How to prostitute your identity: The case of Tito Trinidad

    George Simmel (one of sociology's founding fathers) once wrote that, despite their universality, we detest prostitutes because they sell the most intimate part of themselves.  That which should be kept private for the most intimate and basic of human affections is put on display for anyone and everyone to purchase and consume; it looses its 'sacredness', as Mircea Eliade would call it.  We might characterize the upcoming boxing match between Tito Trinidad and Roy Jones Jr in the same terms.  

    Tito is not just a boxer, but an emblem of Puerto Rican identity.  Every-time he wins, he defeats in some manner many of the Puerto Rican stereotypes pervasive in North American culture.  "In your face", his victories seems to say to those who would so blithely deny our worth and value.  This is why every time he returns to Puerto Rico from victorious boxing matches, the vast uproar and parades that follow are not mere celebrations matches between two men 'having it out', but rather are implicitly defined as matches between a small colonial island and an metropolitan behemoth. They are contests between David and Goliath, and hence defeats of those who would 'oppress us'.  The celebrations that follow are implicitly celebrations of the Puerto Rican identity.

    This is why the upcoming fight is so pitiful.  It is well known that boxers who have been out of the ring but who return to it generally fail; they become stepping stones for new fighters on their way up.  Many hence consider it a fight by Tito to capitalize the last strands of his hero status before falling to oblivion through loss of public presence.  (Who today knows of 'Macho Camacho"?  Aside from this family members and jail partners, few people remember who he is or would care to associate with him--particularly very few new generations.)  This is why in part Tito Trinidad has been forced to publicly repeat in various sources of mass media that he is not doing it for the money, when he clearly is.

    Tomorrow's fight (Saturday, January 19, 2008) will likely end in an implicit vindication of Goliath; it will serve to reinforce stereotypes that have been so arduously and slowly conquered, ironically by Tito as well.  After his defeat, Tito will go back to the island scampering with his tail between his legs, but with a few million dollars in his back pocket.  Upon loosing, Tito will in fact have knowingly used his Puerto Rican identity status for private gain.  What should Tito do?  Not fight. This would be the greatest victory of all, for in not fighting he would retain his prestige and initiate the real battles that go on behind the scene.  Facing the many fines he is likely to incur upon abruptly quitting before the fight will be the greatest act of heroism.  It will have been a vindication of his own efforts and our collective identity.