Is It a Ploy? For Now, Trinidad Will Stay Retired

“What my father says is what I will do.”

--Felix Trinidad Jr.

*

That’s the bottom line. Not the negotiating ploys of Don King. Not the financial resources of Bob Arum. Not the resolve of Bernard Hopkins.

Not even the true feelings of Trinidad.

The announcement last week that the Puerto Rican fighter was retiring at 29 while still in his prime has been met with skepticism throughout the boxing world.

But the legion of doubters, which consists of the majority of boxing people, are not taking into consideration the iron will and unorthodox philosophy of Felix Trinidad Sr., Don Felix, who makes all the decisions for his son. The quote at the top of this story has been repeated by the younger Trinidad over and over through the years.

News of the retirement came first in a statement from Trinidad’s lawyer, Nicolas Medina, released in San Juan.

Reaction: Is this a joke?

Next, Don Felix, his son’s manager/trainer, came forward to reiterate the retirement announcement.

The reaction: Who’s kidding whom?

And finally, the younger Trinidad himself, in an interview with a Puerto Rican paper, confirmed he has made an irreversible decision.

Reaction: No way.

This is, after all, boxing. Fighters retire all the time, but, with the exception of Rocky Marciano, Marvin Hagler and few others, they always return until they can’t say their names without slurring the words.

Trinidad is far from that. He has 40 victories, including 34 knockouts, in 41 fights, his only loss being to Hopkins last September in a match in which Trinidad appeared too small to take on the dominant figure in the 160-pound division. But he was big enough to storm through the welterweight and super welterweight divisions, forcing Oscar De La Hoya to run in the last three rounds of their 1999 fight and inflicting heavy damage on David Reid and Fernando Vargas in subsequent matches.

If Trinidad were to stay around, he might not get a fight with Hopkins, which is a good thing for Trinidad. But a De La Hoya rematch is his for the asking. De La Hoya had hoped to fight Trinidad in September after taking on Vargas in May. When De La Hoya’s hand injury postponed the Vargas fight until September, a possible Trinidad match had to be moved to next spring.

“A De La Hoya-Trinidad fight was very close to being done for September,” said Richard Schaefer, De La Hoya’s business advisor. “Now it would be February or March. If he still wants to fight, we are ready. Our dance card is open.”

Bob Sheridan, the blow-by-blow announcer for many King fights, isn’t convinced Trinidad-De La Hoya II won’t happen.

“In my 30 years with Don King,” Sheridan said, “I have never known him to let a fighter of Felix Trinidad’s caliber get away at this stage of his career.”

The problem with that logic is that this is not a King decision. Trinidad remains the promoter’s biggest cash cow and King would like nothing better than to sit across the table from his old rival, Arum, De La Hoya’s promoter, and use the leverage gained in Trinidad’s earlier victory to carve out a lucrative deal. If it comes at Arum’s expense, all the better.

But Don Felix has always had a different agenda. From the beginning, he envisioned his son moving up, from 147 pounds to 154 to 160 and finally to a victory over undisputed light-heavyweight champion Roy Jones. Don Felix turned his back on a De La Hoya rematch, signing instead for his son to fight Reid and capture the 154-pound title despite the scorn of those who said Trinidad had turned his back on a $15-million payday.

The Trinidads even had some believing a victory over Jones was possible before the Hopkins fight. Jones was certainly excited about the prospect of meeting Trinidad.

But now, with a Hopkins fight in doubt, and a Jones fight even more unlikely, Don Felix doesn’t seem interested in coming back to a lower weight to take on De La Hoya, a man his son has already beaten.

What’s the point?

To many, a potential $15 million would be a big enough point.

“I always said from way back,” Trinidad told El Nuevo Dia, a Puerto Rican daily, “that the day I announce that I am retiring, I really mean it. I’m not going back to the ring.

“This decision was thought through and analyzed well and I will stand by my decision even if a fight with Hopkins could be made today.

“I would like to deny the rumor that the other reason I retired was because I was in a feud with my father and my lawyer. My health is good, so poor health is also not a reason for my retirement.”

Never say never, especially in boxing.

But also never doubt that Don Felix will do the unexpected.

Done Deal or Just Another Spiel?

In a conference call earlier this week to promote next Saturday’s rematch against Vernon Forrest in Indianapolis, Shane Mosley casually mentioned he’ll be fighting a rematch against De La Hoya in February or March.

Mosley didn’t say he might fight the man he beat by split decision two years ago. He said he will, that only a few details remain to close the deal.

That came as news to Schaefer, who said there haven’t even been preliminary discussions about such a fight. De La Hoya is holding out hope Trinidad will come around.

But if not, if Mosley beats Forrest, if De La Hoya beats Vargas in September, if De La Hoya’s injured left hand holds up, if discussions between the De La Hoya and Mosley camps prove fruitful, if all those ifs are satisfied, then yes, Mosley-De La Hoya II will indeed be a done deal.