Columnist Dean Juipe: Tapia set to move up divisions

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Aug. 27, 1998 | 11:09 a.m.

DEAN JUIPE is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter. His office phone number is 259-4084. He can be reached on the Internet at juipe@lasvegassun.com

The best fighter in the world at 115 pounds no longer wants to fight at 115.

Johnny Tapia, a Las Vegas resident and a world champion since 1994, is bolting to 118 and will relinquish his WBO junior bantamweight belt unless an attractive offer comes along.

"It's time to move up," Tapia said Wednesday. "The only reason I wouldn't is if I have no choice. My money's been at 115 but 118 feels a lot better these days."

Tapia is fighting Saturday at the Las Vegas Hilton. At 118.

"Johnny's really strong now at 118 and 119," said his trainer, Jesse Reid. "That's where he belongs."

Tapia, 43-0-2 with 24 knockouts, is taking on journeyman Carlos Hernandez in a 10-round nontitle fight at the Hilton. Hernandez is 14-4 with five KOs and is coming off a loss to someone named Marcos Badillos.

Tapia is a minus 800 favorite, with Hernandez at plus 600.

"Let the best fighter win," Hernandez said, seemingly excusing himself.

Nonetheless, Tapia has fought a lot of guys like this and a few of them have given him more trouble than he would have preferred. For all of Tapia's strengths, five of his last seven fights have gone the distance.

"You can never say that," Tapia replied when asked if a fight with Hernandez might be too easy. "He has nothing to lose, so you don't know what he's going to come at you with. I don't shortchange nobody."

If he stays at 115 and cares to defend his World Boxing Organization title, Tapia has a mandatory coming due with Argentina's Victor Godoy. A far more intriguing fight, and one at 118 pounds, would be with WBO champion Jorge Elicier Julio.

And, of course, there's Danny Romero.

McCullough-Hamed

Featherweight champ Naseem Hamed has an Oct. 31 date in Las Vegas.

Initially, it appeared the opponent would be Kennedy McKinney. But he either priced himself out of the bout or was deemed "too dangerous," depending on who's doing the talking.

The new front runner is Wayne McCullough and he's anxious for a big-money showdown but not so sure the fight will come off.

"They made me an offer and I accepted and signed my half of the contract," McCullough said Wednesday. "But I think they thought I was going to say 'no.' They weren't offering a lot of money and I think they thought I wouldn't accept it."

McCullough, of Las Vegas, wouldn't say specifically what the terms of the deal were, but something in the $500,000 range is close.

"Let's put it this way: I've fought for more, more than once," he said.

McCullough vs. Hamed would be huge in Great Britain and would likely sell out a 50,000-seat football stadium there as it matches Irishman and transplanted Englishman. But it would also do well in Las Vegas and be a major fight on worldwide pay per view.

"I'd like for the fight to be here because I've never had a big fight in Las Vegas," McCullough said. "One thing about it, I've done my part to get the fight. I agreed to take a lot less money than McKinney wanted and I was even willing to sign away my options."

Yet he hasn't heard back from Hamed's promoter, Frank Warren. Nor has he heard anything from his own promoter, Mat Tinley.

"It's a great fight for me, so I hope it happens," McCullough said. "I just hope Warren didn't send me that contract as a publicity stunt."

Hamed is 30-0 and McCullough is 22-1.

Marquez returns

A year ago at this time, Raul Marquez was a fresh face and a rising star. He was 26 years old but looked 19, he was the IBF junior middleweight champion and he had personality to spare.

Today he's a day away from turning 27 and he's still an interesting and entertaining personality. But the championship is gone and he hasn't fought since December.

Now training in Las Vegas, Marquez returns to the ring Sept. 25 in Ledyard, Conn., when he takes on Shibata Flores on ESPN.

"I had to let my face and body heal," he said of a layoff brought on by not only losing to Yory Boy Campas but by having to recover from needing 70 stitches to close all his wounds. "I had a lot of tough fights early in my career. Too many. My face blew up in the second round of that last fight and it didn't take long before my eyes closed up."

Marquez was a TKO-8 loser to Campas and he wants a rematch after the fight with Flores. Promoter Bob Arum has said he'll accommodate that request, likely Nov. 21 in Las Vegas.

"I deserve the rematch," Marquez said. "But this time I'll try to box him."

Hilton cards

The two boxing cards at the Las Vegas Hilton this weekend have so many fights scheduled they may overlap if the first night's fights all go the distance. Nine fights are slated for Friday and 10 for Saturday.

Friday's lineup: William Joppy, 25-1-1, vs. Roberto Duran, 102-13, 12 rounds, middleweights; Bernard Hopkins, 34-2-1, vs. Robert Allen, 22-2, 12 rounds, middleweights; Saul Montana, 31-6, vs. Tiwon Taylor, 21-4-1, 12 rounds, cruiserweights; Julio Cesar Green, 22-3, vs. Joaquin Velazquez, 22-14-1, 10 rounds, middleweights; Richard Frazier, 17-3-1, vs. Tyler Hughes, 13-5, 10 rounds, light heavyweights; Ricky Jackson, 22-1, vs. John Kiser, 13-18-4, 10 rounds, heavyweights; Byron Mitchell, 17-0, vs. Michael Gordon, 5-2-2, eight rounds, super middleweights; Joaquin Gallardo, 3-0, vs. Torrance Brown, 3-6, six rounds, junior welterweights; and Juan Lamberti, 1-0, vs. an opponent yet to be determined, four rounds, middleweights.

Purses of note: Joppy, $270,000; Duran, $25,000; Hopkins, $562,500; Allen, $67,331; Montana, $10,000; Taylor, $8,000. (Duran is paying $225,000 of his purse to the IRS to satisfy an old debt.)

Aside from Tapia vs. Hernandez, Saturday's card includes: Mauricio Pastrana, 18-0, vs. Carlos Murillo, 37-5, 12 rounds, junior flyweights; James Page, 20-3, vs. Anthony Perry, 8-3-2, 12 rounds, welterweights; Tony Tucker, 55-7, vs. Derek Amos, 12-6, 10 rounds, heavyweights; Lincoln Carter, 17-0, vs. Kenny Whack, 16-4-1, 10 rounds, light heavyweights; David Sample, 25-5-1, vs. an opponent yet to be determined, 10 rounds, junior welterweights; Agapito Sanchez, 23-7-1, vs. Nestor Lopez, 17-4-2, 10 rounds, super bantamweights; Ricardo Vargas, 24-6-3, vs. Hector Santana, 6-9, eight rounds, bantamweights; Jesse Reid Jr., 2-0, vs. Lee Lark, 1-3-2, four rounds, cruiserweights; and Christy Martin, 34-1-2, vs. Cheryl Nance, 13-1, eight rounds, women, lightweights.

Purses of note: Tapia, $180,000; Hernandez, $15,000; Pastrana, $20,000; Murillo, $12,500; Martin, $100,000; Nance, $9,000. "I'm a little nervous," Martin said, not because she's receiving an astounding hundred grand but because she last fought in December. "I expect to be a little tight."

Of local interest on the Saturday card is an appearance by Sample, who hasn't fought since he was "robbed" last November in a fight with USBA lightweight champ Isreal Cardona. But, fittingly for a guy who has had a hard time getting fights, the man Sample was to have fought couldn't get across the U.S.-Mexico border and a new opponent is being sought.

"I'm looking for a fresh start," Sample said, expecting to sign a promotional agreement with Don King this week. "I'm 30 and this is the last go-around for me. I'm hard to beat even when I'm not busy, but I'm looking for some help so I'm not just fighting once every 10 months."