Columnist Dean Juipe: De La Hoya wants to silence critics

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999 | 11:33 a.m.

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

Even before he learned he wouldn't be fighting Felix Trinidad this year, Oscar De La Hoya seemed a bit disconsolate.

He opened his Wednesday conference call with assorted members of the media by not only lamenting his inability to sway his critics, but by stating it may be a hopeless task.

"I think my whole boxing career will be this way," he said from his training camp in Big Bear, Calif. "People will never be satisfied. Some of the critics are never happy.

"I feel the criticism will always be there as long as I'm a champion."

Actually, it's the East Coast press that has been reluctant to hail De La Hoya or give him the accolades he deserves for his 29-0 record and series of wins over creditable opponents. He remains a popular fighter with the majority of fans as he heads into his Feb. 13 bout with Ike Quartey at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Quartey is 34-0-1 and may provide a serious challenge, although De La Hoya described the African as "a one-dimensional fighter."

Quartey arrived in Las Vegas Tuesday evening, while De La Hoya will not get here until next Wednesday. Tickets for the fight are priced from $50 to $800 and the T&M is said to be "about half sold" at this point.

"Quartey has only one style," De La Hoya said. "He comes forward and tries to overpower you and walk right through you. He's a stand-up, straight-up fighter ... who stands his ground and throws hard punches. But he's very powerful, so you have to be careful."

Saying he's working on "a secret combination" to combat Quartey, De La Hoya maintains he's physically ready for a fight that originally was scheduled for November but was postponed when he suffered a cut over his left eye while sparring.

"I'm in the same shape I was in in November," he said. "I was very disappointed (by the postponement) but it was a bad cut, a slice across my eyes. I couldn't take a chance like that in a fight of this magnitude."

De La Hoya is guaranteed at least $9 million for the fight, which will also be available nationally on pay-per-view. Quartey is to receive approximately $3 million.

"A lot of fighters have stood in front of Quartey, but that makes it like target practice for him," De La Hoya said. "You have to be smarter than that. You have to give him a lot of angles. His defense isn't really the best, so I have to take advantage of that."

Quartey may have won 29 of his fights by knockout, yet De La Hoya comes across as only marginally concerned and slightly ambivalent in spite of his stock comment that "this is going to be the toughest test of my career." For instance, De La Hoya said one of his sparring partners -- whom he identified only as "a Cuban named Julio" although the man he referred to is middleweight Julio Garcia -- has "five times the power and 10 times the speed" of Quartey.

Plus, despite the fact fellow welterweight Oba Carr is in camp with De La Hoya and has fought Quartey, De La Hoya has not asked him for any tips.

"We haven't talked," he said.

That may be on account of De La Hoya's belief that if he keeps moving, he wins.

"I'm going to step in the ring and have a good time," he said. "I'm going to play with the guy. It's going to be an easy test if I play with the guy. If I bang with him it'll be different, but if I stay on my toes for 12 rounds it's easy."

If it is easy, De La Hoya will be ready to proclaim himself the finest fighter in the world.

"The pound-for-pound (championship) is vacant," he said, disregarding Roy Jones. "After this fight I'm going to announce that I'm the pound-for-pound champion."

Yet, if it's true De La Hoya will never win over his critics, such a self-serving statement as proclaiming his greatness could fall on deaf ears.

"I'm a person who doesn't understand criticism," he said. "I see other sports and they're always talking positively about the stars -- except in boxing. Sometimes I ask myself, 'Why am I in boxing?' "

* QUICK HITS: America Presents is looking to sign Julio Cesar Chavez and put him on the April 24 Mike Tyson undercard. "I wish the guy would retire and be safe," said De La Hoya, who has beaten the Mexican legend twice. ... America Presents is also after WBA super middleweight champ Frankie Liles of Las Vegas, who is a free agent. ... Saying he's "in the low 150s," IBF junior welter champion Vince Phillips of Las Vegas needs to get down to 140 pounds for his Feb. 20 title defense in New York with Teron Millett. Wednesday he switched gyms, moving from Nevada Partners to Golden Gloves, "because it's hotter." Phillips, 39-3, is expected to handle the 20-1-1 Millett, who is relatively untested although a mandatory challenger due to his connection to promoter Don King. "Every fighter has something to offer, although I'm not afraid of anybody," Phillips said. "W hether Millett deserves to be the No. 1 contender or not, he's coming with some skills and will be trying to win. I don't care if they found him on wino st

reet, I'll be prepared to do my job." ... Local boxing judge Lou Tabat will work the Feb. 13 WBA junior lightweight title fight in Tokyo between Takanori Hatakeyama and Saul Duran. ... The New Frontier has a card Saturday that will headline with heavyweights Monte Barrett (19-0) and Phil Jackson (42-6) in a 10-round bout. Also on the card is NABF cruiserweight champion Derrick Harmon (16-0) of Las Vegas, who will take on Gilberto Brown (13-0-2) in a nontitle fight. Tickets are $25 and $15 and the first bell is 4:30 p.m.