Columnist Dean Juipe: McCullough to get his shot at Morales

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Feb. 18, 1999 | 10:44 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.

Wayne McCullough is getting a firsthand look at some of the world's greatest fighters.

Coming off an Oct. 31 loss in Atlantic City to featherweight hotshot Naseem Hamed, McCullough jumps back into the fire with a May 8 fight at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas against WBC super bantamweight champ Erik Morales.

Morales is a rising star, a 22-year-old Mexican who is 32-0 with 26 knockouts. He is a very impressive fighter with a growing legion of followers in his homeland.

Last Saturday, he blasted out Angel Chacon in the third round of their fight on the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Ike Quartey undercard at the Thomas & Mack Center. Immediately following that fight, promoter Bob Arum announced Morales and McCullough would meet at Mandalay Bay.

"At long last," McCullough said. "Not only do I get a fight with Morales that I've been after for a long time, I finally get to have a major fight in Las Vegas."

McCullough is a native of Ireland who has lived in Las Vegas for several years without ever having more than a club fight here. He's a former WBC champ with a 22-2 record.

"This is a good fight for me," he said. "I know Morales is good, but he stands straight and he's not going to run."

McCullough chased Hamed around the ring although he was a loser by 8, 6 and 4 points on the judges' cards. His fight with Morales won't look anything like the one with Hamed.

"Wayne's a guy who always seems to be able to overcome the obstacles placed in front of him," said his co-promoter, Dan Goossen. "Whether you thought he won or lost the fight with Hamed, he was the one who made the fight. The bottom line is that he wasn't cautious or respectful to Hamed and he was very much 'in' a fight most people didn't think he had a chance to win."

McCullough may be facing similar public expectations with Morales, who is likely to open as a substantial betting favorite.

"He's strong but I know I can beat him," Morales said.

"I love that kind of talk from him," McCullough said later of a fight that will bring him $275,000 and will be available as part of a pay-per-view card. This is a fight he was able to secure because he was willing to accept less money than the man who had the first shot at it, Marco Antonio Barrera.

*TRINIDAD-WHITAKER: In a fight that figures to have some impact on De La Hoya's future plans, IBF welterweight champ Felix Trinidad will take on veteran Pernell Whitaker Saturday in New York on HBO. At the Las Vegas Hilton, bettors have moved Trinidad from a 4-to-1 favorite to 6-to-1, with Art Manteris of the Hilton saying "it's kind of surprising but all the money is coming in on the favorite." Trinidad, 26, is 33-0, while Whitaker, 35, is 41-2-1 and is coming off a 16-month layoff. "Sometimes a long layoff is good for an older fighter," he said. "It's good for your hands and good for your mind. It's just what the doctor ordered." The winner, especially if it's Whitaker, could find himself fighting De La Hoya in the fall.

* QUICK HITS: Manteris said he took a "couple of six-figure bets" on the De La Hoya vs. Quartey fight, and that most of the last-minute action was on Quartey. "We did fine overall," he said of the sponsoring hotel's take in its sports book. ... Former Las Vegas heavyweight Jose Luis Gonzalez fights tonight in Bossier City, La., on the satellite network USSB. Gonzalez, once a great amateur champion in Cuba, is 26-5 and has seen his professional career go in decline since a 1995 loss to Riddick Bowe at the MGM Grand Garden. Tonight he's in with journeyman James Stanton, who is 16-3 and on a three-fight losing streak. ... USSB also has the Feb. 26 card at The Orleans and has announced its co-main events: Hugo Pineda, 35-1-1, vs. Juan Carlos Sanchez, 14-9-2, in a 10-round welterweight match; and James Crayton, 28-9-2, vs. Ivan Ledon in a lightweight pairing al so scheduled for 10. ... The following week, March 6, USSB has heavyweight Henry Akinwande fighting in Minnesota. Akinwande is still ranked as the WBA's ma

ndatory challenger to Evander Holyfield, although he was unable to participate in a scheduled title fight with Holyfield June 6, 1998, due to contracting hepatitis B. ... America Presents returns to the New Frontier March 20 and will have junior lightweight John John Molina in its main event against an opponent to be determined. Molina is 45-6 and looked good despite losing to IBF champ Robert Garcia Jan. 16 in Las Vegas. ... Michael Carbajal, 45-4, is coming out of retirement and will face Jose DeJesus, 31-6-1, in a 10-round junior bantamweight bout Feb. 27 in Tampa. ... WBC cruiserweight champ Juan Carlos Gomez of Cuba appears to be the finest fighter in that division, although he figures to have his hands full in a Saturday rematch in Hamburg, Germany, with ex-champ Marcelo Dominguez. "I know exactly the mistakes I did in the first fight," Dominguez sai d of a 1998 loss in his native Argentina. "I hope that I can do everything better." He's 26-2-1, while Gomez is 26-0. ... HBO replays the De La Hoya vs. Qu

rtey fight Saturday.

* LEWIS-HOLYFIELD: The heavyweight champions are now in camp and earnestly preparing for their March 13 fight in New York. Lennox Lewis, the WBC king, is training at a honeymoon resort in the Poconos in northeast Pennsylvania. Holyfield, the WBA and IBF champ, is training in Houston. Promoter Don King is predicting a record 2 million pay-per-view buys at $50 a pop. "Holyfield feels better about this fight than he did about his fights with (Mike) Tyson," said his trainer, Don Turner. "If Lewis fights the fight of his life, it's still not as tough as the Tyson fights." Rival trainer Emanuel Steward, who handles Lewis, not surprisingly takes the opposing view. "Lennox has never been an easy fight for anyone (and) Evander has always been very erratic. This is the fight Lewis needs and his whole career is based on this one fight. He is hungry, desperate and rea listic -- everything is on the line. We're looking for a tough, brutal fight."