Who De La Hoya should pick - Mayweather or Trinidad?

[p4pking]

It's not easy to shock me, but shocked I was. I was shocked when I read Coyote Duran's interview this week at DoghouseBoxing with Oscar De La Hoya. De La Hoya opened up to DoghouseBoxing that he is now considering a last fight against Tito Trinidad. Of course Floyd Mayweather Jr is still in the running, but the news that Trinidad could be a choice literally shocked me.

Personally I really never thought Trinidad would have the balls to seek out a rematch with De La Hoya. I am after all one of the many who feel Oscar won their first match and I will pound that on my chest until the day I die. I have always felt that Trinidad was given the gift of his life time when the Judges awarded him a controversial decision in the welterweight title fight in 1999.

I do not care if Oscar takes Mayweather or Trinidad, but I'd like to put my PPV money on a Trinidad rematch. Trinidad's controversial win over De La Hoya has never sat well with me. That and the fact that back then Trinidad would rather retire than find a reason to offer De La Hoya a rematch. After all how can you not give an immediate rematch to the Man who gave you the shot in the first place? Especially when the outcome was engulfed in controversy.
And where did Trinidad get off by not letting fans of the sport see a rematch? What made Trinidad so high and mighty after such a controversial win that he could just shrug off De La Hoya and move on?

Trinidad must have believed that his controversial win made him more popular than De La Hoya. That never happened though. Interest in Trinidad has been falling over recent years, whereas De La Hoya is as popular as ever.

These days fans love De La Hoya and give his career praise, the same can not be said about Trinidad. All that can be said is that Trinidad never lived up to expectations and he quit like a baby every time he lost.

Trinidad should consider himself very lucky that his name is even on De La Hoya's lips these days.

De La Hoya was great in 1999, and he did more than enough in my honest opinion to win against Trinidad. As great as De La Hoya was in '99, he is a much better fighter today. As evident in his total dismantle of Ricardo Mayorga earlier this year, it is clear De La Hoya's skills have not been in the decline. De La Hoya has only gotten much better since teaming with Floyd Mayweather Sr.

Trinidad is also still very capable. Word is he is in training and keeping in shape. Trinidad would show up just as dangerous as ever and make no mistake, Trinidad would not be easy pickings for De La Hoya.

I am not really interested that much in a De La Hoya fight with Mayweather Jr. It just doesn't sit well with me that Mayweather proclaims he is so popular and he has proved himself with his career. To me, his career is no better than that of Antonio Margarito, a man Mayweather has avoided and said was not worthy. Mayweather can keep telling himself that and I am sure blind fans will stick by him, but to me, Mayweather is no more deserving than others who have worked hard for a shot at De La Hoya. Mayweather also is not really a big draw right now. He could have gained a huge amount of stock by fighting Margarito, but with a drawing power of maybe 350,000 to 400,000 PPV buys (the reported highest Mayweather has ever done in a PPV).... those numbers really aren't that impressive. With names like Barrera, Pacquiao and Winky Wright just to name a few who pull in numbers close, if not better than Mayweather's PPV numbers... well lets just say Mayweather isn't nearly as popular as he would like you to believe. At least he can not say with a straight face and a clear conscience that he is Boxing's number one draw (even after De La Hoya). He maybe raked pound for pound the best by many... but he is certainly not Boxing's Pound for Pound best draw.

My honest opinion is that De La Hoya in a rematch with Trinidad will bring in hundreds of thousands more in PPV revenue than a fight with Mayweather Jr. I am willing to bet a majority of the PPV buys in that fight would be from De La Hoya's popularity, not Mayweather's. Now Trinidad, that is a different story. The names De La Hoya vs Trinidad will surely out sell and do better on the PPV market.

To me, right here, right now, Mayweather Jr is not worthy at such a "Golden" opportunity with a fight against De La Hoya. To me, Mayweather comes off as a spoiled brat, and when he opens his mouth, I see and hear a child who has yet to grow into a man. Why reward that? He isn't even man enough to show love and respect to his Father, Floyd Sr. I just do not feel like putting my money down to feed Mayweather Jr's over sized ego.

I'd like to see De La Hoya go out with a bang trying to right a wrong from the first time he fought Trinidad. Yes, I'd like to see Trinidad's head served to me on a "Golden" Platter.

