Columnist Dean Juipe: Lewis Holyfield bout hits a King-sized snag

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Oct. 22, 1998 | 10:43 a.m.

Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Verbally, Dino Duva and Don King were seeing eye to eye.

Agreeing that a heavyweight unification fight between WBC champion Lennox Lewis and WBA/IBF champ Evander Holyfield was both timely and certain to be financially rewarding, Duva (who promotes Lewis) and King (who promotes Holyfield) all but shook hands on a deal last week.

Then King sent the paperwork to Duva and the prospects for a Lewis vs. Holyfield fight suddenly stalled.

"I hope he's not serious," Duva said Wednesday by phone from his New Jersey office, referring to the fight contract King drafted. The holdup: King wants options on promoting Lewis' next three fights in the event the Englishman defeats Holyfield.

"When Don and I were talking, I made it clear that Lewis and Holyfield would be a one-fight deal with no future options either way," Duva said. "Don said, 'Don't worry, I realize the situation.' And he said he wasn't worried about it because he thought Evander was going to win.

"Then the contract gets here and there's a clause that would give King three future options on Lewis. I called him back and said 'What the hell's this all about?'

"My hope is that he was just joking around or was trying something stupid just to see if we were paying attention."

The issue remains unsettled, although Duva reiterated "in no uncertain terms will we agree to futures on Lennox."

If a Lewis vs. Holyfield fight can be arranged, it likely will be held in Las Vegas and scheduled for early next year. Among the possible dates: Feb. 27, March 6 or March 20.

HBO would televise.

"Hopefully, Don will come to his senses," Duva said. "There are a couple other things in the contract I don't like, but the others aren't deal breakers like the futures is."

Duva said negotiations are continuing and "optimistically, we may have a deal by next week."

Holyfield reportedly will be paid $20 million for the fight, with Lewis receiving a reported $10 million.

McCullough ready

In what has to be a major plus in his preparation for Naseem Hamed, Las Vegan Wayne McCullough has enlisted the aid of Kevin Kelley as a sparring partner. Kelley, who recently moved to Henderson from New York and is a former featherweight world champion, has been sparring with McCullough the past two weeks at the Nevada Partners gym.

In what many boxing fans saw as the 1997 Fight of the Year, Kelley lost to Hamed at 2:27 of the fourth round in a Dec. 19 fight in New York in which each man was down three times.

McCullough takes on Hamed Oct. 31 in Atlantic City.

"It's been good work," McCullough said Wednesday. "He's got the right style and his hands are quicker than Hamed's. He knows he should have beaten Hamed but he got caught (by a left hand) when he dropped his hands.

"He's been telling me what I need to do. And if he tells me something, I'll try it."

McCullough, 22-1, leaves Monday for the East Coast.

Hamed, 30-0, is the WBO featherweight champion.

Kelley is 48-3-2 and coming off a decision loss to Derrick Gainer July 18 in New York. He has no fights scheduled although he's looking to resume his career.

UNLV team

UNLV has started a privately-funded boxing team and 32 students registered three weeks ago when coach Skipper Kelp held a get-acquainted meeting. As many as two dozen team members now train Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Nevada Partners.

"We've got a long ways to go but it's exciting for me because of the interest from all the students," said Kelp, a former professional fighter. "I'm enjoying it and it'll be fun to see how it goes."

The team will hold a fund-raiser Nov. 20 at Big Dog's, as it needs money for equipment. An abandoned facility near the old UNLV track will be converted into a boxing gym if the money can be raised.

Kelp, 27, said there are 26 universities with club teams and that UNLV will participate in its first event Jan. 29 at Nevada-Reno. There are three divisions of competition: novice, 'B' and Open.

"All our guys are novice," Kelp said. "Actually, they were pretty horrid at first. But I think they'll come around."

IBF dissension

Ordinarily, after a fighter in the mandatory challenger's position meets the champion (and loses), the man who had been ranked No. 2 moves up to the No. 1 spot. The International Boxing Federation, however, has made an exception to the rule and the matter may end up in court.

