Trinidad Decides to Put Off Rematch With De La Hoya

Promoter Don King got the message Saturday morning from both rival promoter Bob Arum and Time Warner Sports: Sign with us. Agree to a Felix Trinidad-Oscar De La Hoya rematch because you have no place else to go.

Will they never learn?

King, who always seems to have another option in his playbook, pulled off an end-around Saturday evening, turning his back on De La Hoya, Arum and Time Warner by signing his fighter, Trinidad, to a title fight against World Boxing Assn., super-welterweight champion David Reid, the 1996 U.S. Olympic gold-medal winner.

The fight, which unites King and promoter Dan Goossen, another Arum rival, will be shown on Showtime pay-per-view March 4 from an arena to be constructed outdoors at Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace. Trinidad, though the challenger, will get $4 million; Reid, the champion, $3 million in this battle of unbeaten fighters.

In the never-ending chess game between boxing’s two major promoting forces, Arum countered Sunday by claiming that any hope of De La Hoya-Trinidad II has been dashed and that his fighter now will face either Ahmed Kotiev, the World Boxing Organization’s 147-pound champion, or Derrell Coley, the World Boxing Council’s No. 1 contender at 147, Feb. 26.

Arum wants that match to be at Staples Center, along with a co-main event featuring WBC super-featherweight champion Floyd Mayweather. The problem is, the Clippers are scheduled to play that night at the arena. But negotiations are underway with the Clippers and the NBA to move that game.

If the details can’t be worked out, the De La Hoya fight will be held at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“A De La Hoya-Trinidad rematch is dead,” Arum said. “It’s over, finished. They pulled out. Oscar will stay at 147 pounds. That was always the plan.”

Not quite. On Saturday, Arum said that De La Hoya would move up to fight Javier Castillejo of Spain, the WBC 154-pound champion. But when Trinidad decided to move up, Arum reversed his field.

Arum was quick to point out that, by not fighting De La Hoya, Trinidad is passing up a purse estimated at $18 million-$20 million.

“You could say the same thing about Arum and Oscar,” responded Goossen.

Events moved quickly Saturday after the Arum-King meeting ended in a stalemate before noon. King, who had been talking with Goossen for 10 days about a Reid fight, reestablished contact and the two pounded out a deal in about seven hours.

The alliance between King, whose favorite expression is “Only in America,” and Goossen, whose promotional organization is America Presents, has given King a new slogan for Trinidad-Reid.

“Now,” said King, “it’s Only in America Presents.”

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So, is Lennox Lewis the undisputed heavyweight champion or not? That question was raised less than an hour after Lewis beat Evander Holyfield Saturday night at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center to unify the crown.

Officials of the International Boxing Federation announced their heavyweight title was vacant because Lewis had failed to pay a required $300,000 sanctioning fee.

“The money has already been deducted from Lewis’ purse and put into escrow,” said Gary Shaw, of Main Events, Lewis’ promotional organization. “We want to pay. But the IBF has profit and nonprofit arms. We want to know where the proper place is to pay.”

A replay of the fight will be on HBO at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.