Trinidad Plays ‘Weighting’ Game

Where was Felix Trinidad?

Pernell Whitaker, the challenger in tonight’s International Boxing Federation welterweight title fight, had already weighed in at Madison Square Garden at the appointed time of 4 p.m. Friday, tipping the scales at 147 pounds, the maximum allowed.

Don King, Trinidad’s promoter, was doing what he does best, filibustering. King had grabbed a microphone and was filling the room with his usual hot air, stalling for his missing fighter.

Believe it or not, the fighter was running through the canyons of Manhattan, wearing three layers of sweat clothes.

It was desperation time for the IBF champion, who has fought the battle of the bulge leading into the fight against Whitaker.

Trinidad was, according to onlookers, still three pounds over when he stepped on the scales at 3:30 p.m., before boxing commission officials had arrived.

Finally, with his handlers doing the sweating, Trinidad returned to the weigh-in at 4:22, stepped on the scales and drew a large cheer.

He weighed 147 pounds to the ounce.

What effect all this will have on Trinidad, the 5-1 favorite, remains to be seen.

It’s an intriguing battle between Trinidad (33-0, 28 knockouts) and Whitaker (41-2-1, 17 knockouts).

There are questions about both fighters: One is trying to shake off the effects of drug abuse and a lengthy layoff, the other is dealing with rapid weight loss. One report listed Trinidad’s weight in the 160s a little more than a week ago.

Whitaker won’t talk about his use of drugs, but his career has been on hold because of it. Whitaker last fought Oct. 17, 1997, winning a decision over Andre Pestriaev. But Whitaker tested positive for cocaine after that fight and was suspended for six months. Last March, he entered a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center.

Now he returns, hoping that, at 35, he still has enough left to successfully resume his once-brilliant boxing career.

“I have no ring rust on me,” he said. “Hey, I’ve been in boxing 27 years. I don’t want no excuses. And I don’t want the other guy to have no excuses.”

As for his drug problems, Whitaker said, “That’s last year’s news. This is no big issue. It’s behind me. It’s not life- threatening. I am not going to let people make something out of nothing. We’re talking about [tonight]. I’m not going back. I’m going forward.”

Trinidad seems ready to go forward as a 154-pounder. Instead, he has gotten down to 147, but must now deal with any lingering effects from his crash diet along with the layoff of nearly 11 months since his last fight.

At the end of the rainbow for both men, beyond tonight’s purses, are the millions waiting for the winner if a match can be made against Oscar De La Hoya, the World Boxing Council welterweight champion and the unquestioned box-office champion of the division.

If Whitaker wins, there should be no problem matching him up against De La Hoya, probably in September. Whitaker has hungered for a rematch since losing a close decision to De La Hoya in April 1997.

If Trinidad wins, the matchup with De La Hoya would be more attractive since it would feature two unbeaten fighters and put De La Hoya in the ring against the man given the best chance to beat him, now that Ike Quartey has been disposed of.

But while De La Hoya-Trinidad is more attractive, it’s also a more difficult match to make in September because Trinidad is promoted by King.

King refers to the WBC champion as “Chicken De La Hoya.” Friday, he screamed, “We must not let him get away. We will continue to haunt him in his dreams. We will continue to haunt him in his schemes.”

Catchy, but not exactly the truth, surprising as that might be.

De La Hoya is not the problem. It’s King. He has contractual obligations to the Showtime network that make it unlikely a Trinidad-De La Hoya match can occur before next year.

De La Hoya has ties to HBO and its pay-per-view arm, TVKO. HBO is televising tonight’s fight, following a replay of the De La Hoya-Quartey fight.

There is also the matter of the purses. Trinidad, reasoning that he will also be an unbeaten champion if he defeats Whitaker, wants money equal to that of De La Hoya. But Trinidad, who comes from Puerto Rico and doesn’t speak English, has never proved to be a profitable attraction in this country.

And finally, they might disagree on the weight, De La Hoya preferring 147 pounds, Trinidad 154.

YOU BE THE JUDGE

Although most members of the media made De La Hoya the winner over Quartey, by varying degrees, the three judges--Larry O’Connell, Ken Morita and John Keane, had trouble agreeing on most of what they saw last Saturday night. Morita had De La Hoya winning, 116-112, and Keane had De La Hoya ahead, 116-113. O’Connell gave the bout to Quartey, 115-114.

The judges could agree on the score in only three of the 12 rounds, all of them giving Quartey the seventh round, 10-9; De La Hoya the 10th round, 10-9, and De La Hoya the final round, 10-8.

SHORT JABS

Juan Manuel Marquez (27-1, 21 knockouts) will face Jose De Jesus Garcia (24-8, 19 knockouts) in a 10-round featherweight bout that will serve as the main event tonight at the Spotlight 29 Casino in Indio. Also on the card, staged by Forum Boxing, will be the North American Boxing Organization junior-welterweight title fight between champion Tony Lopez (50-7-1, 34 knockouts) and challenger Hector Quiroz (25-3-1, 21 knockouts).