Dean Juipe: Augie Sanchez (a k a Kid Vegas) blossoming

Dean Juipe

Thursday, May 8, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

It's boxing.

It's money.

It's promotion.

It's name recognition.

It's being a decent young fighter and accepting a nickname like Kid Vegas.

"Well, I am still a kid," said 19-year-old Augie Sanchez, a senior at Cheyenne High School. "And I do wear an outfit into the ring that looks like something Elvis Presley would have worn."

Favoring the nickname concept more than resigning himself to it, Sanchez said the Kid Vegas schtick is OK by him.

"People seem to like it," he said, "so I've gone along with it."

Sanchez, a k a Kid Vegas, fights for the eighth time in his still young pro boxing career when he steps in Friday at The Orleans against a man 13 years his senior, Idelfonso Bernal. They're scheduled for six rounds at 126 pounds.

While Sanchez is a sparkling 7-0 with six knockouts, the aging Bernal has little going for him. He's 19-25-3 with 12 KOs, including a TKO-2 loss to Friday's co-headliner at The Orleans, Diego Corrales, back in March.

Bernal has won only nine of 25 fights this decade.

"Not yet," Sanchez answered, when asked if he has been tested in his pro career. "I think this fight here might be my toughest fight yet. I'm looking at it like it was a world-title fight because I don't want to come in overconfident and lose because of a lucky punch or something."

It may not be obvious, but even fighting stiffs has some pressure to it when you're being groomed for success as Sanchez is.

"There's a lot of pressure," he said. "Everybody expects me to win these fights and they expect me to eventually become a world champion. If anything goes wrong, everything goes down the drain."

So far, Sanchez looks to be blossoming into the slugger Top Rank was hoping for when it signed him last year. Only two of his fights have gone past the first round.

"I think (Top Rank) knows what kind of opponents I need right now," Sanchez said. "They know I need to build up my record. The next step will be moving up in rounds, but I don't want to do anything too fast."

Yet someday the fast lane awaits.

How could it not when you answer to a glitzy moniker like Kid Vegas?

Around the ring

* ORLEANS CARD: Aside from the Sanchez fight and Corrales vs. Juan Macias, Friday's card at The Orleans includes: Orlando Canizales, 44-3-1, vs. Manuel Arellano, 14-3, 10 rounds, junior lightweights; Floyd Mayweather, 6-0, vs. Tony Duran, 12-15, six rounds, junior lightweights; Isreal Escandon, 6-0, vs. Daniel Mendez, 0-2, four rounds, junior middleweights; and Tony Ridges, 12-3-2, vs. Paul Ramirez, 11-2, six rounds, lightweights. Of note: Top Rank has picked up Canizales in the hope of matching him with England's featherweight sensation, Naseem Hamed; Arellano looks easy, having been knocked out in three of his last six fights; Mayweather, 20, and Escandon, 18, are on the card to gain some experience and show off a little; the latter is a high-school senior in Arizona; first bell is 7:30 p.m.

* LaSPADA-BROWN: Monday in Calgary, a pair Las Vegans fought with the NABF cruiserweight title on the line and by all accounts it was a war. With a big punch at the end of the eighth round, Dale Brown defeated Brian LaSpada to end a see-saw battle that Brown won in spite of a broken nose and battered eyes. "It was a great fight and you have to give Brown credit because he threw the punch that ended it," said LaSpada's manager, Al Rodrigues. "But it was obvious Brown was hurt and it was obvious to me that Brian was going to beat him until that punch, which Brian said he never saw. There were three seconds left in the fight when the referee called it without starting his count. Brian had been down and when he got up he wobbled, but if the referee had given him a count the round would have ended." Rodrigues said he had no complaint with the officiating yet he was writing a letter Wednesday to the NABF to request a rematch. "I'm trying to lobby this properly," he said. "I'd like to make sure they keep Brian at No. 1 so that he gets another shot at the title. I'm not sure Brown will fight him again though." Rodrigues said if he can arrange the rematch, the fight could go around July 4 in Las Vegas.

* QUICK HITS: Occasional Las Vegan Kennedy McKinney hammered out a unanimous decision over fellow ex-world champion Hector Acero-Sanchez Tuesday in Lyndurst, N.J. McKinney, 31, won by 6, 6 and 2 points on the judges' cards. "It's going to be a slugfest," he said before the fight and he was right, although neither man was down in the contest for the USBA super bantamweight title. McKinney is 31-3-1, Acero-Sanchez 38-5-3. ... None of the four Las Vegans competing in last weekend's national Golden Gloves championships in Denver reached the final round. "Our last guys lost in the semifinals but for being a new team, they did pretty good," said local coordinator Hal Miller. ... Local lightweight David Sample is out as the opponent for IBF lightweight champion Phillip Holiday, May 16 in South Africa. Sample was replaced by Pete Taliaferro. ... Tickets for the July 18 fight at the Las Vegas Hilton between Johnny Tapia and Danny Romero are said to be virtually gone. The Hilton is seating 6,300 for the showdown between Albuquerque rivals. ... According to a paper in Florida, female boxing star Christy Martin has not only set aside her differences with promoter Don King but has signed a three-year contract extension with him. Rival promoter Bob Arum supposedly had made Martin a two-year, $2 million offer but Martin went with King's bid of $800,000 per year instead. ... Saturday in Coconut Grove, Fla., King has a mammoth 13-bout card that headlines heavyweight Frans Botha, 35-1, against Lee Gilbert, 17-0. World champions William Joppy, Gussie Nazarov, Antonio Cermeno and Mauricio Pastrana are also competing. Showtime will televise. ... Mike Tyson opened training camp Tuesday at the Golden Gloves Gym in preparation for his June 28 bout with Evander Holyfield at the MGM. ... Las Vegas regular Louie Espinoza dropped to 53-12-2 Monday when he was beaten by Jesus Chavez, 19-1, in Atlantic City. The NABF junior lightweight title fight was stopped after the eighth round. ... The Oscar De La Hoya vs. Hector Camacho fight is pencilled in for Sept. 13 in Las Vegas. ... Arizona Charlie's is putting together a card for May 28 that will headline veteran featherweight Hector Lizarraga.