Thursday, Aug. 17, 2000 | 9:29 a.m.
Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.
Augie Sanchez knows he's the underdog yet there's no disputing his confidence.
He hopes, er, plans, to give Prince Naseem Hamed a battle when they fight Saturday in Ledyard, Conn., in a featherweight title fight to be televised by HBO.
Sanchez, a native of Las Vegas who is 26-1 with 23 knockouts, is a plus 700 underdog at the Mandalay Bay sports book. Hamed, 34-0 with 30 KOs, is a minus 1000 favorite.
"They picked the wrong guy," Sanchez said before departing for Ledyard, as he did Wednesday. "You've asked me in the past who I always wanted to fight and I always said Hamed. It's a big opportunity for me and I'm ready for him."
It's a $300,000 payday for Sanchez, who, just two years ago, was dropped by Top Rank because it thought he would never become a champion. A one-round knockout loss to journeyman Edgar Garcia soured Top Rank on "Kid Vegas," as he's called.
"I've improved quite a bit since then," Sanchez said. "I'm so focused and determined to win this fight. It might even be easier than people think."
Sanchez, 22, has won 10 fights since that singular loss, the most important being a seventh-round knockout of ex-champ Jorge Paez last year at the Las Vegas Hilton.
That win, plus his two this year, put Sanchez in the picture when Hamed's people were looking for an opponent for a fight with the Englishman that was initially targeted for Las Vegas. While the fight ended up in Connecticut, Sanchez was deemed a worthy foe and he jumped at the chance to dethrone the World Boxing Organization champion.
"I'm calm but I'm excited, too," Sanchez said. "It's a pain in the neck sometimes to deal with all the attention I've been getting, especially from the writers from England, but it's a good experience and I'm enjoying it for the most part.
"I'm not a big talker and I'm not going to start yelling or make a scene at (today's) press conference. Hamed's the kind of guy who tries to play head games with you and I'm sure he'll try it with me.
"But it won't work."
In a conference call earlier this week, Hamed said he respected Sanchez but figured he would knock him out.
"He's a strong puncher and he's got a good left hook," Hamed said. "He seems to be a well-schooled fighter, but I like textbook fighters. I'll be there before him at every move he makes. I don't underestimate him or overestimate him. I predict a knockout, maybe early, maybe late."
Hamed spent the majority of his conference-call time patting himself on the back.
"I'm the best fighter on the planet," he said. "I'm the best in the world, period."
He is a tough guy and a big hitter who also comes at his opponents from a wide variety of angles. Stylistically, Hamed is as difficult a fighter to solve as any in the sport today.
"Naseem is the type of fighter who can knock anybody flying through the air," said his co-trainer, Oscar Suarez. "He's the complete package now. He's looking brilliant."
Hamed trained for the fight in Big Bear, Calif. Sanchez trained under his father-in-law, Pat Barry, at Barry's gym in Las Vegas.
"Pat's watched a lot of tapes and we've studied Hamed pretty close," Sanchez said. "I've also been sparring with Kevin Kelley (who fought Hamed in 1997) and he tells me something I can use every day.
"You never know with Hamed, but I think he's taking me seriously."
Hamed, 26, counts wins over Kelley, Tom Johnson, Wayne McCullough and, most recently, Vuyani Bungu, among his best.
"I know I'm taking him seriously and I feel that if I don't make any mistakes I can outsmart him," Sanchez said. "He's a good champion with a great record but any fighter can be beaten. He has a lot of weaknesses."
Tua is guaranteed $3.5 million, plus a percentage of the pay-per-view profits.
Lewis could earn as much as $10 million.
"If the fight goes to Toronto, Tua gets another half-million dollars from the Lewis side," Tua's promoter, Dan Goossen, said Wednesday. He said the site details should be resolved "within a week, perhaps within two or three days."
Goossen wants the fight to be held here.
"The heavyweight championship belongs at one of the mega-resorts in Las Vegas," he said, "rather than at the home of the Toronto Blue Jays."
Ayala defeated Tapia last year at Mandalay Bay in an energetic fight that earned plaudits from everyone involved.
Ayala has withdrawn from an earlier scheduled fight (vs. an opponent that hadn't been determined) Aug. 25 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Mike Tyson's once-scheduled Sept. 8 fight with David Izon in Michigan is officially off and he apparently will, instead, fight Andrew Golota in October at a site to be determined. ... No progress to report on the Shane Mosley vs. Oscar De La Hoya rematch, although the latter's handlers are pointing toward a Jan. 20 date in Las Vegas. ... The Orleans has its monthly show slated for Friday and it offers junior lightweights Raul Perez and Hector Velazquez in the 10-round main event. Perez is 61-5-3 with 42 knockouts, while Velazquez is 28-7-1 with 23 KOs; the latter is a late replacement for Sandro Marcos, who dropped off the card earlier this week. Junior bantamweights Triny Mendoza (17-0-1, 13 KOs) and Oscar Andrade (23-17-1, 14 KOs) are in the semi-main event.
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