Thursday, Sept. 9, 1999 | 11:06 a.m.
Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 259-4084 or [email protected]
It's never too late to make a fresh start, as Freddie Norwood is attempting to prove at the age of 29.
Now the World Boxing Association featherweight champion for a second time, the Las Vegas resident says he is, at last, committed to being the absolute best fighter and person he can be.
Yet old habits sometimes die hard and even in the midst of Norwood's efforts to allegedly turn over a new leaf, there are indications of imperfections. For instance, he supposedly spent the $20,000 that was advanced to him for training expenses for his Saturday defense against Juan Manuel Marquez without paying his sparring partners.
Those sparring partners -- Justin Juuko, Vince Phillips and Mahon Washington -- were paid this week but it was by Norwood's promotional firm, Top Rank. It will, in turn, deduct the payments from Norwood's check Saturday night at Mandalay Bay when he faces Marquez in the primary undercard bout beneath the Floyd Mayweather vs. Carlos Gerena main event.
"It's been a struggle for me all throughout my life," Norwood said before working out at the Top Rank gym in preparation for a fight in which he is a slight underdog. "But every time I've failed, I've pulled myself up by my boot straps."
A native of St. Louis, Norwood came from a single-parent family and once said his mother "treated me horrible." He left her at the age of 17 and moved in with surrogate parents, one of whom has since died.
While his life outside the ring may have been a constant struggle, Norwood has found an occasional reprieve in boxing. Yet he has his critics there, too, in spite of his 34-0-1 record that includes 20 knockouts.
The complaints: he hasn't always given 100 percent and the fact he was stripped of his first WBA title last year because he couldn't make weight was indicative of his lack of personal discipline.
His trainer, Kenny Adams, is aware of the criticism and committed to helping Norwood do something constructive about it.
"Freddie's a funny guy in a way, but he's learning there are decent people around and that not everyone is trying to get something out of him," Adams said. "I see him going home now with a peace of mind he never had before. He still has some things he has to live up to, but he's on an even keel and in a good mood much more often than he used to be."
Adams and Norwood are back together after a brief interlude in which the trainer was relieved by Norwood's management team because he wasn't willing to be a "babysitter." That sequence of events angered Norwood and he has since made amends with Adams.
"It's no secret that what they did bothered me a lot," Norwood said of his handlers. "Coach Adams has done a lot for me and he'll be my trainer until I'm through with boxing. He turned me into an all-around fighter from a guy who was once a stand-up slugger."
Norwood, a southpaw who regained his WBA championship in May by taking a decision win over mandatory challenger Antonio Cermeno, still has some convincing to do when it comes to satisfying his detractors. This fight with Marquez may offer him that opportunity.
"I'm supposed to say Marquez is a great fighter, but all I'll say is that he's a good, durable fighter and I'm not going to say anything else," Norwood said, remaining politically correct while implying that the Mexican is an inferior fighter. Nonetheless, Marquez is a slight betting favorite around town, with the most common numbers having Marquez at a minus 130 and Norwood at a minus 110.
"I'll put a little change on that," Adams said of the curious betting line, which may be the result of Marquez having fought in Las Vegas more often than Norwood. "Marquez has a problem with movement, he's been down and he hasn't been tested. But he will be Saturday.
"This is the best Freddie has ever been in terms of training. He's sharp."
Marquez is 29-1 with 22 knockouts and has beaten a number of decent opponents -- such as Daryl Pinckney, Agapito Sanchez, Alfred Kotey and Enrique Jupiter -- without facing a top-level talent like Norwood.
"I wanted my title back, bad," Norwood said, "and now that I've got it, I'm looking to be a champion for a long, long time. I'm not going to lose because of my stupidity and I plan to stay a champion until I'm 32 or 33 and then I'll be done and out of the sport.
"I'm pushing myself. I came from nothing to become something and I find it thrilling to look up at the sign at Mandalay Bay and see my name on it.
"It's going to be difficult to beat me the rest of my career."
* TAPIA'S REMORSE: Sounding downright sorrowful on the phone, former WBA bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia said Wednesday he is withdrawing from the sport for an unspecified length of time.
Tapia, 32, lost his title to Paulie Ayala in June at Mandalay Bay. He also has been troubled by a police inquiry into the 1975 murder of his mother, and the fact he has been trying to locate the father who left him at birth.
"I had a rough year," Tapia said. "Everything hit me all at once and I want to take some time off, see what happens, and get my head clear. I want to be able to take a long vacation."
As a result, he will not fight Jorge Elicier Julio as had been tentatively planned for later in the year.
"I've been fighting for 23 years," Tapia, 32, said. "I've just been fighting, fighting, fighting. Now I want to take advantage of what boxing has given me and get away for a while."
Tapia, who maintains homes in Las Vegas and Albuquerque, seemed especially saddened about the whereabouts of his father. Asked if he was getting anywhere in trying to locate the man, Tapia gave a stilted reply.
"No, not yet," he said. "I haven't found anybody, but I've had a lot of people say they were my father.
"I just want to know who he really is and why he left my mom and why we couldn't have had a family together."
* QUICK HITS: Felix Trinidad's workouts at the Las Vegas Hilton in preparation for his Sept. 18 fight with Oscar De La Hoya are closed. He's training in the hotel's convention area. ... Mike Tyson's workouts at the Golden Gloves Gym are also closed as he prepares for an Oct. 23 fight at the MGM with Orlin Norris. Tyson slipped out a back door Tuesday rather than face a group of youngsters (and a newspaper photographer) who were waiting for him. ... That Tyson vs. Norris fight will not start until Game 1 of the World Series has been completed, which means the first bell could be very late. "Using the World Series as a lead-in should be an attraction for us," Showtime's Jay Larkin told USA Today. ... First bell for Saturday's card at Mandalay Bay is 5 p.m., with the Norwood fight starting at 7 and the Mayweather fight at 8. With the hotel's Events Center in use, the boxing card will be held in a 4,000-seat room in the convention area.
Two recent reports out of Nicaragua indicate legendary former champion and Hall of Fame member Alexis Arguello is an alcoholic who is also addicted to drugs and is prone to manic depression. His wife, Alicia, says Arguello is so suicidal that his "death is imminent." ... Former IBF lightweight champ Shane Mosley, who surrendered his title and will move up to 140 pounds to face Wilfredo Rivera Sept. 25 in California, said "I am testing the waters with a formidable opponent. I'm expecting it to be a good fight." ... Accepting still another last-minute fight, local lightweight James Crayton lost a close decision to Ivan Robinson last Friday in Cherokee, N.C., with the vacant NABF title on the line. The judges gave Robinson the edge by 4, 2 and 2 points, while TV analyst Teddy Atlas called it even. Crayton, 30-11-2, gave a good account of himself yet landed on ly 258 punches to Robinson's 340. Crayton had been scheduled to fight on the undercard but stepped into the televised main event when Golden Johnson withdr ew.
archive
