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Written By William Trillo
Word out of
Ever since beating Ricardo Mayorga on May 6, Oscar has been prominently tossing the retired Tito Jr.'s name in the "mix" of possible opponents he may face in his farewell fight this fall.
Thursday, Oscar pumped up the volume when he used his Golden
Boy business partner, Bernard Hopkins, who is in
Opening his camp to a
Why would Hopkins say this when Tito Sr. has, according to our sources, already emphatically told De La Hoya and his "equity"-conscious, ex-Swiss banker CEO Richard Schaeffer that there is no way junior is coming out of retirement to fight anybody?
Answer: to send a clear signal to Mayweather that he is in no position to ask for outlandish contract terms when Oscar could - according to Schaeffer's "spokesman" Bernard -- make more money fighting Tito, the kind that made their first meeting in 1999 generate a non-heavyweight fight record of 1.4 million PPV buys. A message to the same Floyd whose only two PPV cards have brought in a good, but not super 360,000 buys in a fight with box office matinee idol Arturo Gatti (360,000) last year, and approx. 350,000 against Zab Judah this year. And Floyd-Zab, remember, was hyped by the two best promoters in history, Bob Arum and Don King.
Face it, Floyd, the industry knows what the public knows, and your grating personality badly hurts you as a box office superstar.
Oscar obviously knew he was in for negotiating problems when Mayweather turned down an offer from Arum this month of $8 million to fight Antonio Margarito in July. Floyd did so, banking on his ego-fueled "celebrity" as the top lure for ATM Machine Oscar, a machine that churned out some 850,000 PPV buys and $43 million in revenue for beating relative non-entity Mayorga.
Oscar has said repeatedly that Floyd is only one of a "few" names he is considering, with Tito planted firmly at the top of his list, and possibly Winky as well (IF he beats Jermain Taylor on June 17, which he could very likely not do).
But realistically, Oscar knows damn well that neither a boring, tactical fight with Winky (they all are) or even one against a now tarnished box office draw Ricky Hatton can generate the numbers Floyd can. And Floyd knows it, too. Hence Oscar keeps using that four letter word: "T-I-T-O."
Boxing2006/Pound4Pound.com checked with its sources in
Puerto Rico and found out Felix Sr. has not been real
happy ever since he heard that at the Mayorga post-fight
press conference that Oscar was mentioning his son as a
possible match in September -- and is even less happy now
with the latest propaganda coming out of
Undoubtedly Papa Trinidad feels it's a slap in the face to
the
The fight never got made, and the indications are that Oscar
and Arum -- who were pointing for what they thought was a
less punishing fight with
Trinidad Sr. took that as a slap in the face, sources say, and for his son's comeback had him fight and beat Mayorga that year, then get sent back into retirement after losing every round to Winky in May of the next year, where he has remained ever since.
Unlike Oscar, who used to let his father Joel call all his shots out of a deep-seeded desire to please him, Felix Jr. does what his father says out of RESPECT. If Felix's Papa has said no, then there will be no fight. Period.
Tito Sr. is a man of his word, and Oscar damn well knows it, which is why Papa is so mad about his son's name being used.
The Golden Boy was pretty clever about dropping his "H"- Bomb as in Hopkins Bomb, "inadvertently" dropping it at a seemingly innocent gathering with kids, but he underestimates the intelligence of Floyd and his trainer Uncle Roger, who undoubtedly have already checked with Tito and know the $core.
Oscar likes to dig at Arum for being devious, but using kids was a pretty low way to negotiate, kind of the thing only a banker would suggest. Maybe nice guy Oscar should find new friends to play with.
As for Bernard, obviously he didn't mind playing disinformation flunky since he's a partner and stockholder of Golden Boy. The more GB makes, the more Benjamin’s BH makes, and you know how Bernard loves his presidents!
Oscar can posture all he wants, but in the end he is going to have to choose between Floyd at a stiff price, or retirement, because there is nobody on the horizon who is going to make him a bigger money fight and glitzier send off than the reigning pound for pounder.
Having said that, Oscar has a backup plan,Boxing2006 has learned, call it a Golden ace up his sleeve. Sources have told Boxing2006/Pound4Pound that if all else fails, Oscar will offer to sign free agent Floyd as the new company Golden Boy, and also promise him a business role similar to the ones he gave Hopkins, Sugar Shane & Marco Antonio Barrera's when Floyd is getting ready to retire.
Oscar, meanwhile, who lives in Puerto Rico, better hope Tito
Sr. doesn't start mouthing his displeasure to the |
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