Columnist Dean Juipe: … and ‘Tito’ wants to stay perfect and win title

Dean Juipe

Thursday, May 3, 2001 | 12:40 p.m.

Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Preparing to fight for the first time in a third division, Felix "Tito" Trinidad expects to enjoy the same type of successes at 160 pounds that he achieved at both 147 and 154.

Trinidad has been a world champion since 1993 and has progressed from a skinny welterweight to a well-rounded middleweight at the age of 28. When he faces WBA champion William Joppy May 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York, he'll be looking to add to a lengthy list of achievements that includes relatively recent wins over Pernell Whitaker, Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas.

The pay-per-view bout comes with a $45 price tag.

"I've been training hard, as always," Trinidad said Wednesday during a conference call from his training camp in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His father and trainer, Don Felix Trinidad, also participated in the conference call.

"When I win this fight I don't want there to be any doubt I'm the best," Trinidad said. "I'll be winning that title."

He's 39-0 with 32 knockouts and will be fighting in front of a friendly crowd at Madison Square Garden.

"That's an extra advantage to me," Trinidad said through a translator. "Ninety or 95 percent of the fans will be in my favor."

To prepare for Joppy, Trinidad said "I've been behind closed doors, practicing some little bits the fans will see" and using two former pro fighters who now both weigh around 200 pounds.

He added that he would not be dropping back down to 154 pounds in the future and would relinquish the IBF and WBA titles he currently holds in that weight class.

This will be Trinidad's 20th world title fight and the only negative thing that can be said against him is that he has been down six times, plus a seventh that wasn't called. But he's a skilled boxer with a big punch who has shown an ability to rise to any challenge.

"Tito will be one of the immortals because he defeated the best fighters of his time," Don Felix said. "As a father, I'm very proud. As a trainer, I've been a close partner of that process and I know that it's teamwork that has helped make his career what it is.

"He's had a group of professionals around him in his career, and, psychologically, that's very important."

As for the notion Trinidad would be even stronger at 160 than he was at 154 or 147, Don Felix took a wait-and-see approach.

"That's a difficult question to answer," he said when the inquiry came his way. "He's confronting a strong fighter and I think the only way to tell will be to find out during the fight."

Trinidad's current weight is 163 pounds; his walking-around weight is said to be 175.

"He's positive, he's enthusiastic and he's very happy," Don Felix said. "He's very close to the weight he needs and he's ready to fight.

"Tito is a disciplined and dedicated fighter. He's never had a problem making weight."

If Trinidad wins, he'll advance to a Sept. 15 fight in New York with IBF and WBC champ Bernard Hopkins, who recently dethroned WBC champ Keith Holmes in the first leg of a middleweight unification series promoted by Don King.

"We asked for (Joppy)," Don Felix said. "I considered him the best of the middleweight champions."

While there doesn't seem to be any reason to believe Trinidad can't continue to excel as a fighter in the foreseeable future, a question about retirement arose and was directed to Don Felix.

"Retirement is a very personal matter," he said. "But we have mentioned several times that Tito will retire early. As soon as he says he wants to retire, I'll take him at his word."

Casamayor's fight with Edwin Santana continues as scheduled. Casamayor, the WBA champion at 130 pounds, is 24-0 with 15 knockouts and Santana is 27-3-5 with a mere seven KOs.

There is little to suggest Santana can hold up against Casamayor, a southpaw with great speed who figures to be a key player in a hot division.

In his most recent fight, Casamayor gained a TKO-9 victory over ex-champ Roberto Garcia at the Texas Station in North Las Vegas.

There was no companion announcement as to how Freitas' withdrawal will affect plans for the July fight with Casamayor.

* QUICK HITS: Fighting last Friday at Niagra Falls, Las Vegas-based heavyweight Jorge Luis Gonzalez was stopped in the fourth round of a scheduled 10-round fight with Joe Mesi. Gonzalez fell to 31-7 and complained of elbow and back problems after the fight with Mesi, who is 19-0. A left hook to the temple put Gonzalez down and decided the fight, although he got up to beat the referee's count and protested when the bout was stopped. ... On that same Niagra Falls card, former heavyweight champ Razor Ruddock settled for a split decision win over journeyman Harold Sconiers. Ruddock is 37-5, Sconiers 14-8. ... Former IBF junior lightweight champ Diego Corrales is due to appear in court Friday in Sacramento for sentencing on the plea bargain he recently accepted pertaining to spousal abuse charges. Corrales, 23, was facing six counts related to domestic violence and a potential 20-year prison term, but his plea bargain eliminated five of the charges and reduced his potential jail ti! me to two years.