By Mark Vester
Former champ Felix "Tito" Trinidad will be ringside when Oscar De La Hoya takes on Floyd Mayweather, Jr. at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Trinidad won a controversial majority decision over De La Hoya in 1999, handing Oscar the first loss of his career. The pay-per-view did 1.4 million buys, the highest for a non-heavyweight bout.
According to a recent report by boxing scribe Dan Rafael, Trinidad is at the top of the list of possible post-May 5 opponents for De La Hoya. The two men are now friendly neighbors in Puerto Rico, but are not against a possible rematch. De La Hoya has never been able to forget the loss to Trinidad.
"I'm satisfied with what I did inside that ring. Obviously, I'm not satisfied with the outcome," De La Hoya. "But it's never too late. It's never too late."
De La Hoya told Rafael that a rematch never took place in the past because of the constant battles between their promoters. De La Hoya was under Bob Arum's Top Rank banner, while Trinidad was with Don King.
"Why the rematch didn't happen? Because of promoters having their differences, not coming to agreements," De La Hoya said. "Who suffered? The fans. A rematch at that moment would have been very exciting because obviously my game plan would have changed. I would have been more aggressive. But it's never too late."
The report noted that Richard Schaefer, CEO of De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, said that after the May 5 bout, he plans to speak to King about a Trinidad-De La Hoya rematch.