In the end, it really doesn't matter to me who De La Hoya picks for his last fight, because unlike Trinidad and Mayweather Jr., De La Hoya has earned the right to choose whomever he pleases.
www.doghouseboxing.com

Well, that's ONE take on Trinidad-De la Hoya. Here's another one:

www.eastsideboxing.com

12.05.06 - By Bryce Wren, photo by David Martin Warr / DKP -- It started in 1994, when Felix Trinidad pounded out a unanimous decision against former multiple weight division champion Hector “Macho” Camacho. Little could the Puerto Rican slugger know that he had began paving the path to over a decade of “follow the leader” between the ropes. Trinidad had shown exactly how to beat Hector, -who was starting to decline as a fighter by that time- and a certain “golden boy” took note. It would be three years later that Oscar De la Hoya would finally feel comfortable in the knowledge that Macho Man’s speed and reflexes had all but perished, to finally fight Camacho. Much like Trinidad, Oscar was on offense and pressed Camacho. The unanimous decision was equally as one sided.

Also in 1994, Trinidad fought two other very talented former perennial contenders in Navajoa Mexico’s Yuri Boy Campas, and Detroit Cities, Oba Carr. Trinidad dominated and stopped them both, in the 4th and 8th rounds respectively.

In the middle of 1999, Oscar would get up the nerve to challenge Oba. Remarkably, it would take a lot more of a decline in Campas before Oscar would challenge the geriatric power puncher. De la Hoya waited for Yuri Boy to suffer four more stoppage losses and several more wearing wars before he would fight Campas. Unbelievably, even though many of Trinidad’s opponents were said to have been “ruined” by him, Tito had managed to stop both Carr and Campas sooner than the “Golden Boy” could. Taking four and eight rounds for Tito to seven and eleven for Oscar. These three fights would not be a short trend. De la Hoya would continue eating from Trinidad’s scraps for another ten years.

Fernando Vargas is a prime example of a talented fighter that was “ruined” by Felix. Maybe “ruined” is a bit harsh. He was “damaged”, anyway. He took an enormous beating by Trinidad, and even with a potential grudge fight with the Ferocious One, Oscar had to wait for a few tune ups from Vargas to ensure he was “shot” before taking him on in 2002.

Now clearly Oscar forgot the plan when he challenged former middleweight king Bernard Hopkins in 2004. I mean yes, this was a former Trinidad opponent, but Oscar should know, “you don’t fight the guys who win!”. Oscar learned the hard way, just as it was a given that any man Trinidad could walk through, could probably be out pointed or stopped later in a fight by De la Hoya, so did it go that anyone talented and powerful enough to beat Trinidad by an all night beat down could probably also stop Oscar earlier, with a lot less punishment. As if Tito’s victory decision over Oscar didn’t punctuate his superiority over his talented East Los Angeles rival, this just seemed to add more and more credence to the obvious conclusion. Trinidad was just better.

This past Saturday was just another chapter in the boxing version of “Beaches” with Oscar following Trinidad around singing “You are the wind beneath my wings”. Trinidad looked incredible during his first comeback fight in 2004 against tough slugger Ricardo Mayorga. Mayorga let his macho attitude get the best of him against Tito, and proved to be a fool by sticking out his chin for Tito to test. Trinidad obliged and hit Mayorga with two incredibly hard left hooks which the Nicaraguan never recovered from. It was impressive. It was also no surprise when the HBO crew aptly pointed out time and time again that the Golden Boy, Oscar De la Hoya, once again, was borrowing straight from the book, Felix Trinidad’s game plan for beating Ricardo Mayorga. Indeed, Everything from the way Oscar held his hands, to the way he threw his left hook was nearly a mirror image of what Felix had done in 2004.

Yes, it seems Oscar is completely obsessed with Trinidad. Hell, he even moved to Puerto Rico, Trinidad’s beloved homeland. I think a rematch, even now that Trinidad has re-re-retired would probably still be the largest payday for both men. I’m not sure that Oscar would have done any better against the Winky Wright that Tito was schooled by. So based on their last top level opponents, Hopkins and Mayorga, it seems that Trinidad is at least on par with the Golden Boy. Lets call for the rematch. I think both of them feel like there is unfinished business. Oscar isn’t capable of running for six rounds anymore, so we are guaranteed to see more fireworks. What does anybody have to lose? Let’s get it on!

Personally, I like the second one better.

lol, I thought the first one was biased..