Trinidad Out, but Mosley In for Oscar

Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley have agreed in principle, through their promoters, to fight in June, either at Staples Center or Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Although no contracts have been signed, there is a verbal agreement that De La Hoya will receive at least $7 million, Mosley $4 million for the pay-per-view fight.

Unless there is a last-minute snag, the blockbuster match involving two L.A. fighters in their prime leaves Felix Trinidad out in the cold.

“He will have to wait until September,” said Bob Arum, De La Hoya’s promoter.

Arum had been negotiating with Don King, Trinidad’s promoter, for a De La Hoya-Trinidad rematch. Trinidad, who beat De La Hoya on a decision in September to win the World Boxing Council’s 147-pound title, fights David Reid Friday night at Caesars Palace for Reid’s World Boxing Assn. 154-pound title.

Although there would be an estimated $40 million on the table for De La Hoya-Trinidad II, the two camps couldn’t agree on a split, on a weight at which to fight, or even on a city.

“It was an impossible situation,” Arum said. “Now, no matter what happens [Friday night], we are going to fight Shane Mosley next. That was Oscar’s decision and I support him wholeheartedly.”

Said Norman Horton, a spokesman for Mosley: “There has been an agreement in principle, but there still needs to be a little more negotiating to finalize the deal.”

The key factor now is the site. Arum, who already has received an offer from Mandalay Bay, will meet with Staples Center officials Monday. If the fight is held in Los Angeles, it will be on June 17. If it is in Las Vegas, it will be June 10.

The choice of a site also may affect the pay-per-view projections.

It had been assumed since Trinidad’s hand was raised in victory in a close, controversial decision in September that he and De La Hoya would fight again.

De La Hoya, who made $23 million in the first fight, insisted that he was entitled to at least half the purse the second time around because he remained the drawing card. Trinidad, who made $10.5 million in the first fight, felt that, as the winner, he should get more in a rematch. King and Arum had tentatively agreed on a 50-50 split.

While De La Hoya is comfortable at 147 pounds, Trinidad has had to struggle to get that low in recent fights. So Arum and King had talked about a compromise at 150-152 pounds.

But nothing could happen without the approval of Felix Sr., the fighter’s father/manager/trainer.

Earlier Wednesday, before he had learned of the De La Hoya-Mosley agreement, the senior Trinidad said he would agree to a 152-pound minimum.

But, he said through an interpreter, “They [members of De La Hoya’s camp] have a hard time understanding that they are the ones who lost. They are not in a position to tell us terms.”

That position changed dramatically Wednesday.

It was King who did an end-around on Arum the first time the negotiations stalled, agreeing to fight Reid.

That left De La Hoya out in the cold.

Now, Arum has done the end-around, not waiting to see how Trinidad does against Reid.

“If Trinidad loses to Reid,” Arum said, “he’ll be lucky if we pay him $2 million.”

So now Mosley moves into the spotlight and the big money. His father/manager/trainer, Jack, had been criticized for moving his son along too slowly.

But Jack Mosley’s timing this week is impeccable. The 28-year-old Shane is 34-0 with 32 knockouts and was the International Boxing Federation lightweight champion before moving up 12 pounds and two weight divisions in the fall. In his first fight at 147 pounds, Mosley knocked out tough veteran Wilfredo Rivera in the 10th round. In January, Mosley got a fourth-round knockout victory over Willie Wise.

De La Hoya (32-1, 26 knockouts) rebounded from his loss to Trinidad to beat Derrell Coley last week at New York’s Madison Square Garden. But Coley didn’t offer much of a test, choosing to remain on his knees and be counted out at the end of the seventh round.