"It's definitely going to end up in a court battle," corrected Sterling McPherson, who manages heavyweight Frans Botha. "What (IBF president) Bobby Lee did was blatantly unfair. We'll let a judge decide who's right."

McPherson is steamed because Botha had been ranked No. 2 by the IBF and now that No. 1 contender Vaughn Bean has lost to champion Evander Holyfield (on Sept. 19), Botha was expected to be elevated to the No. 1 spot. Instead, the IBF has called for a "double box-off" in which Botha must face John Ruiz and third-ranked Hasim Rahman must face David Tua, with the winners then squaring off for the right to be ranked No. 1.

Lee said he expects the fighters to comply with the order, and, "if not, then we'll move to the next rated fighter."

Like Botha, Ruiz may be reluctant to enter into the "box-off," given his No. 3 ranking by the World Boxing Council.

Around the ring

Their first fight drew 41,000 fans in Mexico City and now the rematch between strawweight world champions Ricardo Lopez and Rosendo Alvarez will be held Nov. 13 at the Las Vegas Hilton. Lopez, the WBC champion, and Alvarez, the WBA champ, fought March 7 and the bout was scored a technical draw when it was stopped during the seventh round after a clash of heads left Lopez bleeding near his right eye. Alvarez, 24-0-1, was ahead on one card, behind on another and even on the third at the time of the stoppage. Lopez, 46-0-1, was knocked down for the first time in his career when Alvarez caught him in the opening round. ... Despite the fact he just fought Ahmed Santos to a draw last weekend, Las Vegas lightweight James Crayton has taken a spot on the Oct. 30 card in Biloxi, Miss., with the opponent yet to be determined. "I thought I won the fight because I was the more accurate puncher," Crayton said of his draw with Santos, which each of the three judges scored 95-95. "At least a draw is better than a loss, and I can't afford another loss." As for the quick turnaround, he said "it's no big deal. I'm still in shape and I want to stay busy." ... Another local fighter coming back on short notice is new WBC junior lightweight champ Floyd Mayweather, who will take on Angel Manfredy Dec. 19 in either Ledyard, Conn., or Miami. "He's a young fighter and we don't want to slow him down," Floyd's uncle, Jeff Mayweather, said. "He had eight or nine days off after the (Genaro) Hernandez fight (Oct. 3) and that's sufficient when you're young. It would be different if it had been a brutal fight with Hernandez, but it wasn't." Floyd won that fight by technical knockout following the eighth round. "This is the right time for him," Jeff Mayweather said.

Dr. Robert Voy of Las Vegas has been re-elected vice president of USA Boxing. He has been a member of the organization's board of directors since 1993. ... Local junior lightweight Justin Juuko, No. 3 in the most recent WBA rankings, has his eye set on WBA champ Takonon Hatakeyama and has been told by Top Rank that he's also in line for a fight with Mayweather in 1999. "I'm looking for Top Rank to get me a shot at the WBA title," Juuko said of his decision to sign with the promotional firm. "They also said they eventually wanted to do a tournament with the 130-pound champs, which would be me, Floyd and Robert Garcia. That would be very interesting." Juuko, 31-1-1, said he may fight Nov. 21 on the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Ike Quartey undercard. ... The Tropicana has a Forum Boxing card Saturday that headlines featherweights Juan Maneul Marquez and Francisco Arreola in a 12-round fight for a minor title. Marquez, 26-1, is ranked No. 2 by the WBC and has not lost since his pro debut and has won 20 fights by knockout. Arreola is 29-2-2 with eight KOs. The co-main event has super middleweights Reginald Andrade, 32-2, and Bruce Rumbloz, 19-3-1, scheduled for 10 rounds. ... With Mike Tyson being relicensed, his handlers are looking to settle with two men who filed assault charges against him following an Aug. 31 traffic accident in Maryland. A request has also been made to Maryland state attorney Robert Dean, asking him to permanently postpone a Dec. 1 hearing pertaining to the charges. A wire story indicated Dean may comply.