Columnist Dean Juipe: This Prince fashions himself a king of the ring

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998 | 11:33 a.m.

Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His page 1 column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

His likeness is on a postage stamp in his native country, Yemen.

His pockets are overflowing with money, the result not only of a $12 million contract with HBO but from multiple commercial deals with firms like Audi, Mercedes, Sony and Adidas.

Prince Naseem Hamed is a hot commodity. At 24 years old, he's an unbeaten featherweight with a brash disposition and a prominent stage.

Saturday in Atlantic City he looks to add another notch to his belt when he faces Las Vegas resident Wayne McCullough in a nationally televised bout. Sam's Town, which is offering the fight on a big-screen basis to its customers, has Hamed up as a minus 550 favorite in its sports book, with McCullough a plus 375 underdog.

Noted oddsmaker Herb Lambeck says the betting line doesn't fairly reflect Hamed's advantages in this fight.

"I don't see how McCullough can win," Lambeck said Wednesday. "I don't know how good Hamed will turn out to be and he's liable to go down at any time because his chin is shaky, but McCullough has looked terrible in his last couple of fights. He doesn't have a punch, he's moving up in weight and he's fighting a guy who definitely can punch."

He takes Hamed to win by knockout.

So does Hamed.

"I'll knock him out at 2:28 of the third round," he predicted this week.

Hamed is 30-0 with 28 knockouts, the most celebrated of which was a fourth-round TKO over Kevin Kelley last December in New York. Both men were down three times in that crowd-pleasing fight.

"I exposed him," Kelley, who has since moved to Las Vegas, said of Hamed.

Nonetheless, Hamed claimed the victory and used it to enlarge his financial empire. Now a resident of England, he is that country's highest paid athlete.

"I'm great and I can be as big as Muhammad Ali," Hamed told the Associated Press. "That's not just hype. I know I can knock out anyone in the world."

He's also a knockout with his family and friends, lavishing gifts on them. For instance, he once handed his parents two plastic bags filled with $500,000 in cash, plus bought them a home and spent freely on automobiles for other relatives and acquaintances.

The darker side of his financial dealings -- including the fact payments for his two most recent fights were sent to an offshore tax haven -- have been discussed behind closed doors in a British High Court hearing.

The darker side of his boxing image is that he habitually extends his ring introductions and flaunts his prowess at every opportunity.

"I know he'll try everything in the book to get under my skin," McCullough said before leaving for Atlantic City. "But I'm not going to let it bother me. I'm going to stay focused."

McCullough, 28, is 22-1 with 14 KOs and will be fighting for the first time at 126 pounds. He is a former WBC champion at 118.

Saturday's fight card also includes an excellent pairing for the WBC super bantamweight title, with champion Vuyani Bungu (35-2) taking on Danny Romero (32-2). Romero is a minus 170 favorite in Las Vegas, with Bungu at plus 130.

Griffin wins suit

The date was Dec. 6, 1996, and the site was the Reno Hilton. A newly founded boxing organization, the World Boxing Union, presented a light heavyweight title fight between Montell Griffin and James Toney.

Griffin won by 10, 4 and 4 points on the judges' cards and was immediately presented with the WBU belt by its president, Jon Robinson.

A day later, Robinson called Griffin and told him he was vacating the title, the result of being unhappy with the judges assigned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Griffin, through his manager and attorney John Caluwaert, filed suit in United States District Court and asked for $1 million in "general" damages and $500,000 in "special" damages. Last week in the Las Vegas courtroom of judge Philip Pro, Griffin prevailed and was awarded the $1.5 million he had been seeking.

Robinson, who lives in England, and the WBU did not contest the claim and Pro ruled in Griffin's favor by default.

The pertinent question to Caluwaert: How do you collect?

"Collection is another issue," he said by phone from his Elmhurst, Ill., office. "It's not the easiest of processes. Sometimes it's more difficult to collect the money than to win the case."

He said having WBU sanctioning fees attached was a possibility.

Griffin, 33-1, went on to split a pair of fights with Roy Jones and is scheduled to face Derrick Harmon for the NABF title Nov. 13 in Miami. Caluwaert argued in his court brief that the WBU's actions slowed Griffin's advancement through the light heavyweight ranks.

