Puerto Rican passion
Trinidad seen as a hero by the Puerto Rican people
Posted: Friday September 17, 1999 07:34 PM
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Trinidad is so popular that the Puerto Rican government is offering free viewing of the pay-per-view match on 16 giant screens at San Juan's Capitol.
AP |
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - The reminders are everywhere.
Pictures of boxers Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya are appearing in a nationalistic frenzy on everything from pizza advertisements to smoking cessation aids.
And there's no mistaking the loyalties. After all, in Puerto Rico there's more than a welterweight championship at stake in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
A victory for Trinidad - a native son and hero --would give this U.S. territory of 4 million people a big lift on the international stage.
Few other causes --aside from the Olympics, where Puerto Rico fields its own team, the Miss Universe pageant or singer Ricky Martin's popularity --have generated such patriotism.
"Tito [Trinidad] is going to tear his head off," said Emilio Canciobello from Trinidad's mountain hometown of Cupey. "Also, he's got more of the upbringing and fury because he's Puerto Rican."
De la Hoya, who is Mexican-American, was raised in Los Angeles.
For the indigent, the government is offering free viewing of the pay-per-view match on 16 giant screens at San Juan's Capitol.
In less than three hours, 8,000 people snapped up tickets Thursday. Jose Garcia, who arrived shortly after daybreak, was the first to get a ticket.
At four Puerto Rican prisons, some 2,000 inmates will be rewarded for good behavior with a free showing of the bout.
San Juan's resort hotels, bars and nightclubs were charging up to dlrs 25 for a seat to watch the match.
Despite 6-5 odds favoring De La Hoya, nearly every caller to popular radio talk shows that dedicated the week to the bout argued not over who would win -- Tito, of course -- but when.
"He must win by knockout in the sixth or the seventh. Otherwise, a decision by points would be very bad for our Tito," said homemaker Angela Rivera.
"Trinidad in the sixth," predicted Pedro Sanabria, 23, a student at the University of Puerto Rico.
Even Trinidad's mother, Irma Doris Garcia Rodriguez, said Friday she had a "premonition" that her son would win with a knockout in the fourth round. Just to make sure, she said she had sent her Tito some homemade chicken broth to fortify him.
Some in the minority weren't so sure.
"I think that Tito's going to win. It would be better for Puerto Rico," said Yeika Santos, an aerobics instructor and confessed De La Hoya fan. "But I know that it's difficult."
Given the fight's late hour -- roughly midnight local time -- police urged partying fans to stay off the roads.
Full-page newspaper ads warned anyone robbing the satellite signal could be fined up to dlrs 50,000 and jailed for two years.
At a rental store in San Juan, manager Gerardo Alvarez said he was running out of big-screen TVs for those planning fight-night parties.
"Even 27-inch screens are scarce," he said.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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