Columnist Dean Juipe: McCullough not impressed with Morales

Dean Juipe

Thursday, March 18, 1999 | 10:24 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.

Erik Morales is 22 years old, has won all 32 of his professional fights, is 6-0 in championship matches and has won seven consecutive bouts by knockout.

He's so hot and so highly regarded, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum recently signed him to a three-year, $10 million contract extension.

Arum sees Morales as the next Julio Cesar Chavez, the next Mexican superstar.

Wayne McCullough, however, has a different view. He sees Morales as a predictable and relatively untested young fighter who has let his earlier successes go to his head.

Fittingly, McCullough will have his chance at derailing Morales when the two super bantamweights meet May 8 at the Las Vegas Hilton in a pay-per-view bout that was formally announced Wednesday.

"He's a good champion and I have a lot of respect for him, but he's said he's going to knock me out and I'm sick of hearing it," McCullough said. "I think he's taking me lightly. He thinks he can walk straight through me, knock me out and then go home.

"I think he's overconfident. I think I can stop him."

McCullough, 28, is a former world champion who will be appearing in his sixth world title fight. The Irishman, who lives in Las Vegas and has a 22-2 record with 14 knockouts, will be receiving $275,000 for taking on Morales.

Arum has proposed that the scoring of the fight be announced at the end of each round. For open scoring to be put into effect, the Nevada State Athletic Commission would have to approve Arum's proposal.

Morales is 32-0 with 26 KOs, including a third-round stoppage of Angel Chacon Feb. 13 in Las Vegas. Morales also has significant victories over Daniel Zaragoza, Jose Bueno and Junior Jones.

McCullough isn't impressed.

"Morales fought each of those guys at the right time," he said. "When I fought (and lost to) Zaragoza, he threw 1,200 punches. Against Morales, he threw 500 and quit.

"Junior Jones was a nice win for him, but we all know about Jones' suspect chin."

At the Las Vegas Hilton sports book, Morales is up as a minus 500 favorite. McCullough is a plus 350.

Superbook director Art Manteris sees the combatants as worthy adversaries.

"McCullough is definitely a world-class fighter at this weight," he said. "He can fight, he's a good boxer and he's a tough guy to look good against.

"Morales has looked great, although it can be argued he has yet to completely prove himself against fighters of this caliber. This will be a good test."

The Hilton's 3,000-seat showroom will be utilized for the fight and Top Rank is already arranging private buses for hundreds of Morales' supporters who will come up from Mexico.

If McCullough has his way, those travelers will be leaving Las Vegas disappointed.

"This is a good fight for me because Morales stands up straight, not like your typical Mexican fighter," he said. "He doesn't run. He doesn't work the body. He has a European style, and I fought a lot of guys like that in the amateurs.

"He fights tall and I fight small, but that's not awkward for me. I know I can beat him and I'm confident enough to do it."

McCullough, coming off an Oct. 31 decision loss to Naseem Hamed, was delighted to take the fight for a number of reasons. It's good money, it's his first major fight in Las Vegas and he believes he can win.

He said Morales' incentive was simply "his wanting to put my name on his resume. But I know exactly what he's going to do and I've been watching a lot of tape and have seen some guys drop him. They just didn't have the experience to finish him, but I do."

That said, McCullough understands why he's the underdog.

"People look at me and think they see a small guy with no power," he said. "But I'm only a half inch shorter than Morales and when you put me in with somebody who'll stand in front of me, I'll average 120 punches a round.

"Earlier in my career guys would stand toe to toe with me, but lately they've all wanted to run. People who think I don't have any power should ask the guys I've fought.

"Hamed didn't say I didn't have any power."

McCullough's power was sapped this week, however, when the effects of a spider bite on his left hand took hold. Among his St. Patrick's Day errands was a third trip to the doctor's office for a bite that apparently occurred last Thursday.

"I'm not sparring for a little while because the doctor said the less I use it, the quicker it will heal," he said. "I don't even know how it happened, but it got worse and worse for a few days.

"I never did like spiders, but now if I see one I'll kill it."

* ORLEANS CARD: Local lightweight James Crayton is back in the main event of the monthly card at The Orleans, which will be held Friday and will include four other fights.

Crayton, 28-9-2, is in with Javier Valadez, 14-7, in a bout scheduled for 12 rounds. Crayton has an odd 1-1-2 record in his most recent fights and, coincidentally, both he and Valadez are coming off wins over Chris Linson.

Also scheduled: Ernesto Zededa, 16-3-1, vs. Raul Franco, 23-13-2, 10 rounds, junior bantamweights; Don Juan Futrell, 11-1, vs. Mahan Washington, 8-1, eight rounds, lightweights; Daniel Rodriguez, 17-1-1, vs. Sergio Sanchez, 8-8-1, six rounds, junior lightweights; and a women's bout between Hannah Fox, 9-1, and Diane Dutra, 5-2-1. First bell is 7 p.m.

* NEW FRONTIER CARD: One night later, Saturday, the New Frontier has a seven-bout card with former world champion John John Molina in the main event. Molina, 45-6, is scheduled for 12 rounds at 135 pounds with Ruben Nevarez, 20-8-3.

Also scheduled: Alex Trujillo, 15-0, vs. Adan Reyes, 10-0, 10 rounds, lightweights; Juan Lopez, 11-0, vs. Juan Carlos Rubio, 21-3-2, eight rounds, junior welterweights; Felipe Campa, 4-0-1, vs. Joan Cesario, 3-1, six rounds, super bantamweights; Mario Ajuiniga, 1-0, vs. Yinley Cabrales, 3-0, four rounds, junior lightweights; Augie Sanchez, 20-1, vs. Elias Juarez, 11-11-4, six rounds, featherweights; and Fres Oquendo, 11-0, vs. Big Foot Martin, 20-28-1, six rounds, heavyweights. First bell is 6:15 p.m.

* QUICK HITS: Of Nevada's three representatives in last week's amateur U.S. Championships, Jason Ingwaldson fared the best by reaching the semifinal round. Ingwaldson, 132 pounds, finished the tournament with a 3-1 record. Fellow Las Vegan Ishe Smith, 147, was 1-1, while Reno's Cedric Ferguson, 139, was 0-1. ... UNLV's club boxing team had three representatives in last week's five-team Western Collegiate Regional, and all three advanced to the national championships March 25-27 in Reno. UNLV's Manny Libatique, 125, was a gold medalist, while teammates Mike Kostewka, 175, and Chris Woywood, heavyweight, were silver medalists. "I think Manny has a real good chance of winning the national championship," said UNLV coach Skip Kelp. "He not only beat, he dominated an Air Force guy in the regionals who had some good national experience." ... Local light heavyweig ht Limmie Young upped his record to 6-0 with a six-round victory March 3 over Joe Harris in Kansas City. "I'm 27 and I know I can't afford to wait much lon

ger," Young said. "I've switched promoters and I'm looking to move forward. I should be fighting back there again in mid-April."