"Forces of Destruction" -- Editor's notes from
Las Vegas.
Written by Ozzie Gonzalez
December 6, 2000
Mandalay Bay
Resort and Casino in Las Vegas -- the home of championship boxing -- was filled with
beautiful banners and pictures of Felix Trinidad and Fernando Vargas along with Mexican
and Puerto Rican flags.
They also cleverly placed a television showing replays of Trinidad and Vargas knocking
out several of their past opponents inside a front entrance of the casino which added to
the hype.
On Friday, the day of the official weigh-in, many celebrities were at the Mandalay Bay
in anticipation of the big fight. Jamie Foxx, Donald Trump, Thomas Hearns and
Charles "Sir Charles" Barkley, who is said to be a big fan of Tito Trinidad was
among many who was at the casino mingling with the crowd.
Mandalay Bay did a great job handling the huge crowd on the day of the fight and
diffusing any sparks which might have caused a problem. They were a lot of people
carrying the Puerto Rican and Mexican flag, but the crowd appeared a bit more Mexican and
in favor of Vargas.
To my surprise they even had a live
Latin band singing salsa music and Latin dance music like the song "I like it like
that" The band was located right outside of the arena and played very well.
Attending the fight were a host of celebrities: Eddie Murphy, Evander Holyfield, Shane
Mosely, Luis Miguel, Billy Crystal, Ray "Boom-Boom" Mancini, Mike Tyson,
Donald Trump and several others were all seated around or at front row.
Fernando Vargas did not appear at the press conference, but was briefly interviewed
before Trinidad while he was in the ring. It was not televised, but he did say
"Trinidad is a great champion and he's a devastating puncher. Tonight I lost to
the better man". Vargas afterwards refused any interviews with the media.
Fernando Vargas arrived to the fight in his custom made "Feriocious Squad"
strech limo which is customized with a high-powered sound system and a mini-gym with a
punching bag. All for the cool price of $200,000+
.
