Trinidad-Reid bout postponed

Dean Juipe

Friday, Nov. 26, 1999 | 10:36 a.m.

A major fight announced two weeks ago for Las Vegas has been postponed, promoter Dan Goossen said Thursday.

Goossen, who handles World Boxing Association junior middleweight champion David Reid, said Reid's scheduled March 4 fight with Felix Trinidad at Caesars Palace has been put on hold.

The culprit, oddly enough, is another fighter Goossen promotes, Derrell Coley.

Goossen tried to be philosophic about it Thanksgiving, yet it was Coley's insistence that he get first crack at Trinidad that undercut the Trinidad vs. Reid fight. Coley is the mandatory challenger for the World Boxing Council portion of Trinidad's WBC and International Boxing Federation welterweight championships.

"We did have a commitment from Coley to step aside and allow the Reid-Trinidad fight to happen, but he changed his mind and he wanted to be the one to fight Trinidad first," Goossen said. "In this business you have to be ready to go the direction your fighters want to take you, and this is how Derrell wants to do it.

"I have the luxury of promoting both Coley and Reid, and I have to be responsive to both of them."

Trinidad could have elected to relinquish his WBC 147-pound title to challenge Reid at 154, and a newspaper in Puerto Rico reported he was still considering it. "If we have to leave it, we'll leave it," Trinidad was quoted as saying Wednesday in the Primera Hora newspaper in reference to the WBC title.

Yet Goossen believes Trinidad will make his mandatory defense against Coley, and he and fellow promoter Don King -- who handles Trinidad -- have been given 90 days by the WBC to secure funding and a site for the bout.

When the Trinidad vs. Reid fight was announced, it was understood that Coley was receiving an unspecified fee as "step aside" money. Goossen called that fee "substantial" and said he had "an oral agreement" with Coley about it.

But when Coley reconsidered, it threw a wrench into the Trinidad vs. Reid plans.

"That fight will still happen," Goossen said. "It's not off. It's merely postponed."

He said a summer date was a possibility.

Trinidad, who was to have been guaranteed $4 million to fight Reid, added the WBC championship to his portfolio when he defeated Oscar De La Hoya Sept. 18 at Mandalay Bay.

When a rematch with De La Hoya could not be immediately arranged, Trinidad agreed to move up to 154 pounds to challenge Reid.

But now Trinidad apparently will stay at 147 and defend against Coley, although his comments lend an air of uncertainty to the negotiations.

Goossen also said there were other mitigating factors involved in delaying the Trinidad vs. Reid fight, presumably including the goodwill of cable network HBO. Its rival, Showtime, had been tapped to handle the Trinidad vs. Reid fight even though it's HBO that has supported Reid throughout the early stages of his career.

Reid, who was to have received $3 million to fight Trinidad, is 14-0.

Trinidad is 36-0.

Coley is 34-1-2.