Columnist Dean Juipe: Chavez has eye on Tszyu

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Sept. 23, 1999 | 9:55 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

The long, long, long professional boxing career of Julio Cesar Chavez not only isn't over, it has been given an extension.

Chavez, who began fighting professionally in 1980 and who has 106 fights under his belt, is co-headlining an Oct. 2 card at the Las Vegas Hilton. His opponent that night, Willy Wise, is there to provide the former three-weight-class world champion with a little work as he prepares for a bigger fight that's tentative for early next year.

Because of his lengthy association with the World Boxing Council and its lifelong monarch, Jose Sulaiman, Chavez is the mandatory challenger for WBC 140-pound champion Kostya Tszyu.

A fight with Wise -- and maybe one other -- and Chavez, in theory, will be ready for Tszyu.

"I want that fight with Tszyu," Chavez said through an interpreter. "I'm confident I can become a champion again."

Chavez, 37, is 101-3-2 with 84 knockouts but has shown a vulnerability in recent years that wasn't apparent during his heydey. While he was once 89-0-1, he is 12-3-1 since 1994 and was overwhelmed in a pair of fights with Oscar De La Hoya and was the beneficiary of a scoring mishap in a draw with Miguel Angel Gonzalez. Had the WBC officials at ringside added the judges' scores correctly the night of the latter fight, Chavez would have had another loss. (Despite later finding their tabulation error, the WBC refused to reverse the draw decision.)

Chavez has fought once this year, taking out journeyman Verdell Smith in four rounds April 1 in El Paso.

"There have been times I've fought just to fight," Chavez admitted. "I took some fights where I didn't care if I won or lost.

"But now I've got something to motivate me, and I'm getting prepared for this fight and for the one with Tszyu."

His Oct. 2 opponent, Wise, is 23-6-4 with a mere seven knockouts and has lost three consecutive fights (to Derrell Coley, Santos Cardona and Edgar Ruiz). With the exception of a decision win over Dingaan Thobela two years ago in South Africa, Wise does not have a significant victory on his resume.

"Many of you may have already counted him out, but Chavez is a living legend, a fighter's fighter," said his promoter, Don King. "He's lethal in the ring when he's prepared and it's our job to get him prepared. When he is, he's invincible."

Chavez has been in Las Vegas for more than a week and has already undergone medical testing mandated by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which is required by his age. "He's taken all the tests and there's no problem," NSAC executive director Marc Ratner said Wednesday.

Also on that Hilton card is a co-feature that offers International Boxing Federation junior flyweight champion Will Grigsby, 14-1-1, defending his title against another Mexican legend, Ricardo Lopez. The former strawweight champion is 47-0-1 and will be fighting at 108 pounds for the first time.

* SCORING FLAP: Discussing the scoring of last Saturday's majority decision that gave Felix Trinidad a victory over De La Hoya at Mandalay Bay, Ratner was peeved at the effort turned in by judge Bob Logist of Belgium.

While little has been made of it, if Logist had given the first round to De La Hoya (as many observers did) instead of scoring it even, the fight's outcome would have been a majority draw.

"I don't like rounds being scored even, but Europeans inevitably will score some rounds even," Ratner said, more or less accepting Logist's shortcoming in that area. But what disturbed Ratner was Logist giving the seventh round to Trinidad -- the other two judges did not -- and Logist giving the 12th round to De La Hoya -- and, again, the other two judges did not.

"The seventh round was clearly an Oscar round, yet he gave it to Trinidad," Ratner said. "But the one round I disagree with him the most was the 12th. That was an easy round to give to Trinidad and I really questioned him on why he scored it for Oscar.

"He said he didn't have a good excuse. His comment was, 'I guess I lost my concentration.' "

Expect two things as a result: Logist will no longer be given assignments by the NSAC, and that the commission will, at last, become more inclined to appoint all Nevada judges to its major fights, such as the Lennox Lewis vs. Evander Holyfield Nov. 13 heavyweight rematch in Las Vegas.

Despite Logist's mishaps, Ratner is correct when he says "the public is not up in arms about the outcome of this fight." And as for earlier conjecture that De La Hoya had the judges wrapped around his pinky in Nevada, Ratner said "I never believed that anyway."

* TYSON TIDBITS: A Tuesday night trip to the MGM resulted in this information about tickets and their availability for Mike Tyson's Oct. 23 fight in the Grand Garden Arena with Orlin Norris: They're expensive and available.

While ads promoting the fight are out, the ticket prices aren't listed. But they range from $100 to $1,000 and a woman at the MGM's ticket window said seats were available in every area "although there's only a few left at $1,000."

Moments later in what may have been a ploy by the hotel to generate interest in the fight, Tyson was paged over the casino's intercom.

In the MGM sports book, Tyson is a minus 1200 favorite and Norris is a plus 900 underdog. There are no round props up yet.

Tyson, 46-3, has been in Las Vegas for more than two weeks and seems at ease.

"I'd like to fight a little more often," he said while attending the De La Hoya-Trinidad fight. "I have a lot of children to take care of."

Tyson is expected to receive a minimum of $7 million for his fight with Norris. The latter, a former cruiserweight world champion, is 50-5-1 and will be paid $800,000.

* MIDDLEWEIGHTS: A pair of middleweight title fights will be televised Friday from Washington D.C., as WBA champion William Joppy takes on arch-rival Julio Cesar Green, and WBC champion Keith Holmes defends against Andrew Council.

(A third title fight on the Showtime cable card has been postponed, as WBA junior welterweight champ Sharmba Mitchell has withdrawn due to a strained muscle in his rib cage.)

