Columnist Dean Juipe: Rocchigiani’s sickness not fabricated

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Feb. 12, 1998 | 12:17 p.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

Suspicions aroused, Dan Goossen had to see it to believe it.

With his man, Michael Nunn, all but preparing to leave for the arena and his WBC light heavyweight title fight with Graciano Rocchigiani, word filtered down that the German was ill and might not fight.

Goossen, Nunn's promoter, bolted for Rocchigiani's hotel room.

"Rocchigiani has a reputation for pulling out of fights," Goossen said. "In fact, he's been notorious for it.

"So I went over there to see for myself. Well, he was sick. I was there, I saw him. It was legit, but that doesn't mean I don't think he couldn't have fought."

A mere six hours before last Saturday's scheduled bout in Berlin, the Nunn vs. Rocchigiani fight was postponed. It is now rescheduled for March 21.

"I'm devastated," Nunn said. "I've fought sick before. There's nothing in the world that would have kept me out of the ring except death."

Rocchigiani was said to have a 102-degree temperature, yet this postponement only adds to his untrustworthy reputation. Prior to this incident, he pulled out of two other title fights and once relinquished his IBF super middleweight title rather than defend it.

His countrymen are aware of his past and that may explain why only 6,000 of the available 11,000 tickets for the fight with Nunn had been sold.

"I felt terrible for Nunn," Goossen said from his office in Denver. "Face it, it's been awhile since he stepped on the scales at weight and in great shape. He was ready for this, but, frankly, maybe the postponement will help.

"Now he has a chance to continue training and get stronger."

Nunn, 52-3, has returned to his training camp in Big Bear, Calif. Rocchigiani, 39-4-1, will attempt to regain his strength in time for the bout, which is for a vacant title at 175 pounds.

Fights on, fights off

Nunn vs. Rocchigiani wasn't the only fight to (at least temporarily) go down the tubes in the last week, as the proposed Roy Jones vs. Buster Douglas bout was completely scrapped and the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Patrick Charpentier bout was postponed due to De La Hoya suffering an injured left wrist.

De La Hoya vs. Charpentier, which had been set for Feb. 28, is now rescheduled for March 14 in Atlantic City. The WBC welterweight champion will explain how he got hurt during a conference call scheduled for today.

But rescheduling the De La Hoya fight had something of a ripple effect on the boxing schedule, as the Vince Phillips vs. Alfonso Sanchez fight that had been slated for March 14 was bumped to April 18.

As for Douglas, Top Rank is now looking for another fight for him and the immediate target is former WBO heavyweight champ Herbie Hide.

On the plus side, a fight tentatively set for Las Vegas between Pernell Whitaker and Ike Quartey is moving closer to reality, while an even better fight -- Naseem Hamed vs. Kennedy McKinney -- may also find its way to Las Vegas.

"We're still fussing with it, but it's a go," Tom Pilkington, the vice president of special events at Caesars Palace, said Wednesday of Whitaker vs. Quartey. "We're massaging the details, but that's not unusual."

Caesars will put that card -- which also is expected to include a decent heavyweight fight -- in the Thomas & Mack Center on April 25.

Just a week later, May 2, could see Hamed vs. McKinney in Las Vegas, perhaps with Magic Johnson as the promoter.

"I've got four Las Vegas sites interested in it right now," said Sterling McPherson, who has Hamed. "It's a damn good fight and I think it's the fight the high rollers and the people of Las Vegas will go to see rather than Whitaker and Quartey."

Amateur updates

At the Silver Gloves national championships that closed last Saturday in Lenexa, Kansas, Las Vegan Dominic Chavez reached the final before suffering a loss. Chavez, 13, won two matches at the tournament before losing by decision in the final. "He's a great young fighter," said his trainer, Pat Barry. "Our expectations are to see him in the Olympics in 2004." ... A more experienced fighter with excellent potential is Gilberto Hernandez, a 22-year-old who fights out of the Golden Gloves Gym. He's one of five area amateurs who will compete in the USA Boxing regional tournament Feb. 20-22 in San Diego. "I think I've got a good shot at winning," he said. "I've got a good right hand and I hit pretty hard." Hernandez, a native of Mexico, was an alternate for the Mexican team that competed in the 1996 Olympics. He's a four-year resident of Las Vegas who fights at 156 pounds and is trained by former national champion Tom Sullivan. Hernandez, who is looking to turn pro next year, is an industrious young man, as proven by the fact he rides a bicycle from his home near Tropicana and Eastern not only to the gym but to UNLV (where he's a political science major) and, when he can't catch a ride, to his job at Texas Station. ... Joining Hernandez on that trip from Las Vegas to San Diego will be Antonio Garcia, 125 pounds, Sky Sussman, 132, Salvador Hernandez, 147, and Eric Mason, heavyweight. The latter four fight out of Barry's Gym. ... Barry, incidentally, is considering vacating his gym near Spring Mountain and Valley View and has talked about consolidating efforts with the Golden Gloves Gym. "I'm looking for a building with more space, more parking," he said. "Our lack of parking prevents us from putting on shows." He's also taken aback by his rent in the industrial warehouse complex that currently houses his gym. "It's $1,300 a month and it's extremely difficult to put out that kind of money," he said. "A lot of times, I have to do it out of my own pocket." As for merging with the Golden Gloves, he said "that's a possibility, but I want to make it clear I'm not looking to move in on them."

Around the ring

Las Vegan Augie Sanchez needed only 2:50 of the first round to knock out Oney Hellems last Sunday in Lake Charles, La. Sanchez, 16-0 with 14 KOs, fought for the first time at 130 pounds as he gears up for a proposed fight later this year with fellow Las Vegan Floyd Mayweather. Hellems, 6-16-2, had a rough night, driving 31 hours to Lake Charles with his girlfriend and two children, only to be knocked out by Sanchez's first good punch. ... Las Vegas heavyweight Cliff Couser upped his record to 19-3 with a KO-9 over Dynamite Carbanks last week in San Francisco. ... Las Vegas boxing judge Lou Tabat has been selected to work the WBA junior welterweight title fight between Khalid Rahilou and Jean Baptiste Mendy Feb. 21 in Paris. ... Caesars Palace has De La Hoya at minus 1250 and Charpentier at plus 950 for their March 14 fight. Caesars also has Quartey at minus 150 and Whitaker at plus 120 for their proposed April 25 fight at the T&M. ... Varying odds are available in town for the Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Miguel Angel Gonzalez fight March 7 in Mexico City. While Caesars has Gonzalez minus 150 and Chavez plus 120, it's Gonzalez minus 140 and Chavez even down the street at the Frontier. ... No word yet on the participants for the next local card, set for Feb. 21 at the Tropicana and promoted by Forum Boxing. ... The following week, Feb. 27, The Orleans and Bam Promotions will have local heavyweight Jimmy Thunder in the main event against Cleveland Woods.