Hamed to fight McCullough in Atlantic City

Dean Juipe

Friday, Sept. 11, 1998 | 9:21 a.m.

Add one, subtract one.

Because Las Vegas will be the site of a just-announced fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Ike Quartey Nov. 21 at the Thomas & Mack Center, another fight of some interest -- Wayne McCullough vs. Naseem Hamed -- will go to Atlantic City with an Oct. 31 date.

McCullough vs. Hamed, which will be formally announced next week, had been penciled in for Las Vegas -- until promoter Bob Arum said he had De La Hoya and Quartey secured for late November.

Because casinos are reluctant to overstock boxing cards, McCullough and Hamed have been bounced to the Atlantic City Convention Center for a fight to be broadcast by the Home Box Office cable network.

"It's simple," HBO's Lou DiBella said Thursday from his office in New York. "De La Hoya and Quartey is a huge fight and it's just three weeks after Hamed's date. That alone was reason enough to move the fight back here."

But it raises the question of Las Vegas as the boxing capital of the world and if it's doing all it can to retain that designation.

"Well, casinos in Las Vegas haven't really been falling all over themselves to get involved in boxing," Arum said, "but there's more to it than that before you say or think Las Vegas has lost its luster."

Las Vegas has a big fight next week, with De La Hoya taking on Julio Cesar Chavez Sept. 18 at the T&M. And it has De La Hoya and Quartey in November.

But what's missing are the heavyweights. While De La Hoya, the World Boxing Council's welterweight champion, is a big name who produces instant revenue, heavyweights like Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield have been inactive this year. Tyson, of course, doesn't have a boxing license, while Holyfield -- who is fighting unheralded Vaughn Bean Sept. 19 in Atlanta -- has sat idle.

Likewise, fellow heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis hasn't had a fight of any consequence this year.

"There's no doubt everybody in Las Vegas shied away from boxing after the Tyson incidents last year," Arum said, referring to Tyson being disqualified for biting Holyfield's ears, followed by near riotous conditions in the MGM casino. "But I think the real reason Las Vegas hasn't had any big fights is because there haven't been any.

"The casinos need big events that bring in customers, and they haven't been offered those types of fights this year. The reason there haven't been any marquee fights in Las Vegas is because there haven't been any marquee fights anywhere."

DiBella agreed, sort of.

"Bob has a point," he said. "But, that said, there have been a lot of good fights this year that Las Vegas didn't bid on."

McCullough -- an Irishman who lives in Las Vegas -- vs. Hamed will be another one, as will its companion feature: International Boxing Federation super bantamweight champ Vuyani Bungu vs. Albuquerque's Danny Romero. Initially thought to be headed for Cashman Center, that fight card failed to attract a major casino bidder in Las Vegas and was, instead, snagged by Bally's in Atlantic City.

"I'd rather the fight was here," McCullough said before working out at the Nevada Partners gym. He's 22-1, while Hamed is 30-0.

McCullough will continue training in Las Vegas before moving his camp to St. George, Utah, next month.

This, of course, assumes his fight with Hamed is signed and sealed. DiBella said it was, yet McCullough still has a note of skepticism in his voice.

"If Hamed has agreed, I'm glad," he said. "It's been three weeks since I signed my half of the contract. That means three weeks of waiting.

"But this is a fight I've waited for since 1994."

McCullough said he still fears "that it might all just be a game" and that Hamed may back out yet. McCullough agreed to a $500,000 purse, while Hamed is in the midst of a lucrative contract with HBO that pays him $12 million for six fights over three years.

Because of that investment, HBO wanted to expand Hamed's universe and have him fight in a part of the country that has never seen him live. His previous fights have been in England and on America's East Coast.

"Believe me, I would have been thrilled to have this fight in Las Vegas," DiBella said. "Hamed's never fought on the West Coast and that's something we want to do with him."

Should Hamed defeat McCullough and continue winning, the day may come when his fights generate the type of interest that the De La Hoyas, Tysons and Holyfields presently enjoy.

"Las Vegas may have been chilled by what happened with Tyson at the MGM," DiBella said. "But you can always count on Las Vegas to be a factor if there's a huge fight to be had."