Pivotal fight looms for Kiwanuka

Dean Juipe

Thursday, April 8, 1999 | 10:54 a.m.

Two years ago Joseph Kiwanuka was a rising star with a slugger's mentality and the North American Boxing Federation super middleweight championship.

Big and strong, the Las Vegas resident was banging out opponents and earning spots on assorted nationally televised cards.

Friday he's back on TV, this time from Ledyard, Conn., on ESPN2, but he's in something of a different -- and unwelcome -- role. In boxing terms, he's the "opponent" in a 10-round fight with former world champion Vinny Pazienza.

"When you lose a couple of fights, they count you out," Kiwanuka said this week before departing for the East Coast and his chance at redemption. "It hurts to lose, especially when you come as far as I had, and you ask yourself 'What's going on?' But that's the way life is and that's the way boxing is; it's a business."

Kiwanuka, 27, is 26-3-2 after opening his career 19-0-2. A pair of losses to Thomas Tate were particularly devastating and the third setback, to Demetrius Davis, signified that Kiwanuka had dropped from the division's upper echelon.

He has fought once since that latter defeat, winning a nondescript fight last August.

"I was feeling terrible in each of those fights I lost," he said. "I tried my best but I was sick and different things, and by the time the fight had started I wasn't trying to win. I was just trying to finish the fight."

He had better be trying to win his Friday fight or Pazienza, a straight-ahead brawler, will overwhelm him. The Paz Man is 44-7 and seems to be perennially bouncing back to prominence after one derailment or another.

Local oddsmaker Herbie Lambeck makes Pazienza a 2-1 favorite.

"Joe's fighting a pit bull who won't show any mercy," said Kiwanuka's trainer, Tyrone Boone. "One thing about Pazienza: If you're not going to fight him don't go in there, because he's definitely going to fight you."

Boone, who works out of the Ringside Gym, is Kiwanuka's umpteenth trainer in recent years. Many have tried, but few have succeeded in refining the boxing skills of the native of Uganda who has lived in Las Vegas since 1992.

"I've only been with Joe two months and I really need six," Boone said. "I haven't quite had enough time with him, but at least he has an idea of what I want."

What Boone wants is simple: "There were things he was doing that kept him from being a champion, and there are assets he has that he has never really taken advantage of," he said.

Specifically, Boone wants Kiwanuka "to utilize his reach and his speed." The 6-foot-1 Kiwanuka has a reach of almost record proportions: 82 inches.

"Why's he been throwing short jabs when he has a reach like that?" Boone asked. "And why were all his punches slow and telegraphed? Joe needs to get away from some of the things he's been doing and he needs to fight up to his physical ability."

Kiwanuka realizes what's at stake in this fight. A win puts him back in the super middleweight title picture, while with a loss the tag "journeyman" may become his albatross.

"I believe my time will come," he said. "I still feel I'm better than the guys I've lost to, and that I'm going to come back and be a champion.

"The only thing I pray for is that I feel strong the night of the fight. Power, that's the main thing I need to feel."

He said he was rejuvenated by spending a few weeks at home in Uganda with his mother and family in December and January. By the same token, that trip to Africa once again exposed him to the expectations he carried with him when he initially left Uganda after a stellar amateur career.

"Going home made me feel good but a lot of people have been disappointed," he said. "It was interesting but sometimes you can't explain your personal problems to people who haven't seen you in a long time. I know there was some disappointment because at one time they had a lot of confidence in me."

Those working with him in Las Vegas retain that confidence in spite of Kiwanuka's recent decline. Both his manager, John Phillips, and Boone are predicting a KO victory in Ledyard, with Boone saying "I pick Joe to stop him, either with a big punch or because of cuts."

Pazienza is a noted "bleeder" and Kiwanuka knows what he's in for after sparring with Pazienza several years ago in Rhode Island.

"I only had three fights at the time but I remember I was doing very well against him," Kiwanuka said. "He's a rough guy but I liked him. He was a nice man. We talked a little bit. But he probably thinks he can beat me."

Nice guy that he may be, Pazienza is fierce after the bell rings. And that's another area where Boone has tried to change Kiwanuka, who is an extremely gracious and gentle person outside the ring.

"Good guys only win in the movies," Boone said. "Joe is as nice a guy as there is in boxing, but that doesn't win fights. You've got to perform like a killer if you're going to go very far in this sport, and I've gotten on him tough and hard about that."

The progress report will be available Friday.