Austin Trout

Early life and amateur career

Trout graduated from Mayfield High School in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

In 2004, Austin was the U.S. National Amateur Welterweight Champion.

Austin was the runner-up to make the 2004 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team. He would finish his amateur career with a final record of 163–42–1.

Early career

On September 1, 2005 Trout made his professional boxing debut at the age of 19 at the Isleta Casino & Resort in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He defeated 34 year old journeyman Justo Almazan (14-44-5, 1 KO) via TKO in round 3. The fight was scheduled for 4 rounds. His second fight was against Josh Pankey, who was making his debut, in December. Trout made easy work of Pankey stopping him after 1 minute and 45 seconds of round 1.

Trout fought a further five times in 2006, winning all bouts inside the distance. In January 2007, Trout knocked out 30 year old Raul Munoz (19-9-1, 15 KOs) in the fifth round of their scheduled six round fight. Three months later, Trout was taken the six round distance when he defeated Mexican boxer Julio Perez with scores of (60-54, 60-54 and 59-55). Less than a month later, Trout was taken the six round distance again, this time against 33 year old journeyman Abdias Castillo. He won the fight comfortably on all three scorecards (60-54, 60-54 and 60-54). Trout fought and won 3 more times in 2007. By the end of the year, his record read 13 wins, 10 inside the distance and no losses.

Regional success

In November 2009, he beat Taronze Washington to win the vacant WBC Continental Americas Light Middleweight title.

After climbing up the ranks as an elite boxer, he became a mandatory challenger for the WBA light middleweight title. While waiting for his opportunity to fight for Miguel Cotto for the championship title, Austin ended up working with DeAngelo Singleton to help with early stages of PR. Eventually, Trout would fight for and win a world title.

Trout vs. Rigoberto Álvarez

On February 5, 2011 Trout won the WBA (Regular) light middleweight title with a unanimous decision against interim champion Rigoberto Álvarez in his foe's hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Trout vs. López, LoPorto

His first defense came against mandatory challenger David Alonso López (42-12, 23 KOs) on June 11, 2011. Trout dropped López in round 11 as he went on to successfully retain his WBA "regular" title in a 12 round unanimous decision win with the judges scores of 119-109, 117-110 and 118-109 in his favour. Although Lopez had some success, the majority of the rounds were controlled by Trout using his speed, movement and fast hands.

On November 11, 2011 at the Cohen Stadium in El Paso, Texas, Trout stopped former Australian welterweight champion Frank LoPorto (15-4, 7 KOs) in round 6. At the time the fight was made, LoPorto was ranked #14 light middleweight by the WBA, in what some believed would be a mismatch. LoPorto was aldso dropped once in round 1 following a right hook. It was the last time LoPorto fought as a professional at the age of 33.

Trout vs. Rodriguez

Trout made his third defence against Ring Top 10 light middleweight and former welterweight world title challenger Delvin Rodriguez (26-5-3, 14 KOs) on June 2, 2012 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Rodriguez was coming off a 10 round decision win against Pawel Wolak. The fight aired on Showtime as Trout dominated the fight, going on to win a one sided unanimous decision. The three judges scored the fight 120-108, 118-110, and 117-111 in favour of Trout.

Trout vs. Cotto

Trout defended his WBA light middleweight championship in front of 13,096 against former three division champion and No. 2 ranked light middleweight, Miguel Cotto, on December 1, 2012, in New York City. Trout started the fight off fast, using his quick combinations to continually get his punches off first against Cotto. Trout also used his superior footwork to evade most of Cotto's punches, and was able to out muscle Cotto off the ropes when he was cornered in the fight. During the middle rounds, Cotto found success trapping Trout on the ropes and keeping him there, ripping Trout with body shots and finding the range with his left hook. Trout regained control in the later rounds, even backing Cotto up later in the fight, and stunned Cotto several times down the stretch with his straight left hand. Trout won the fight by a wide unanimous decision, giving him the biggest win of his career thus far. The judges scores were 117-111, 117-111, 119-109. It was the first time Cotto had lost at the arena, having a record of 7-0 before the fight, also being 9-0 in New York. Trout landed 238 of 779 punches (31%) and Cotto landed 183 of 628 punches thrown (29%). After the fight, Trout called out fellow light middleweight champion Canelo Álvarez. The fight averaged averaged 1.047 million and peaked at 1.4 million viewers, which set a record for Showtime boxing.

Trout vs. Canelo Álvarez

On April 20, 2013 Trout fought undefeated Canelo Álvarez at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The fight was supposed to take place during Cinco de Mayo weekend as the co-main event of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout against Robert Guerrero; however, due to a contract disagreement between Álvarez and Mayweather regarding their potential fight on September 14, 2013, Álvarez opted to headline his own card. Álvarez held a rematch clause in the contract if wanted howeverTrout did not. Due to the fight taking place in Texas, a moment of silence was held prior to the fight for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15 and the victims of the fertilizer plant explosion on April 17 in West, Texas.

