SAN JUAN, April 27 -- This is the only place where Felix Trinidad should have his first fight after his first loss. The former three-division champion won his world titles in San Diego, Las Vegas and New York City, but his native Puerto Rico is where he draws his strength.

There is a tiny tropical frog that makes a loud chirping noise called the Coqui (because of the noise the amphibian makes -- "Ko-kee! Ko-kee!"). It can be heard everywhere on the island. It's special to the people here (stores and bars are named after the frog -- even a proposed NBA team was to be called the Coquis) because it can only live on the island.

Lee Santiago, MaxBoxing's interpreter and tour guide here, said an experiment was conducted on the Coqui to see how it would fare on other islands in the Caribbean. The longest it lasted elsewhere was three days in the Virgin Islands. "There's something about Puerto Rico, something in the environment here, that keeps them frogs happy, healthy and strong," Santiago said.

Same with Trinidad. He's getting stronger every day leading to his May 11th comeback fight with Hacine Cherifi, and he's counting the days.

"17 days!" Trinidad yelled after signing a picture of himself for Santiago yesterday in the second-floor boxing gym at the Coliseo Pedrin Zorrilla in Hato Rey. "17 days until I am back. I'm ready!"

Trinidad slammed his hand on the canvas and on the ring post of the 18-by-18-foot boxing ring each time he said "17 days." The gym is adjacent to the Roberto Clemente Coliseo where he crumpled Hugo Pineda in the fourth round with a single body shot in '99, his last fight here.

Pineda was a giant welterweight, a 6-foot-1 physical freak who actually weighed 167 pounds when the two stepped between the ropes. The commentators on HBO joked that Trinidad was a welterweight fighting a middleweight. Three years later, Trinidad finds himself an ex-middleweight champ about to test his fortitude against another former 160-pound titlist in Cherifi.

Trinidad was ringside when the durable Frenchman went the distance in a losing effort against Nambia's Harry Simon.

"He throws a lot of punches, but he is a little disorganized, so I think I can capitalize on that," Trinidad said of Cherifi. "I know I can knock him out, but he's a fighter who can take a punch, so I expect to go some rounds."

But not too many rounds. Since Trinidad won the IBF welterweight title in '93, his hometown defenses have ended in spectacular fashion. Aside from the Pineda stoppage, Trinidad starched Mahenge Zulu in the fourth round with a Ray Robinson-like single left hook in his sole title defense in '98, a near-inactive year due to problems he was having with promoter Don King. In his first defense of the IBF title, he annihilated Luis Garcia, dropping the durable contender four times en route to a first-round stoppage.

Garcia was like Cherifi in that he was tough enough to take the top welterweights of his time the distance in competitive fights, having gone 12 rounds with both Maurice Blocker and Meldrick Taylor. Cherifi has taken a number of middleweight titlists the 12-round distance -- Robin Reid (the former WBC 168-pound champ), Keith Holmes (former WBC titlist in Cherifi's title-winning effort), William Joppy (former WBA titlist), and Simon (the current WBO titlist).

Despite Cherifi's documented toughness, if Trinidad does not dispatch the Frenchman in spectacular fashion, the word among most boxing fans and press will be that Bernard Hopkins ruined him during the one-sided 12-round drubbing he received last September. Thus, the May 11th fight is not pay-per-view, nor is it for a world title, but it is still a very important bout in Trinidad's illustrious career.

"How important?" Don Felix Trinidad Sr. asks, attempting to shrug off some of the pressure. "It's next. It is important, like all fights, but it's not the most important fight ever for him. It's the next fight, and it won't be his last. He's going to fight for a little while longer, at least three or four more fights.

"After this fight, if Hopkins is available in the fall, that is the fight we will take, and we will go from there."

However, both know adjustments must be made if he hopes to get past the undisputed middleweight champion.

"In his fight against Cherifi, I will be watching his mental state, as well as his physical strength and boxing skills. He should be very strong, but I'm looking for Tito to display his movement and his technique because he is a very good boxer."

Trinidad's daily workouts have been modified to include more footwork during the bag work and mitt sessions with his father. Trinidad Sr. wants to see his son punch more when utilizing lateral movement and when backing up.

Fighting effectively going backwards is not something Trinidad does well, and it is not easy for his father to teach his son something he never did himself when he was a professional fighter during the '70s.