"The bottom line was that we turned down an earlier opportunity to fight Roy Jones," Caluwaert said. "We took the fight with Toney instead. Then we were treated wrong by the WBU.

"The lawsuit was a matter driven by a breached contract."

The WBU, which is still in existence although very much a "fringe" organization, has not held a fight in Nevada since Griffin vs. Toney and isn't exactly welcome to return.

"We've had trouble with them and so have New York and Pennsylvania," said NSAC executive director Marc Ratner. "They wanted to assign their own officials, but we don't do things that way. We assign the officials for fights scheduled in Nevada.

"If they don't want to abide by our rules, they won't be holding fights here."

Voy enthusiastic

Dr. Robert Voy of Las Vegas has won re-election to the USA Boxing Board of Directors and will serve a second term as the organization's vice president.

"I've enjoyed it," Voy said. "I've spent my adult life in amateur boxing and I certainly don't want to quit now."

Foremost on USA Boxing's recent agenda has been eliminating a $1.3 million deficit. Voy said in the next five years the remaining $700,000 is scheduled to be paid off.

"We've balanced our budget and have taken care of our earlier inadequacies," he said. "We finally have good business practices."

He's also enthused about the United States' possibilities in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, although in a still underpublicized format change the teams will be selected by continents and not nations.

"It's possible we could get all 12 weights," Voy said. "In the lower weight categories we may have some problems and we can't seem to get enough big kids interested in becoming heavyweights. But we're real strong at the middle weights and we're looking very good for still being 18 months out."

Voy will also contribute input to an International Olympic Committee meeting next month which will resolve the issue of the number of rounds and the length of those rounds for Olympic competition. The possibilities: four two-minute rounds; five three-minute rounds; or three three-minute rounds.

Local cards

Tony Trudnich may have replaced Rick Burton as promoter for the monthly boxing cards at The Orleans, but Burton's Bam Promotions already is looking for another site in town and the Stratosphere is a definite possibility.

"We're talking with three places," Burton said Wednesday. "Everyone I've talked to seems excited about it and we're excited about it."

He remains miffed that The Orleans dropped him without ever telling him to his face.

"Honestly, I was never told of their decision," he said. "I was still under the impression we were doing fights for them until I heard we weren't from a third party. Not one word was said by them to me about ending our relationship."

Bam did 13 fights in 12 months in a 1,500-seat room at The Orleans.

Trudnich debuts Friday with the first of his monthly shows. Lightweights Javier Valadez (13-7) and Chris Linson (15-1-1) are featured in the 12-round main event, with junior middleweights Pedro Ortega (20-7-1) and Floyd Weaver (15-5-3) matched in the semi-main event.

Also scheduled: Doug Gray, 13-4-1, vs. Rudy Lovato, 13-11, eight rounds, junior middleweights; Roberto Cobos, 19-6-1, vs. Fernando Rosas, 14-3, six rounds, junior welterweights; Daniel Garcia, 5-1, vs. Vance Thompson, 2-1-2, four rounds, welterweights; and a women's bout between Marsha Valley and Suzette Taylor. First bell is 7:30 p.m.

Dr. Donald Romeo, now retired, will be honored for his years of service to the community during a break in the card.

"I think there has been a void and a need for competitive and significant fights on a regular basis in Southern Nevada," Trudnich said. "I want to present quality and consistency."

Quick hits

The Orleans snagged a Top Rank card that had been offered around town for Nov. 20. Former lightweight world champ Stevie Johnston will headline. ... Word is the Nov. 13 card at the Las Vegas Hilton may pick up a proposed WBA welterweight title fight between James Page (22-3) and Jose Luis Lopez (41-3-2). Ricardo Lopez and Rosendo Alvarez headline. ... ESPN2 will televise a fight of local interest Friday, as it has Las Vegan Arthur Williams in against IBF cruiserweight champ Imamu Mayfield from Biloxi, Miss. Williams, 28-4-1 and the mandatory challenger, will be making his third try at a world title. Mayfield, 18-0, is a slight betting favorite in Las Vegas although one heavy hitter altered the odds with a $10,000 wager on Mayfield. "I don't think Mayfield's that good," oddsmaker Herb Lambeck said. "He's fragile. I think he wins this fight but Williams is a live dog."

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