De La Hoya-Trinidad II?

De La Hoya-Trinidad II?
By Steve Kim (July 3, 2008)

Oscar De La Hoya has made it clear that on December 6th he will be engaging in his last professional prizefight. There have been a lot of names thrown around, including Miguel Cotto - should he get past Antonio Margarito on July 26th in Las Vegas - but there is a chance that he will be facing another Puerto Rican instead.

Felix Trinidad.

Yeah, the same Trinidad who defeated him back in 1999 and who just recently lost to Roy Jones back in January as a light heavyweight.

"YES, YES, YES!!!," bellowed the bombastic Don King, who promotes Trinidad. "That one’s in the making, everybody wants it and it's about time. It's about ten years old for the rematch. So it's time now for them to fight."

Actually, it's about nine years, but it's really a rematch that is at least seven or eight years too late in the eyes of many observers. But judging by the pay-per-view numbers that Trinidad's bout versus Jones (around 500,000) garnered and the tour de force 'the Golden Boy' has always been at the box-office, there's no doubt this promotion will garner big numbers should it actually come to fruition. The hardcore fans will cringe and be outraged, but the casual fan will most likely be sucked in since they don't know any better. The bottom line is that having stars involved in pay-per-events is every bit as important as the actual quality of the fight.

This is the stuff 24/7's were built for.

King, who is in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been in constant contact with Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer.

"I talked to him yesterday, talked to him the day before that," King would tell Maxboxing. "Me and him made the match with Mosley and Mayorga, so we got the Staples Center on October the 11th, HBO Pay-Per-View. So we're going into December the 6th with Oscar De La Hoya and Tito Trinidad."

Well, hold on, this fight is far from signed. There are still several pressing issues that need to be ironed out. One is the fact that Trinidad's father has made it clear in the past that his son deserves purse parity with De La Hoya. Will they budge off their stance?

"I don't know, you know what? Whatever it is, this is a classic, this is a farewell to arms, I think this is something that can make so much money, they shouldn't even be arguing about that," said King, who's already selling the promotion with all his zeal. "Anything they get, they should throw out all that bulls**t. But all these terms and conditions, they ain't no spring chickens and we're talking about millions."

Also, there is that chance that De La Hoya is only using Trinidad as a ploy to gain leverage with other fighters who might be in the mix.

“Tito feels Oscar is using him in order to get someone else to go fight," confirmed King. “And Richard insured me that that wasn't the fact."

Then there is the issue of weight. Trinidad and his father have made it very clear they will not be fighting anywhere near the middleweight limit and De La Hoya has stated his preference to box around the welterweight class. But to King, it's just a small, minor inconvenience when there is this much money to be made.

“They can work it out. Lemme tell you something, I ain't got much time, the weight categories, there ain't but eight original weight categories. 148, you're a middleweight, you're 161 you're a lightweight, you're 176 you're a heavyweight - that's the way it really is."

Gee, who knew King was such a traditionalist? Geez, next thing you know he'll be going on obnoxious rants about who the 'reeeeaaaaallll' champions are in each division and shoving it down our throats.

“So all this bulls**t about the weight, the weight don't win no fight. Only way weight win a fight is if you're gonna lay on the guy all night and he ain't going to punch you in the belly to get you off," he would say. "But way beyond all that, it gives you something to write about. But if De La Hoya wants to really fight, ain't no God-damn way two, three pounds going to stop him from fighting. Especially when you're talking about making 10, 15 million dollars."

As for the venue, King says, "I don't know, whoever gives us the most money." Which is about as honest an answer as you can get. This fight wouldn't be about legacy, or revenge or the Mexico-Puerto Rican rivalry or any other platitudes that will be spoken - but about cold, hard numbers.

“Richard Schaefer was flying to London; when he comes back from London we're supposed to close the fight," said King on Wednesday afternoon. "So he's over there in London now, he won’t be back till next week. I'm in Argentina, so I'll come back on the weekend and so we should get our heads together.

“But it's real hot!!! It's real hot!!! TEEEETOOOO AND OSCAR!!!!"

No, truth to the rumor that Leonard-Hearns III would be on this undercard.

SEPTEMBER SHOWTIME

It's been confirmed that Showtime will be televising Nate Campbell's defense of his multiple lightweight titles versus Joan Guzman on September 13th.

"There's very few champions out there who have that many belts, Nate beat a very, very talented Juan Diaz to get those belts and we think Joan Guzman has the potential to be one of the more dominant 135-pounders out there," said Ken Hershman, the network’s boxing czar. "It's a terrific style matchup, we think it's a meaningful fight and we're looking forward to it."

This bout, which still has to find a home, takes place on the same night that Joel Casamayor (who holds the linear claim to the lightweight crown) faces Juan Manuel Marquez on pay-per-view in Las Vegas.

Rounding out the fall schedule on the network could be the long-awaited light heavyweight grudge match between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver, who hold the WBC and IBF belts respectively.

"There are discussions and I'm hopeful that that fight will be made and it will be coming to Showtime in October," said Hershman. Asked if he's confident about that fight being nailed down, he says, "Yeah, I'm confident, I think that everybody’s operating in good faith and doing everything they can to make it happen. When everyone works together to make the same goal, it works out."

CORRECTION

Shelly Finkel called me to inform me that I made a 'major error' in my story that dealt with Robert Guerrero. He says that Victor Ortiz filed for bankruptcy about a month before he ever got involved with him.

In that case, I stand corrected and I apologize for that mistake.

Finkel still wished me a good 4th of July anyway.

MORE FLURRIES

There's a very good possibility that jr. middleweight prospect James Kirkland could be the newest fighter under the Golden Boy banner....Recommended viewing, 'Hard Times at Douglass High' on HBO, a gripping look at our current educational shortfalls in inner-city communities....Does Brett Favre think he's a boxer or something? Make up your mind, either you're retired or you're not.....I know Showtime used to complain bitterly about what they felt was systematic counter programming by HBO, but I see that on July 26th (the date Margarito-Cotto occurs) that the second edition of EliteXC on CBS occurs and they are bringing a 'free' lightweight title fight on September 13th. That just has to be a coincidence, right?.....Anyone see 'Jo @ Slade: the Break-Up?' on Bravo? That scene when Slade brought that lady friend of his to the cocktail party last year on 'the Real Housewives of the OC' had guys all over the nation high-fiving. Oh, yes, I'm definitely watching the dating show they are involved in. I can't lie......

For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Steve Kim at k9kim@maxboxing.com

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