Dean Juipe

Thu, Feb 20, 1997 (11:59 a.m.)

There's nothing like an eye-witness account, even if the eye witness has his prejudices.

So take George Chemeres' report on Greg Haugen and his fight last Saturday in Tacoma with Jesus Mayorga with a grain of salt if you like, Haugen not having fought in 15 months and Chemeres having an assortment of bad memories of his association with the former world champion.

"Even with all the bitterness I have against him, I was wishing him the best of luck," Chemeres said of Haugen, a former resident of Southern Nevada who is now living in his native Auburn, Wash. "One thing about Greg, he's got a lot of guts and he'll give you 100 percent.

"But this guy that he fought was very ordinary and he gave Greg a helluva fight. As sympathetic as people up here are toward Greg, a lot of people in the arena booed the decision."

Haugen, 36, took a decision over Mayorga but didn't impress Chemeres, who twice managed the ex-champ during his heyday.

"Greg's not what he used to be," Chemeres said by phone from his Washington home. "He weighed 151 pounds and he's lost his reflexes because of all his bad habits. It's a sad thing, kind of pathetic really."

Chemeres dissolved his relationship with Haugen because "Greg told me to quit trying to be his father. But I was only trying to straighten him out. He never wanted to behave and he didn't behave when I had him, or when (Las Vegan) Wes Wolfe had him. He just got to be too much of a problem. It's too bad, because he could have been a rich man today."

Instead, Haugen's financial troubles have been widely reported and he fought in Tacoma for a mere $2,000.

When a Tacoma television interviewer suggested to Haugen that there might be some money to be made fighting Chemeres' current protege, 20-1 featherweight John Palaki, Haugen showed little interest. "He said 'Chemeres has been looking for guys in the graveyard to fight Palaki,'" Chemeres said. "But then the TV guy got me on the air and I said Greg was right, that we'd fight him at 135 pounds and that he would be perfect for Palaki because he's half in the grave right now."

Ouch.

Around the ring

* BANNER CARD: Banner Promotions returns to Las Vegas with the next local card, March 4 at the Aladdin. The main event offers WBO middleweight champ Lonnie Bradley, 25-0, vs. longtime NABF champ Otis Grant, 28-1. "I expect a distance fight with these guys," said promoter Art Pelullo. "They're both pretty good and I can't see one knocking out the other." In the semi-main, also to be televised by the USA cable network, Steve Martinez, 33-1-1, takes on Warren Williams, 13-7-1, with the vacant NABF junior middleweight title at stake. Tickets are $15 to $75.

* AMATEUR PLEA: The upcoming regional Golden Gloves competition, scheduled for April 4-5, is looking for a casino host. "We can't seem to find a site," said Tom Elgas Jr. "We've been turned down by several locations and now we're backed to the wall. We need more space than the 300 people we can fit into the Golden Gloves gym. I don't want to sound like I'm whining and I understand a casino's concerns, but we always sell out and the casino gets the concession rights and they'll pull in a few dollars." Boulder Station held last year's event but has subsequently replaced that room with a bingo parlor. Elgas said the Elks Club has shown some interest but that a casino was preferable because rooms are needed for the visiting teams from Arizona, Washington and Oregon. Call Elgas or Hal Miller at the gym (649-3535) for more information.

* COURT ITEM: While it was reported here recently that IBF middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins had left promoter Butch Lewis and signed with America Presents, Lewis said Wednesday he has filed suit in an effort to resolve a contract dispute with Hopkins. "My contract with him was for four years or eight title defenses, whichever came first, and neither of those has happened," Lewis said. "We'll let the courts decide who's right and wrong." He said a Pennsylvania federal court will hear the matter later this spring. "It says something about a guy's integrity that he would do this," Lewis said of Hopkins, "but my contract is valid unless the court decides differently."

* QUICK HITS: A hand injury to IBF super bantamweight champ Vuyani Bungu has caused his fight with Las Vegan Kennedy McKinney to be postponed indefinitely. They had been scheduled to fight March 1 in Mississippi. ... WBC president Jose Sulaiman writes to defend his organization's position of ranking WBO champions, which has resulted in WBO heavyweight champ Henry Akinwande moving into a mandatory WBC title fight with Lennox Lewis. "Akinwande contacted the WBC ... he was our No. 2 before he won the WBO title ... the WBC has declared that all other champions -- aside from the WBA and IBF -- shall be rated on merits." As for the contention that the WBC is ranking Akinwande as a favor to promoter Don King, Sulaiman wrote "your statement seems a continuation of an outdated press position which has no basis." ... A Roy Jones vs. Montell Griffin fight will be formally announced Saturday in Atlantic City. They'll fight March 21 at the Trump Taj Mahal. ... Ironically, two Las Vegas-based fighters who are coming off losses to Jones and Griffin, respectively, will tangle Saturday. Mike McCallum, 49-4-1, meets James Toney, 53-3-2, in Uncasville, Conn., with ESPN televising. ... A local trainer, Hollywood Colllins, is looking for amateurs to form a team at the United Champions gym. Call 248-8881. ... Freddie Norwood, who had been training in Las Vegas, took a 10-round decision win over Robert Avila in a televised bout Sunday in Kansas City. Norwood, a left-handed lightweight, is 24-0-1 and probably ready to move up in the rankings. ... Saturday on Showtime: WBA super middleweight champ Frank Liles, who has been training here, takes on Segundo Mercado. Liles is 29-1, Mercado 19-4-1.

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