Trinidad: We'll fight Oscar at 50-50!

GL: In the last couple of days Oscar De La Hoya has come on Boxingtalk stating that the Trinidad camp is BS'ing. He says that you guys don't want to make the rematch and you made him an offer making an 80-20 split. After reading our interview with Oscar is there anything you would like to say in response? "First of all the 80-20 split is totally false because the proposal that Don King sent to him was never talking about that kind of split. Since the beginning, before we signed the contract in 1999, we said if Tito beats him in order to get the rematch it would have to say Trinidad where it said De La Hoya and Don King where it said Bob Arum. They have always been putting excuses for not making the fight. We are still retired from boxing and the reason we are talking about this fight today is because they were publishing artciles saying that Tito could be a possible opponent and that Tito is training and that he had a meeting with Tito where they talked about a possible fight. And after reading those things Tito laughed after seeing how Oscar is using his name to promote the fight. Oscar and him haven't had any discussions to have a fight. He is a coward because he is trying to go to the press to get a fight saying things that are totally false, like Tito is training. He is saying these things using Tito's name to promote the fight. Tito is willing to give him the rematch if he really wants it, but it has to be on our terms.

GL: Earlier today Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told me that their final offer for Trinidad to fight Oscar is a 70-30 split in Oscar's favor, the fight has to take place at 154 and Golden Boy will promote.

Felix Trinidad Sr: (laughs) "That just shows you how much Oscar doesn't want to fight Tito. Don King is the promoter fo Tito, so what he has to do is send an offer to Don King, but since they know our terms they don't have to waste their time sending that kind of offer. All Oscar does is talk and talk, but his actions never show that he really wants to fight Tito."

GL: Do you believe that Oscar is making Tito such an offer as a way to send a message to Floyd Mayweather Jr of what those negotiations could look like?

FTS: "I'm not so sure about that becuase he already has the leverage over Mayweather. He is making a lot more money already, and he has never lost to Mayweather. But when he talks about fighting Tito, he needs to understand that he lost to Tito and if he wants to make an offer that offer will have to be made to our promoter Don King."


GL: Are you willing to come out of retirement to train Tito for a De La Hoya fight?

FTS: "After reading these articles with Oscar talking about me, we decided to go to the press and tell the people that Oscar is a coward and he doesn't want to fight again. Tito has always been willing to fight him back and Oscar, everytime he says he wants to fight Tito he pulls back. But if Oscar really wanted to fight we would come back together to beat Oscar again."

GL: Before Tito came back to face Mayorga you were doing a fine job of comparing the boxing landscape to a menu at a restaurant. Other than De La Hoya, is there anything else on the menu that could lead you and Tito back into the ring?

FTS: "There is no other food on the menu that Don King could bring to the table to bring us out of retirement. The reason we would come back to make this fight is to expose Oscar. Oscar is always, blah, blah, blah and then when it's time to make a fight he does nothing. I'm still waiting to see the food on the table from Oscar's last fight. I heard the numbers they said he did with Mayorga, but I'd like to see a notarized letter or legal document saying that was his PPV number because we know a thing or two about promotions too.

"He really wants to fight Mayweather, which is a cheaper fight in a restaurant he can afford to eat in. He asked for our menu to create an illusion to the fans but it's not true that he wants to fight Tito. The real truth is, he knows that kind of food will do more than upset his stomach."

GL: Would you be willing to accept a 50-50 purse split to make a De La Hoya fight?

FTS: "For the last seven years that is something that we would have never done, but now just to show the boxing world and the boxing fans what kind of coward he is, 50-50 is fine with us. We'll fight him for 50-50, but one thing we will never change is the weight, the fight will be signed to take place at 160. We would be willing to accept the 50-50 split for the money. I think that would be fair and it would make it easier for us to show the world that he's bluffing. Tito cannot make less than 160. The last five fights of Tito have all been at 160. It's true that when we fought Mayorga we weighed in at 157, but that's what happens when you do the right things in training and you're eating the right foods, sometimes you come in under the limit."

GL: We talked about the money, the weight, what about the promotional situation? Would Don King have to promote or could he and Golden Boy work together?

FTS: "That's something for them to call our promoter Don King to talk about. That's up to the promoters. Oscar has no intention of fighting Tito and we know he's going to run away from the fight now the same way he has for the last seven years."

GL: If a Trinidad-De La Hoya reamtch took place at 50-50, obviously it would be the biggest payday of both guys careers, but do you feel 50% of the Trinidad rematch will lead to more mone for OScar than 60% or more of the Mayweather fight?

FTS: "Definitely. He could take 90-10 with Mayweather and still not make as much money as he would fighting Tito. Tito could be happy and stay retired, Oscar is the one who constantly brings up Tito's name up and we're here now to show the world that he's the one BS'ing and he has no intentions of doing anything but causing illusions to the boxing fans. If he really feels he would knock Tito out let's see if he accepts 50-50."

M

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