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"The Road Back" Felix Trinidad to
face Hacine Cherifi in San Juan, Puerto Rico - May 11th.
 FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 18, 2002 -- SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—Five-time
world champion Felix “Tito” Trinidad will make his first
hometown appearance in three years when he faces former World Boxing
Council middleweight champion Hacine Cherifi at the Roberto Clemente
Coliseum on May 11 in a scheduled 10-round middleweight attraction.
The bout is being promoted by Don King Productions in association with
Angelo Medina Enterprises. Tickets priced at $35, $45, $75, $100, $200 and
$750 are on sale now and can be purchased by phoning Ticket Center at
(787) 759-5000 or on the Internet at www.ticketcenter.com.
Trinidad (40-1, 33 KOs) was undefeated and had earned world championships
in three weight divisions before tangling with Bernard “The
Executioner” Hopkins at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sept. 29 in
an attempt to become the undisputed middleweight world champion. Hopkins
derailed Trinidad in round 12 by scoring a technical knockout to win the
bout and Trinidad’s World Boxing Association 160-pound crown.
Trinidad would like an opportunity to avenge his first loss to Hopkins,
and Oscar De La Hoya has said that he would like to have the same
opportunity against Trinidad, but those matters will be moot unless
Trinidad can rebound with a victory against the former champion Cherifi.
Cherifi (32-5-1, 20 KOs), from France, defeated Keith Holmes to win the
WBC middleweight title on May 2, 1998, but gave it back to Holmes in a
rematch the following year.
He earned the right to another title shot by peeling off four consecutive
victories, this time against WBA king William Joppy in May of 2000.
Cherifi fought valiantly but lost the decision. Cherifi finds himself,
like Trinidad, at a career turning point after losing to Harry Simon in
his last outing on July 21. The undefeated Simon went on
to decision Armand Krajnc to become the World Boxing Organization
middleweight champion on April 6.
Another sensational world championship fight has been added as the
co-featured main event, which will also be shown on the HBO telecast
beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT, as Miami knockout artist and
current
WBA interim champion Randall Bailey (25-1, 25 KOs) meets Diosbelys Hurtado
(34-2-1, 22 KOs), a Cuban defector now living in Miami, for the WBA Super
Lightweight title.
Bailey is also a former World Boxing Organization 140-pound champion, and
all of his wins have come by knockout. A devastating puncher, Bailey
turned out the lights on the respected Demetrio Ceballos early in the
third round in his last outing on Feb. 2 to win the interim WBA title.
Twice, Hurtado has come close to changing the course of boxing history by
knocking down a pair of future Hall of Famers, twice each. He faced the
man most people considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the sport in
1997, WBC welterweight champion Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker. He
dropped Whitaker
in the first and sixth rounds before getting into trouble in round 11
where the fight was halted, a decision that Hurtado still questions today.
His second brush with history came when he shocked Kostya Tszyu by
dropping him twice in the opening round when they met on November 1998 for
the interim WBA junior welterweight title. Tszyu survived the first round
and rallied to stop Hurtado in round five. In his last appearance, Hurtado
won the vacant International Boxing Association 140-pound title by
defeating Ricky Quiles.
A full undercard will be included and announced when the matches are
confirmed.
Press Release by Don King Production
Photo by Latino Legends in Sports, www.latinosportslegends.com
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