Oscar Shows Off His Garden Tools

By BILL PLASCHKE

Feb. 27, 2000 12 AM PT

NEW YORK —

It could be heard in the rhythm of his punches, left-right-left, as they pushed around the bum.

It would be heard in the rhythm of his feet, shuffle-glide-shuffle, as they stalked the stiff.

Finally it could be heard in the plop of two knees and one elbow on the canvas at the end of a fight that was about something else entirely.

Trin-i-dad, Trin-i-dad, Trin-i-dad.

Oscar De La Hoya traveled across the country Saturday for his first work since his first loss, but could not leave his conqueror behind.

If it seemed as if there were two fighters pounding on pathetic Derrell Coley in a seventh-round knockout at Madison Square Garden, there were.

De La Hoya was the one doing the punching, Felix Trinidad was the one riding his back.

That is where Trinidad will stay until De La Hoya can throw off him and the memories of that Sept. 18 loss that tarnished the gold.

Nothing else matters. It took only 21 irrelevant minutes in the ring Saturday to confirm it.

De La Hoya accepted this fight hoping to take a first step toward reclaiming his reputation.

All it did was make everybody realize that there is only one step, and its name is you-know-who.

Taking the ring amid empty seats and scattered jeers, De La Hoya did not enjoy the entrance of a champion.

Leaving the ring after Coley had been knocked down by an ordinary left hook, he did not enjoy the exit of a hero.

“You know, it didn’t look like he was at his best out there,” fellow welterweight Shane Mosley said. “It looked like he was a little sick or something.”

In the past, De La Hoya would wipe away smack from somebody like Mosley like a stray bit of hair gel.

But now it is Mosley who is unbeaten, and De La Hoya who is not.

And it is Mosley, from Pomona, who is awaiting a June 17 neighborhood brawl with De La Hoya at Staples Center.

All it requires is De La Hoya’s approval.

“We want Oscar,” said Tim Leiweke, the Kings president who runs Staples. “It would be an ideal situation for everyone.”

He’s right. It would be the biggest Los Angeles boxing match in years.

It would be good for the town, good for the fighters, and great for the Superstore, which would fit it in amid a possible NBA championship series.

It would also be a mistake.

Don’t do it, Oscar.

Mosley will be there in the future.

Your backyard building will be there in the future.

Trinidad, providing he defeats David Reid on Friday in Las Vegas, is there now.

There is a two-fight deal with Trinidad in the works, with their first rematch tentatively scheduled for June 10.

They need to agree upon a weight and Trinidad’s obstinate father needs to be placated on a number of issues, but the deal is there.

It would not be in Los Angeles, but Las Vegas or New York.

It would not be as locally sweet as a fight with the man known as “Sugar.”

But it would be far more important.

Until De La Hoya can deal with the specter of Trinidad, his fights will look like a ghost of his former events.

And if De La Hoya does defeat Trinidad, his later fight with Mosley will be the biggest thing in Los Angeles since our last Super Bowl.

Trinidad before Mosley, like dinner before dessert.

De La Hoya seems to understand this. Or does he?

In one breath Saturday, he was saying that, Mosely or Trinidad, it doesn’t matter.

“I think I’ll fight both of them this year, whatever order doesn’t matter,” he said.

But then later in the news conference, he was claiming again that on Sept. 18, he was robbed.

“I will always feel I won that fight,’ he said. “It was unfair. It was just like basketball, taking away points because a player was wasting time. I thought that Trinidad did not win more than six rounds.”

Will De La Hoya--and the rest of us--have to endure questions and explanations of that fight until they fight again? What do you think?

De La Hoya has already revealed his strategy for the rematch.

That would be no strategy.

“I’m not going to look at tapes or anything,” he said. “Whoever I fight is going to have to adjust to my style.”

This new, box-till-you-drop attitude sounds good, but it’s hard to know whether it will work. Against Coley, simply showing up worked.

After several pre-fight predictions that he was going to knock out De La Hoya and end his career, Coley began the fight on the charge.

He promptly bounced into one of De La Hoya’s left, and that was that.

With the exception of a brief fourth-round flurry, Coley spent the entire fight retreating. And admitted it.

“I wasn’t as strong as I felt,” he said.

In the end, he also wasn’t as courageous as he sounded. After being knocked to his knees with a body blow in the final seconds of the seventh round, despite being in full possession of his senses, he made a decision.

It wasn’t worth getting up.

“It knocked the wind out of me, I thought I would get my wind back,” he said. “But I have a family. I thought about my family. I didn’t think it was worth it.”

De La Hoya should know the feeling.

Five months ago, Trinidad knocked the wind out of him. Saturday night, he thought he might get it back.

He didn’t. He could have knocked out Derrell Coley in the first minute and he still wouldn’t.

His career is no longer about Derrell Coley, or Shane Mosley, or even Oscar De La Hoya.

It is about Felix Trinidad.

The sooner the better.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

De La Hoya Breakdown

Oscar De La Hoya is 32-1 with 26 knockouts, including 19 technical knockouts. How his record breaks down (* includes loss to Felix Trinidad):

KNOCKOUTS (7)

Round 1: 3

Round 2: 3