Joppy, who fought in Las Vegas in July although he needed less than a full round to finish off Napoleon Pitt, said during a conference call this week that De La Hoya's loss had an impact on him.

"It opened my eyes," he said of Trinidad getting the decision. "I felt De La Hoya won because he put on a boxing exhibition, but he ran too much. He didn't mix it up and that's why they gave the decision to Felix.

"I think it showed you'd better give the crowd what it wants."

He said he'll do just that in attempting to rid his life of Green, who he has fought twice and split two previous bouts.

"This guy has been a thorn in my side since 1997," Joppy said. "He knows this is his last chance and he's going to be desperate."

Joppy, 27-1-1, accused Green of "fighting dirty and trying to cut you with the laces of his gloves, but I'll be looking for that." Green is 25-3.

"Speed is the key for me," Joppy said. "I'm too fast for Green. At the same time, I'm going to stand and slug it out with him."

Joppy said a Jan. 19 car accident has had an unexpected benefit for him in spite of the gash it put along the side of his head.

"The rest did me good," he said of laying off until that brief fight with Pitt in Las Vegas. "I missed two fights this year but I feel 200 percent right now. I was miserable (during the recovery period) but it rested my body and I needed it. I feel quicker.

"In every situation there's a lesson, and this was God telling me to slow down and be patient."

While Joppy vs. Green figures to be a good fight, the Holmes (33-2) vs. Council (30-6-3) pairing is lackluster and the champion is expected to retain his belt with a minimum of trouble.

* COLEY CALMED: The mandatory challenger for the WBC portion of Trinidad's titles is Derrell Coley, who had been hoping to fight De La Hoya.

"I'm disappointed even if I get to fight Trinidad," Coley told the Scripps Howard News Service. "I still don't think I'll be fighting the best welterweight out there. But I'm in a position to fight Trinidad, so I guess I'll be looking at him."

Coley wasn't impressed by Trinidad's narrow victory.

"I didn't know Trinidad was that slow," he said. "He's also not that smart of a fighter and he's not that strong. He doesn't look like he punches hard either."

Coley, 34-1-2 with a loss to Oba Carr, has spent 15 months in the WBC's No. 1 spot without getting a fight with the champion. While he didn't appeal to De La Hoya, he can only hope Trinidad complies with WBC regulations and gives him a fight.

"My position is, they don't have a choice," Coley said. "But I guess in boxing they've got any choice they want."

* EUROPEAN TILT: Axel Schulz, who could have fought Tyson in Las Vegas had he been inclined, will take on Wladimar Klitschko Saturday in Cologne, Germany, in a bout that is expected to draw at least 18,000 spectators to the Cologne Arena.

It's a big fight in Europe and Schulz figures to have his hands full with Klitschko.

"I want to win as quickly as possible," Klitschko said, via his publicist. "People will get their money's worth."

Klitschko, half of a Ukrainian brother combination that is making some progress in the division, is 28-1, while Schulz is 26-4-1.

Klitschko unexpectedly lost to American journeyman Ross Puritty, although he said "Now I train harder. I prepare more professionally."

Schulz has never been knocked out and went the distance in losing U.S. fights to George Foreman and Michael Moorer.

"He knows if he loses to me nobody will give him a chance anymore," Klitschko said of Schulz. "He knows it, and I like it that way because I prefer opponents who are not running from me."

* QUICK HITS: A Fernando Vargas vs. Winky Wright fight is earmarked for Las Vegas with a Dec. 4 date, although no specific site has been confirmed. Vargas is the IBF junior middleweight champ, while Wright is his mandatory challenger. ... Junior welterweight Bolillo Gonzalez is off Saturday's card at Caesars Tahoe and has been replaced in the main event by Ricky Quiles. ... Rising junior welterweight star Zab Judah has been added to the Oct. 23 Tyson-Norris undercard. Judah, 21-0, has been given an easy opponent, the 17-9 Manuel Gomez. ... The Golden Gloves Gym will host an amateur card Saturday. ... The UNLV club boxing team will host an amateur card Nov. 6 at the Sporting House. Teams from Nevada-Reno, Santa Clara and UCLA will also take part. ... The New Frontier has added an Oct. 1 card that will headline former champion Gabe Ruelas against an opponent yet to be determined.

The Orleans has a Friday card that will headline potential junior lightweight star Edson Nascimento, 30-0, in with journeyman Eduardo Perez, 19-12-2, in a 10-round bout. Nascimento, of Brazil, also fought at the hotel last December. ... At a press conference Wednesday in New York to promote their Nov. 20 fight in Atlantic City, bad-boy heavyweight Andrew Golota promised "the fight is going to be clean, you know, nothing like my other fights." Golota, 34-3, twice lost to Riddick Bowe by disqualification. Grant, 30-0, will be defending his NABF title in a fight to be televised by HBO.

Former lightweight champ Shane Mosley will jump two divisions when he takes on Wilfredo Rivera Saturday in Pomona, Calif., in a 10-round welterweight bout. "I can't look past Wilfredo -- and I'm not," Mosley said. "He's an exceptional fighter who has been in there with the best. I want to show I'm a true welterweight and I'm not taking the easy road." Mosley is 32-0, while Rivera is 30-3-1. ... Harold Knight, who trains Lennox Lewis, says his man "will come out more aggressive" in his Nov. 13 rematch with Evander Holyfield. "One lesson that can be learned from the De La Hoya-Trinidad fight is that the general public wants fighters to act like sharks. When the fighters see blood, they should go in for the kill. Lewis will knock out Holyfield." At the MGM sports book, Lewis is minus 175 favorite while Holyfield is a plus 150 underdog.

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