Álvarez successfully defended his WBC Light Middleweight title and won the WBA & the vacant The Ring Magazine Light Middleweight title. During the first rounds, Trout seemed to have a good game plan. However, Álvarez's power took over after the third round, eventually scoring a knockdown in the seventh round to give Trout the first knockdown of his career. Álvarez set up the knockdown with a pawing left jab, followed by the straight right hand. The fight was closer than expected, but Álvarez still managed to dominate Trout throughout the fight with impressive head movement and shocking power. All three judges scorecards were in favor of Álvarez with a fair margin (115-112, 116-111 and 118-109). Although the last score card (118-109) created controversy, the majority of sport analysts had Álvarez winning by at least 2 points. After 8 rounds, the judges scorecards read (80-71, 78-73 and 76-75) to Álvarez. Immediately after the bout, Trout stated that he hadn't underestimated Álvarez but that he trained to fight a completely different fighter.

Trout vs. Lara

After losing to Álvarez, Trout next fought Cuban boxer Erislandy Lara (18-1-2, 12 KO’s) for his WBA Interim light middleweight title. The fight was scheduled to take place on December 7, 2013 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It was initially supposed take place on the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Saul Alvarez card on September 14, 2013. Lara, however, put on a dominant performance as he immediately nullified Trout’s offense using deft footwork and clean punching. In outclassing Trout, Lara scored a knockdown in round eleven via straight left hand. Trout was hurt for the remainder of the round as Lara pressed the action. Lara cruised to the unanimous decision (117–111, 117–111, and 118–109) and retained his interim WBA light middleweight title. Trout lost his second consecutive bout by decision.

World title challenges

Following back to back defeats, Trout took time off before returning to the ring starting his comeback trail to regain a world title at light middleweight. His first comeback fight took place in August 2014 against former WBO light middleweight title challenger Daniel Dawson (40-3-1, 26 KOs) in a 10 round bout. Trout was knocked down twice in round 3 via straight right hands, but rallied on and won a unanimous decision in what was supposed to be an easy tune-up. After 10 rounds, the three judges scored it 97-90 for Trout. Trout next fought four months later in December against fringe contender Luis Grajeda (18-3-2, 14 KOs). Grajeda was knocked down once in round five and failed to come out for round 8, giving Trout a stoppage victory.

On May 9, 2015 Trout fought 33 year old Luis Galarza (20-3, 14 KOs) at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. Galarza was a late replacement for former titlist Anthony Mundine, who had picked up an injury before the fight. Galarza took the fight on 3 days notice and was on a three-fight win streak. Trout controlled the fight from the opening bell eventually forced the stoppage after round 6. In September 2015, Trout knocked out Joey Hernandez (24-3-1, 14 KOs) following a body shot in round 6. Hernandez was deducted a point in round 4 after he threw Trout to the canvas.

Trout vs. Charlo

On March 29, it was announced that Trout would challenge Jermall Charlo (23-0, 18 KOs) for the IBF title at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card also included top light middleweights Erislandy Lara, Vanes Martirosyan and Jermell Charlo. At first, there was rumours that the fight would take place on the undercard of Wilder-Povetkin in a Showtime split site telecast. Another possibility, was it could take place on the Ortiz-Berto II undercard. In a close contested bout, Charlo defeated Trout by a 12 round unanimous decision. The judges’ scored the fight 115-113, 116-112, 116-112. Charlo landed the harder shots to dominate the action in the first six rounds. However, Charlo seemed to gas out a little in the second half of the fight, and was outworked by Trout. Trout suffered a cut over his right eye in the 10th round from a clash of heads but fought well despite suffering the cut. The crowd booed loudly when the scores were read out to let the judges know that they felt Trout should have won.

Trout vs. Hurd

On May 31, 2017 The Ring TV announced a deal was in place for Trout to challenge undefeated American boxer Jarrett Hurd (20-0, 14 KOs) for his newly won IBF light middleweight title on July 29 on the undercard of Mikey Garcia vs. Adrien Broner in New York. Hurd won the then vacant title after stopping Tony Harrison in round 9 in February 2017. The title was left vacant by Jermall Charlo, who moved up to middleweight. On July 20, Boxing Scene reported the fight was being lined up to take place on September 30, 2017 as part of a light middleweight double header alongside Jermell Charlo's WBC title defence against Erickson Lubin. Because Hurd was granted an exception from the IBF to make a voluntary defence, however the winner must fight mandatory challenger Cedric Vitu (46-2, 19 KOs) by December 29, 2017. On August 24, the Ringtv announced the fight would take place as part of a super welerweight triple-header at the Barclays Center in New York City on October 14, 2017. The third world title fight on the card would feature Erislandy Lara defending his WBA title against Terrell Gausha.

Life outside of boxing

Trout appeared on "His Opinion...", an episode of Say Yes to the Dress, when his fiancé Taylor chose her wedding dress.