De La Hoya to persuade Trinidad out of retirement and into a rematch

Felix Trinidad vs. De La Hoya ('99) Round-by-round recap.

Felix Trinidad's career boxing record.

Oscar De La Hoya's career boxing record.

Latino Legends in Sports News.

De La Hoya to persuade Trinidad out of retirement and into a rematch.

Update 10/22/02: Tito Trinidad addressed the subject on De La Hoya's plan to get him out of retirement and into a rematch. "I will not return to boxing," said the former five-time champion from Puerto Rico. "No matter how many millions he offers me."

October 14, 2002 -- Superstar boxer and world champion, Oscar De La Hoya is on top of the boxing world after he destroyed rival Fernando Vargas in Las Vegas. Now the "Golden Boy" of boxing is attempting "by all means necessary" to get a rematch with former champion Felix "Tito" Trinidad.

"I am going back to Puerto Rico to convince Trinidad into a rematch with me." said De La Hoya during a press conference to announce his promotional deal with HBO Latino. "I've heard what others and papa Trinidad has said about this (Tito's retirement), but I want to hear it from his own mouth -- I want Trinidad to look me in the eyes and tell me he doesn't want to fight me."

De La Hoya is even considering inviting Trinidad over for dinner or knocking on his door in order to coax him into another match. "I'm going to knock on his door and tell him I ran out of sugar," said De La Hoya. "I will invite him to dinner and do everything possible to convince him into a rematch. I don't think he will turn down a good offer."

De La Hoya, who brings in mucho dinero in ticket sales and promotions, knows very well that a fight with the former Puerto Rican champion is his biggest payday out there - a fight that will break box-office records.

The De La Hoya-Trinidad match of 1999, generated $65 million dollars - a record for a non-heavyweight title fight. De La Hoya's last fight with Vargas generated a modest $46 million in pay-per-view revenue.

Getting Trinidad out of retirement will be a tough task, since his father and trainer, Trinidad Sr. has clearly stated "there will be no rematch with De La Hoya. We made several offers to De La Hoya for a rematch before and he denied them. Now that Tito is retired, he wants a rematch. Tito has every intention on staying retired."