Now Oscar needs Felix Trinidad to win

I’m reminded of the song “We will rock you” by Queen when I think of Oscar Da La Hoya now. “Blood on your face, big disgrace kicking your can all over the place.” The only thing is this man is no disgrace.

So he was stopped by a bigger, stronger man in a fight nobody really thought he would win, so what. The fact is he delivered a performance worth seeing and he took the fight to Hopkins. He could have opted for a safer option. He could have tried the boring route Sugar Ray Leonard took against Marvin Hagler all those years ago. Just for the record, I still think Hagler was robbed in that oversized ring.

If nothing else, the Hopkins – De La Hoya fight proved the Golden Boy puts his fans ahead of his record and that he’s still got the spunk which made him the Golden Boy in the first place. Nobody could begrudge him if he decided to call it a day on a dream career, but De La Hoya – Trinidad 2 could be a great way to finish it.

Much will depend on how Trinidad shapes up when he takes on a very determined Ricardo Mayorga on October 2. Mayorga has promised to punish the “poor shell of his former self” Trinidad, but could well be made to eat humble pie against a man who enjoyed a well planned and calculated career before retiring two years ago. Until he faced Hopkins in the only loss of his career, Trinidad was never really in a fight or situation he could not handle. Sure his confidence would have taken a knock and perhaps that more than anything else caused him to call it quits prematurely.

Now seeing the example set my De La Hoya it must be clear that a loss is not the end of the world – especially when it’s against a class act like Hopkins. Both Trinidad and De La Hoya are legends in their own rights, and I’d bet a rematch between them would be a bigger affair than either of them facing Hopkins again. Not to discredit the champ. He’s proven he’s the best of the three, but being the best isn’t always enough.

It’s show business and De La Hoya is still the ringmaster in his own parade.

Admittedly, if Mayorga delivers on his promise and knocks Trinidad out, forget about the sequel to De la Hoya – Trinidad and hello De La Hoya – Mayorga. Let the golden one take one last bow – while if Trinidad is successful next week he could open the book on super-fights. Chapter 1: De La Hoya, Chapter 2: Bernard Hopkins, Chapter 3 Shane Moseley and Chapter 4 Winky Wright.

Only time will tell, but we haven’t heard the last of Oscar Da La Hoya, and Trinidad’s story could just be starting.