Notebook: Golden Boy nixes Trinidad rematch
From the moment they left the ring following their 1999 mega-fight, boxing fans have clamored for a rematch between Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad, who won their welterweight unification bout on a highly controversial majority decision.
Although there has been on-and-off talk about a rematch for the past seven years -- especially because the fight generated a non-heavyweight record 1.4 million pay-per-view buys -- it has never gotten too serious, especially with De La Hoya having long layoffs and Trinidad retiring for 2½ years before launching a two-fight comeback in 2004.
Even though Trinidad retired again after he was schooled by Winky Wright in May 2005, the talk has persisted that the rematch could happen as a career finale for both stars.
De La Hoya (38-4, 30 KOs), who has won belts in six divisions, is planning what he claims will be his final fight in May 2007 and had decided that pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. was his only choice for an opponent.
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| Trinidad |
Then De La Hoya, 33, changed his mind recently and said he would be open to again facing Trinidad, 33, who, according to media reports in Puerto Rico, was training again and thinking about fighting.
However, making the rematch has always come down to pride, money and weight.
Trinidad (42-2, 35 KOs), a former three-division champion, took the short end of a 60-40 split the first time around against De La Hoya and always insisted that a rematch be fought under the same terms, but in his favor.
De La Hoya, the biggest non-heavyweight draw in boxing history, would never accept those terms, or anything close to them.
So finally, when Trinidad's father, Felix Sr., told Puerto Rican media recently that the Trinidad camp would budge and go 50-50 on a rematch, there appeared to be a glimmer of hope.
However, De La Hoya scoffed at the notion of splitting the money evenly and said he would do the fight 70-30 in his favor. He sees no reason to share the revenue evenly, not when he generated 925,000 pay-per-view buys in May by winning a junior middleweight belt against second-tier opponent Ricardo Mayorga. When Trinidad came out of retirement against Mayorga, the pay-per-view drew about half that figure.
There is also the issue of weight. De La Hoya, who didn't look good in his two middleweight fights, said he would not fight a rematch above 154 pounds. Trinidad, who has been a middleweight since moving up in 2001, said he would not go below 160 pounds.
Although Trinidad promoter Don King has been calling Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer regularly in an effort to get talks going in the right direction, De La Hoya said he's finally finished with Trinidad for good.
"I want to lay to rest the whole Trinidad situation," De La Hoya told ESPN.com from his home in Puerto Rico, which is within walking distance of Trinidad's home. "I am thinking that Trinidad's father came out once again after a couple of years to call me out, which has been happening since we last fought. Trinidad retires and then his father comes out of the woodwork eventually, saying I'm a chicken, I'm a coward. It's really bad because I think truly the father maybe ran out of money or something, so he figures he can get his son to fight me and make some more money.
"I'm saying this fight is never going to happen. Let's lay it to rest. I can't make 160, he can't make 154. I can only make 160 if I eat tamales. It can't happen. They're asking 50-50. It is a joke, it's ridiculous. If you think about it, even if we offer them a 70-30 split my way, it will still be the biggest purse he ever made. He might as well take it."
De La Hoya said he told Schaefer to ignore King's phone calls from now on.
"I gave specific instructions to Richard not to answer his calls anymore," De La Hoya said. "The train has left the station. They can call me a coward as much as they want, but the train has left. This fight will never happen."
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| Mayweather |
De La Hoya said he still plans to bow out in May and hopes to fight Mayweather, the son of De La Hoya's trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr.
Mayweather Jr., however, needs to win a Nov. 4 fight against welterweight champ Carlos Baldomir to preserve the showdown with De La Hoya, a match that could challenge the pay-per-view record set by Trinidad-De La Hoya.
"Mayweather or that's it for me," De La Hoya said.
And if Mayweather loses to Baldomir?
"I can hang 'em up whenever I want," said De La Hoya, who has earned roughly $150 million in purses and now runs the successful Golden Boy Promotions. "I don't need another fight, put it that way. If Mayweather loses, I think that's it. My motivation is fighting the pound-for-pound champion. If he loses, then I think that's it for me."
