QUARTEY-TRINIDAD TO HAPPEN?

by Pedro Fernandez

Main Events is whispering about a November 14, fight between unbeaten welterweight champions (IBF) Felix Trinidad and (WBA) Ike Quartey on HBO. This matchup is one of great intrigue, but there are roadblocks.

Quartey has a mandatory against Andrei Pestriav that is supposed to happen in August with those lame Frenchmen the Acarie's Brothers promoting. And Don King will sue Trinidad claiming that the Puerto Rican's contract that Tito says expired on June 11, had a clause in it that mandated an automatic two year extension if Trinidad was still a world champion come June 11, 1998.

Bob Arum, King's rival believes the contract is valid, but not one that can't be challenged Arum would like to entice Trinidad or Quartey to join the Top Rank flock in order to facilitate matches between them and Arum's Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya.

TRINIDAD SCOFFS AT $7 MILLION FOR OSCAR

Trinidad balked at a $7 million carrot Arum put on a stick for a De La Hoya fight figuring that if he whips Quartey first, that number will increase greatly. Felix truly believes he can drill De La Hoya easier than Quartey.

The press conference announcing the signing of Trinidad by Main Events will be Friday in NYC.

FOREMAN-HOLMES JANUARY 23, AT MGM

George Foreman and Larry Holmes are now apparently headed to the MGM Grand in Sin City. The battle of the aged being promoted by Roger Levitt and company, will far exceed anybody's wildest guesstimation when it comes to Pay Per View buys.

I predict the fight will do better than 1.5 million homes.

MAT TINLEY AND AMERICA PRESENTS ROCK ON!

Mat Tinley, CEO of AMERICA PRESENTS signed WBC feather guy Luisito Espinosa to a promotional deal with the hope of matching him first with Wayne McCullough, with the winner to face world champ Naseem Hamed.

A month ago, A.P. inked Miguel Angel Gonzalez. I guess Tinley wasn't jesting when he said during an appearance on Ring Talk. "America Presents intends to be the New York Yankees of boxing when it comes to free agents."

HOLYFIELD-AKINWANDE UPDATE

Could the postponed (and thought to be all but canceled) Evander Holyfield-Henry Akinwande bout land in Las Vegas in August at the Thomas and Mack Arena? That's what I'm hearing as two July dates with SHOWTIME airing DKP fights from Las Vegas fell through.

OOPS!

I made a mistake when I said that Vlad Wharton was the Aussie who overbid for the rights to do the WBC 140 lb. title fight between the winner of Kostya Tsyzu-Rafael Ruelas in a title eliminator, and #1 ranked Miguel Angle Gonzalez.

It was Bill Mordey who bid nearly $2 million, and then realized the fight wasn't worth half of that. AMERICA PRESENTS bid of $800 K was the eventual winner.

LEWIS STILL MUM WITH HBO

WBC behemoth Lennox Lewis will meet #1 Zeljko Mavrovic September 26, on HBO, thus concluding his contract with the Time Warner company.

Word out of New York last week, was that HBO was going to float a deal in front of the principles that goes along these lines. Holyfield will nab $20 mill.; Lewis gets $10, and Don King $5 million.

King isn't going to give up his rights to promote Holyfield for a lousy $5 million. It just isn't good business sense for one. And he's going to want to have a part in the promotion of this mega-event, something I hear HBO isn't real high on.

Lewis has not discussed anything with HBO since talks between him and the media giant broke down a fortnight ago.

Pedro Fernandez

The writer can be reached at flash@inow.com

Editor's Note:

Join Pedro Fernandez, "the undisputed heavyweight champion of the radio airwaves" as he defends his title of nearly 13 years on Ring Talk this Saturday at 11:06 PM ET on the Talk America Radio Network.

Pedro's guests will include World 140 lb. champion "Cool" Vince Phillips, Gabe Ruelas, and historian/writer Bert Sugar. Only on on Ring Talk @ 11:06 PM ET for two hours on the Talk America Radio Network with LIVE Internet audio at www.talkamerica.com

Sunday at 11:06 PM ET on the Talk America 2 Network aka "The Deuce" Ring Talk airs for an hour. Guests will include AMERICA PRESENTS CEO Mat Tinley and HBO's Larry Merchant.

Be advised there is a difference between TALK "1" and TALK "2." BOTH have LIVE Internet audio at www.talkamerica.com

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