mayorga's last, as he tried to weasel his way out by complaining of another low blow. The referee would have none of Mayorga's bullshit, however, and ordered him to continue fighting. Trinidad, smelling the blood of a wounded bull, went in for the kill, giving Mayorga a taste of canvas for the first time in his career with a left hook to the body. Mayorga bravely but perhaps unwisely got up, and Trinidad raped him with his fist until he went down again. And he got up again. But even a man with the heart, chin and street-fighting mentality of Ricardo Mayorga couldn't withstand the offensive machine, the weapon of mass destruction that is Felix Trinidad. Down went Mayorga a third time. Trinidad KO in 8.

The conclusion was dramatic, as King Felix was coronated by the ecstatic crowd as a dejected and wounded Mayorga left the ring without being interviewed. Trinidad, now 42-1 (35), told HBO's Larry Merchant that he would fight whoever was put in front of him, be it Oscar De La Hoya or Bernard Hopkins. It was an instant classic, and just as Trinidad should be congratulated for his career-defining victory, so should Mayorga, a true warrior, for showing up to fight to the death and making the fight what it was.

They said he was making a big mistake by coming back. They said Mayorga would knock him out. Felix Trinidad proved them all wrong. And he did it in illustrious fashion, the only way he knows how.

With his fists.