"Don Felix always got cut, because he was always charging forward, bobbing and weaving his way inside to work the body of his opponents," said Francisco "Papo" Rivera, a 30-year veteran cornerman who has helped to train former champs Wilfred Benitez, Carlos DeLeon, Ossie Ocasio, Esteban DeJesus, as well as Trinidad Sr. "Don Felix was like a little Joe Frazier."

Fighting like his father or Smokin' Joe is not the way to beat Hopkins. Trinidad knows this. He wants a rematch with the Executioner and he wants to win it -- bad.

"That's the one fight I really want," Trinidad said. "People talk about De La Hoya and Vargas, and if they come, fine. But Hopkins is who I really want. I want that fight before the end of this year.

"I know I can do better. I can fight smarter. I can go to the body more. I can definitely be quicker. I know I have to work hard to be ready to do that, but I am prepared to put in that work."

The sacrifice. How does Tito do it? After only two full days in San Juan, this columnist is perplexed as to how can any fighter train here? This city is absolutely beautiful, and it has everything necessary to distract a fighter -- good food, great music, plenty of clubs and lots and lots of gorgeous women.

But Trinidad is used to it. He has always trained here. It's very important to his father that the Team Trinidad base of operations stay in Puerto Rico, so don't expect to ever read that Tito is heading for Big Bear Lake, California to train for a big fight.

"There is talent here, why train somewhere else?" Trinidad Sr. said. "We want to support the rich boxing tradition here. We don't want to grow from it and then abandon Puerto Rico. We train here. We use sparring partners who are from here. The sparring partners learn from Tito and they pass that on to others who will pass it on long after we are retired.

"When Puerto Rican fighters and their camps leave Puerto Rico to train they are not doing a service to their community."

There have been many champions from this paradise, some great -- Carlos Ortiz, Benitez and Wilfredo Gomez -- and many who were very, very good -- Sixto Escobar, Jose Torres, Alfredo Escalera, DeJesus, Juan LaPorte, Ocasio, DeLeon, Edwin Rosario, Hector Camacho, John-John Molina and Wilfredo Vasquez.

An argument can easily be made that Trinidad is the most beloved out of all of those champions. He's like the Coqui. He belongs in Puerto Rico. He belongs TO Puerto Rico.

"He could lose again and he would still be revered," said Carlos Narvaez, boxing writer for the El Vocero, one of Puerto Rico's main daily newspapers. "He could retire now and take in $100,000 a month from the interest alone on the money he has invested and the property he owns. "He doesn't need De La Hoya or Vargas or Hopkins. But he still wants to fight because that is what he is -- a fighter."

Nothing more. Nothing less. He's a simple man. What you see is what you get with Tito. The smiling, happy, good natured man reporters meet at press conferences and fans see before and after his victories is what he is like all the time.

Puerto Ricans embrace him because he is humble.

"Tito is the same person he is now that he was 15 years ago when no one knew him," Narvaez said. "He's not like De La Hoya or other fighters that return to their hometowns in Limousines.

"He's also different from a lot of fighters from here who have gone on to win world championships, but later came crashing down. He doesn't do drugs. He doesn't like to drink or hang out. He doesn't get into trouble with the law. He is a simple man with a simple life."

A simple man with a thunderbolt for a left hook. Trinidad is loved because he is humble, but also because he is a winner.

"This is true," Rivera agreed. "We love Tito because he is humble, not a mean guy with a bad attitude like Roberto Duran, but also because he works hard. He's never come into a fight in poor shape. He has a good attitude and he brings that to his road work, his training, even his sparring, every day."

Trinidad brought his positive energy to this camp, and he will most likely give his fans what they want to see against Cherifi on May 11. But can he come back all the way? And can he do it against a fellow-great fighter like Hopkins?

Even Puerto Ricans who follow his every step are not sure in their heart of hearts.

"He was not the same Tito that night against Hopkins, every member of his camp knows this," Narvaez said. "But that doesn't mean he can beat Hopkins. I talked to Hopkins in Connecticut at the recent Holyfield-Ruiz fight, and I had to take a step back. I said to myself, 'Wow, this guy is special'. This guy Hopkins is a very smart.

"Tito had his marital problems, and that had to weigh heavily on his heart. September 11th was a shock for everyone. But I have to think that Hopkins, with all of his antics before that fight, got into Tito's head. Whoever said boxing is 98 percent mental was absolutely correct.

"Can Tito beat him again? I don't know. I do know this: he could lose again and we would still love him."

Next column from San Juan, "Can Trinidad Come Back All The Way?"