Columnist Dean Juipe: LV’s Crayton goes on road for pivotal match vs. Diaz

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2000 | 9:52 a.m.

Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084.

For all of the close calls and good fights he has put up in losing causes, James Crayton is still looking for that big, career-boosting victory.

He gets another chance Friday in Indio, Calif., when he takes on rising star Antonio Diaz in a 12-round bout at 140 pounds that will be televised by ESPN2.

"I know it," Crayton said, acknowledging his need for a pivotal win. "The hard part is being out on the road, but if I beat Diaz in his backyard I think I'll get the recognition I deserve."

Crayton, who turned 30 Wednesday, is one of Las Vegas' better-known fighters. Fans have seen him steadily improve since he turned pro in 1994, yet the fact is he's 31-11-2 and has been on the short end of the decision any time he has had a significant fight go to the judges.

For instance, Crayton gave a strong performance Sept. 3 in a televised fight from North Carolina with NABF champion Ivan Robinson, yet it was Robinson who had his hand raised in victory. Similarly, Crayton has fought and lost to such stalwarts as Derrick Gainer, John John Molina (twice), Gabe Ruelas, Juan Lazcano and Golden Johnson.

"I thought he beat Robinson, but he didn't get the decision," said Crayton's trainer, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. "That's happened to him before, but what's past is past.

"He can win this fight. In fact, he will win it if he listens and follows my instructions."

Muhammad said he wants Crayton to "box, sit down and move" against Diaz, who is 29-2 and in the midst of a lengthy winning streak. Nonetheless, neither Crayton nor Muhammad is overly impressed.

"I give every fighter credit, but Diaz hasn't fought a lot of guys with my type of experience and it's about time he stepped it up," Crayton said. "I've fought better guys than him and I don't think he'll be able to handle the kind of movement he'll see from me."

"I've seen Diaz's last three fights and he didn't look good in the last two," Muhammad added. "If James fights him right, he should be able to beat him."

If there is a drawback for Crayton in this fight it's that he wanted to stay at 135 pounds yet took this one at 140. As a junior welterweight he is 2-0-2.

"We didn't want to do it but it's an opportunity James had to take," Muhammad said of the weight issue. "Win or lose, he'll drop back down to 135."

* ARUM UPDATES: Promoter Bob Arum was a storehouse of news and opinions Wednesday, weighing in on critical remarks directed toward him by another promoter, as well as subjects ranging from incarcerated heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi to working out details on an Oscar De La Hoya vs. Shane Mosley fight for June 17 to his suspicions that a March 3 card in Las Vegas may not come off.

Regarding comments made in this space last week by promoter Murad Muhammad, who repetitively called Arum "a liar" for not rematching cruiserweights Vassiliy Jirov and Arthur Williams, Arum said "Murad must be nuts. I think he said the things he did to pacify Williams and his people, because we had no agreement whatsoever for a rematch."

Jirov defeated Williams last year for the IBF title and Muhammad, who promotes Williams, was adamant that there was a rematch clause in the contract in the event Jirov won. Arum says that's not so.

"If Murad wants to put the money up, I'll be happy to have a rematch," Arum said. "But he can't be expecting me to pay it."

As for Ibeabuchi, whose sexual assault trial is set for Feb. 22 in Las Vegas, Arum said "the situation has gotten a lot worse" after prosecutors were able to have the fighter's previous bad acts deemed admissible for the trial. "Previous bad acts are admissible if they form a pattern, and that's what they're alleging," Arum said.

Arum has an interest in the unbeaten heavyweight as he agreed to pay the legal fees of Ibeabuchi's lead attorney, Richard Wright.

"I made a deal to that extent," Arum said of an agreement that figures to cost him around $150,000. "It turns out it may not be so advantageous to me."

Re: De La Hoya vs. Mosley, Arum said he met Wednesday for lunch with Mandalay Bay representatives who may be interested in putting the June 17 pay-per-view fight in their 10,000-seat Events Center.

"My feeling is that Oscar and Felix Trinidad won't fight this year, because Oscar's not ready to go to 154 pounds and Trinidad is not coming back to 147," Arum said. "So Mosley is the next best opponent out there and we're talking of making that fight for either Las Vegas or Los Angeles."

And as for the March 3 card at Caesars Palace promoted by Don King Productions and America Presents, Arum said "I don't know what the hell is going on, but it mystifies me when they say they're going to construct a temporary stadium for the event but they haven't even filed papers with the county commission.

"I'm not saying the fight's not going to happen, but there's a chance it's all a charade."

Trinidad takes on David Reid in the March 3 main event; for clarity's sake, it's worth noting that Arum has a Paulie Ayala vs. Johnny Bredahl fight scheduled for Mandalay Bay one night later.

* OUT OF TOWN: Two Las Vegas fighters won bouts out of town last weekend, while a third, the previously mentioned Arthur Williams, had to pull out of his Saturday fight in Atlantic City with Nestor Giavannini due to contracting hepatitis B.

Williams must have been envious when late replacement Ezra Sellers stepped in for him and knocked out Giovannini in the first round.

Having better luck were Augie Sanchez and Freddie Norwood.

Sanchez, fighting on the Mike Tyson undercard in England, forced France's Didier Schaeffer to quit on his stool following the fourth round of their featherweight bout scheduled for 10. Sanchez is now 23-1 with 20 knockouts, while Schaeffer slumped to 21-14-1.

Norwood, the WBA featherweight champ, was a KO-9 winner over Takashi Koshimoto last Sunday in Fukuoka, Japan. Norwood is now 36-0-1.

* QUICK HITS: The Resort at Summerlin may host an April 1 card that will have heavyweights Chris Byrd and Lawrence Clay-Bey fighting for the vacant NABF championship. ... UNLV's club boxing team will host a card vs. Air Force Saturday at The Sporting House at 5 p.m. ... Nevada usually has a contender for the U.S. Olympic team but that's not the case this time around, as rosters have been finalized for the trials and no Nevada resident is listed at any weight. ... Although Sports Illustrated reported this week that UNLV basketball player Kaspars Kambala was taking "boxing lessons from renowned referee Richard Steele," Steele said that's far from true. "We worked for a couple of weeks at the close of last season, but that was it," Steele said, although he added he is counseling Kambala and his fiancee for an upcoming wedding that he, as an ordained minister, will conduct.

George Linberger, a 255-pound heavyweight who in 1994 was an offensive and defensive lineman for the now-defunct Las Vegas Sting of the Arena Football League, says he wants to fight Eric "Butterbean" Esch. "I was supposed to have fought him August 6," Linberger said from his home in Akron, Ohio. "But I think his manager (Art Dore) saw me in a Toughman competition and got worried about my punching power." Linberger, who is 18-4-1, is angling to become Esch's March 4 opponent on the Ayala undercard at Mandalay Bay. "It irritates me that all of his opponents are handpicked," Linberger said of the 51-1-2 Esch. "I think he's a guy who I could use to make a name for myself. I think I've got something to offer to the promotion." ... Latest lines from Mandalay Bay on its Feb. 19 main event between super bantamweights Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera have Mor ales at minus 300 and Barrera at plus 230.