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| Manfredo Jr. |
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| Jones Jr. |
"It's under discussion," Thomas said. "We'll probably reach some resolution on it in the next few days. We'll know whether we can make a deal or not."
Manfredo, 25, of course, would have to win his Oct. 14 ESPN2 bout against Providence rival Joe Spina to go forward against Jones.
Jones, 37, quickly fell from the top of the rankings after three consecutive losses, including brutal knockouts at the hands of Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson in 2004. However, the former four-division champ returned from a nine-month layoff in July to easily outpoint Badi Ajamu.
With many of the top light heavyweights not very well known to American fans, Manfredo is an attractive option for Jones because of his fame from "The Contender," Thomas said.
"I think a fight like this has to be of interest to Roy because Manfredo is so well known and beating him puts him back in the spotlight where he belongs," Thomas said. "It's just a matter of if we can reach agreement on the financial terms. They have given us an offer that is a respectful offer, but it is not quite where Roy wants to be. I think it's a good opportunity for him. The wild card is that Roy is a guy with a great deal of pride. If he doesn't feel he is being treated fairly, he won't fight. He needs to reach a fair deal.
"Roy said he would take the offer under consideration for a couple of days and then we will talk. But I think both sides are within sight of each other. We're hoping we get it done."
Thomas said one of the issues that remains undecided is the specific weight for the fight. He said it probably would be at a catch weight between the 168-pound super middleweight division and the 175-pound light heavyweight division. Manfredo is a super middleweight and Jones is a light heavyweight.
Jeff Wald of "The Contender" promotion group said he has the utmost respect for Jones and Thomas and is hopeful they can come to an agreement.
"I think it's a terrific fight. Roy Jones is still a terrific fighter even if he is not as dominant as he used to be," Wald told ESPN.com. "You can't count him out. He's a great fighter. The other side of that is that Peter Manfredo is a young contender, a hungry fighter and he wants it. So it's a great television and fan fight, and anything can happen."
The card could also include former welterweight champ Vernon Forrest, possibly against Sergio Mora, the Season One "Contender" winner, or against Season Two winner Grady Brewer.
Organizers have been talking to HBO PPV about producing and distributing the fight, but that won't be settled until they can solidify the main event.
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| Hlatshwayo |
Junior welterweight Kendall Holt (20-1, 12 KOs), of nearby Paterson, N.J., will face South Africa's Isaac Hlatshwayo (25-0, 9 KOs) in a critical fight for both men.
Holt, 25, needs to reestablish himself because he hasn't fought since last September, when he outpointed Vladimir Khodokovski on the Wladimir Klitschko-Samuel Peter undercard in Atlantic City. However, nagging injuries have kept him out of the ring.
Hlatshwayo, 28, needs to prove he can compete at a higher weight than where he first became a contender. He was on his way to a lightweight title fight after outpointing Nate Campbell in April, but making weight became an issue and he moved up to 140 pounds. Hlatshwayo made his junior welterweight debut in June, easily outpointing Jeremy Yelton on the Jermain Taylor-Winky Wright undercard. But Holt is a much more difficult opponent than Yelton.
Dino Duva, who has promoted Holt throughout his career, said it's time for Holt to step up and live up to his considerable potential.
"It's the kind of fight Kendall needs to see where he's at in his boxing career," Duva said. "If he wins, it proves Kendall should be considered a real contender in the 140-pound division. Hlatshwayo is a serious opponent."
Lou DiBella, who co-promotes Hlatshwayo, believes it's just as risky a match for Hlatshwayo, but one in which a victory can pay big dividends.
"I think it's a very significant fight," DiBella said. "It's a huge step up for both fighters. I think Isaac is strong at 140. He was killing himself to make 135 and gave up a mandatory title shot because he was killing himself to make the weight. That is unheard of. But he is world championship material and moving up was the best thing for him. The winner of this fight will factor into the sweepstakes for any major fight at 140. It's a put up or shut up kind of fight."
"Arce has boasted about being an 'interim champion' for years, but until he meets me in the ring, he's not even an interim contender."
