Columnist Dean Juipe: Briggs fights for respect against Lewis

Dean Juipe

Thursday, March 26, 1998 | 9:57 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

They're similar in personal and statistical criteria, yet very dissimilar when it comes to public perception and respect.

Lennox Lewis has it.

Shannon Briggs, despite a similar build and a similar record as the WBC heavyweight champion, does not.

Yet Briggs has a chance Saturday in Atlantic City to amend his perceived stature, as he'll face Lewis in a 12-round bout to be televised by HBO.

For the 6-foot-5 Lewis, it's a title defense designed to increase his clout and perhaps lead him to a fight with WBA and IBF champion Evander Holyfield.

For the 6-foot-4 Briggs, it's an opportunity to establish himself as a quality fighter and erase the commonly held belief that he was extremely fortunate to have taken a majority decision win over George Foreman last November.

The result of that fight was so publicly unfavorable that there were cries of "fix" followed by a New Jersey Athletic Control Board investigation into the scoring.

"It kind of hurts," Briggs said during a conference call, referring to the lack of positive publicity he received after defeating Foreman. "Here it was, the biggest win of my life, and people want to take it away from me."

He may never receive full credit for handling Foreman yet that's secondary now that he has Lewis in front of him. In Las Vegas sports books, Briggs is a 12-to-1 underdog.

Lewis, 32, is 32-1 with 26 knockouts.

Briggs, 26, is 30-1 with 24 KOs.

"He's been fortunate to get a lot of situations where he got guys who didn't come to fight him, or who broke down for whatever reason," Briggs said of how Lewis spent 1997, what with Oliver McCall quitting in the ring against him and Henry Akinwande virtually doing the same en route to a disqualification loss. "If the guys don't fight back, you can see what happens. But I'm going to fight back."

Aside from wanting to retain his belt, Lewis has an additional incentive to put up a good fight. Not everyone is sold on his ability -- the McCall and Akinwande fights did little for him in that regard -- and, more to the point, he's angling for a shot at Holyfield.

Truth is, that fight is more likely than ever now that Mike Tyson has filed suit to break his ties with promoter Don King. With Tyson suing him, King -- who handles Holyfield -- may use his influence to put Holyfield in with Lewis rather than make Tyson-Holyfield III.

Nonetheless, Lewis has been pushed by his trainer, Emanuel Steward, to let Holyfield know he's available.

"I told Lennox he not only has to look as impressive as he can, but that he should challenge Evander right there on TV," Steward said. "With Evander's tremendous pride, he'd have to accept."

Lewis sounds as if he'll give that strategy a try.

"If Holyfield doesn't want to fight me he should stop fooling the public and just give up the title," Lewis said. "It's coming to the point that I have to call him out. I want to know how his kids feel about their dad not wanting to fight me."

Lewis vs. Briggs is being held in a 6,000-seat arena and includes a companion title fight, Charles Brewer vs. Herol Graham.

Tropicana card

Forum Boxing of Los Angeles has a six-bout card Saturday at the Tropicana that headlines Jorge Paez vs. Juan Angel Macias. Paez, however, was a no-show at a Wednesday press conference to promote the event.

The previous day in Los Angeles, however, he told reporters that even though he's still fighting at 130 pounds he's looking to drop back to 126. He also said he felt weakened by two cross-country trips that preceded his most recent fight, a TKO-8 loss to Angel Manfreddy in August.

In addition, he said he had contemplated retirement after losing to Manfreddy, yet it seems more likely Paez could become the poor man's Roberto Duran and fight forever. As it is, he's 32 years old, has fought professionally since 1984 and has built a 59-11-4 record.

Macias is 23-8-1. He and Paez are scheduled for 12 rounds.

Also on the card: Oscar Maldonado, 17-6-2, vs. Mauricio Martinez, 10-3-1, 10 rounds, super bantamweights; Carlos Bojorquez, 2-0-1, vs. Brandon Mitchum, 12-1, six rounds, middleweights; Dan Batchelder, 9-0-1, vs. Jamal Harris, 4-1-2, six rounds, super middleweights; Jessie Reid Jr., 1-0, vs. Dwight Staten, 0-2, four rounds, cruiserweights; and Hannah Fox, 4-0, vs. Sarah Schmedding, 3-0, four rounds, women, welterweights. First bell is 7 p.m.

Around the ring

Yory Boy Campas did his part in moving toward a September fight with Oscar De La Hoya, stopping Anthony Stephens after three rounds Monday in Connecticut. "Oscar is the best fighter in the world," Campas said afterward. "If I get an opportunity to fight him, I'll try my best to beat him." Campas, 70-2 with 60 knockouts, impressed De La Hoya as well. "He has great power with both hands," said the WBC welterweight champ, who was sitting ringside. "He'll brawl with anybody." He brawled with Stephens until the challenger to his IBF junior middleweight title quit with a shoulder injury after three rounds. "Nobody can take my body punches," Campas said. "As soon as I started punching to the body, I realized he was going to lose. Now I can think about the De La Hoya fight." Promoter Bob Arum, however, remains noncommittal on De La Hoya's fall plans. ... On that same Connecticut card, Las Vegas junior lightweight Floyd Mayweather raised his record to 15-0 with 13 knockouts by forcing Miguel Melo to quit late in the third round. Melo had been down in both the second and third before surrendering. ... El Paso corralled De La Hoya's June 13 fight with Patrick Charpentier only when its hoteliers freed 50 complimentary rooms for the participants. The rooms were an obstacle because the city is also hosting a 2,000-person Shriners convention that same weekend. ... The card announced last week as headed for The Orleans Friday has been cancelled.

One of Las Vegas' finest amateur fighters of all time, Limmie Young, is 2-0 as a pro and is gearing up for an April 23 bout in Oklahoma. "After investing this much time, I figured I might as well see how far I can go," he said Wednesday at the Golden Gloves Gym. "I figured I was done after the (1996) Olympic Trials, then I decided to try one pro fight to see how I liked it. I won and it gave me new life." Young, who was 96-16 as an amateur and held both the Golden Gloves and USA Boxing Nevada championships from 1990 through 1997, is a light heavyweight who is being managed by Teresa Tapia. ... Las Vegas heavyweight Cliff Couser goes again April 7 in San Diego against one-time prospect King Ipitan. ... South African Jan Bergman, who trains here, has a spot on the Naseem Hamed card April 18 in England. ... Las Vegas cruiserweight Brian LaSpada -- despite being advertised as fighting at The Orleans last Friday -- actually was in London all week and lost a Sunday fight there to Kelly Oliver. LaSpada, 28-7-2, was down in the third and stopped in the sixth. He was out-punched 118-15. "I could have told you it would be like that," said Oliver after the easy win. ... City Councilman Michael McDonald is attempting to have the Ringside Gym designated a historical site. ... Ringside is also opening its doors to kids, evenings from 5-9. ... The Las Vegas Hilton will have Sunday's WrestleMania card from Boston -- featuring Mike Tyson in an unspecified role -- available on closed circuit for $25. Children must be accompanied by an adult. The show runs from 4-7 p.m.