Columnist Dean Juipe: ‘Byrds’ of a feather to clash at Regent

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2000 | 9:46 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.

Facially, the men may not be identical.

But when heavyweight Chris Byrd looks across at his April 1 opponent at Regent Las Vegas he not only sees Lawrence Clay-Bey, he sees himself.

While the fight card is entitled "No Fooling Around" in a play off April Fool's Day, "Mirror Images" may be a more appropriate slogan.

"When I first saw this guy, it was like 'Wow, he's a right-handed me,' " Byrd said during a visit to Las Vegas last week. "He'll be good competition because he has skills and fast hands like I do. I thought I was one of a kind for a long time, but I see a lot of myself in him."

Likewise, Clay-Bey sees the similarities between himself and Byrd, although some of those similarities are the result of each man's difficulties lining up credible opponents.

"He may look at it as an insult to be fighting a man with only 11 fights, but I think it shows I'm willing to fight anyone out there," Clay-Bey said. "A lot of guys, quite frankly, don't like my style and a lot of guys don't like Chris' style.

"I can sympathize with him. He's had a hard time getting fights and I'm sort of going through the same thing."

Byrd, 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, is 30-1 with 18 knockouts.

Clay-Bey, 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, is 11-0 with eight KOs.

They'll take part in the first-ever fight card at Regent Las Vegas and the betting line in the casino's sports book has Byrd as a 4-1 favorite.

"That makes a lot of sense," Clay-Bey admitted of being the underdog. "Chris has already proven he's one of the top heavyweights, and I'm sort of just getting started."

Hand problems have been Clay-Bey's downfall, as he has twice had operations to correct lingering fractures. But the former U.S. Olympic silver medalist is 34 years old and hardly inexperienced. He was 60-9 as an amateur and lost the 1996 Olympic gold medal in a disputed final with the Ukraine's Wladimar Klitschko.

"I keep thinking things are going fine, but my hand troubles get me off track," Clay-Bey said. "It's just something I've got to overcome."

He has been handling middle-of-the-road heavyweights and is coming off a 10-round decision win over just such an opponent, Robert Daniels. He also has notable wins over Tony LaRosa, Louis Monaco and Nate Tubbs.

Byrd, 29, is best known for an elusive southpaw style that frustrates opponents and sometimes fans. But there's no denying his record, which includes wins over Arthur Williams, Tim Puller, Phil Jackson, Uriah Grant, Levi Billups, Bert Cooper, Jimmy Thunder, Eliecer Castillo, Ross Puritty and Jose Ribalta. Byrd lost to Ike Ibeabuchi last year to snap a 26-fight winning streak.

"None of the other top contenders wants to fight me," Byrd said. "I'm very competitive and I think the winner of this fight can call himself the fighter with the best skills in the division."

At stake will be the vacant North American Boxing Federation championship. Fox Sports Net will televise the card, which will be held in a 2,000-seat outdoor stadium that will be constructed for the event.

Tickets are $30 to $200.

"It's a TV fight and I'm dying for that type of exposure," Byrd said. "I'm also facing an undefeated Olympian who has good skills and respect, plus there's the NABF title. If you win that, you get a little bit of leverage. It gives you something to scream about.

"It's a big step in both of our careers."

Bill Kozerski, who manages Byrd, agrees with that assessment.

"This is a gutsy fight for both men," he said. "You're talking about taking an inherent risk for a short-term reward. But the winner will be able to step out of the pack and be regarded as a legitimate heavyweight contender."

Clay-Bey hesitated only briefly before accepting the fight.

"We argued about it a little bit," he said. "Chris has a lot of experience and you have to have second thoughts about fighting a man who always makes his opponents look bad. But I'm trying to establish myself in the public's eye, so I went ahead and took the fight.

"I'm gambling that I can find a way to look good against him."

* AUGIE, TOO: Also on that Regent Las Vegas card is Las Vegas featherweight Augie Sanchez, who is 25-1 with 22 knockouts and coming off a TKO-5 win on the Mike Tyson undercard Jan. 29 in England.

Sanchez, 22, will face veteran Enrique Jupiter in a 10-round bout at 126 pounds. Jupiter, 27, is 31-9-2 and has faced such stalwarts as Erik Morales, Vuyani Bungu and Danny Romero.

"Jupiter is crafty, tricky and has a lot of experience," said Sanchez's trainer, Pat Barry. "It's a good fight for Augie because he's up against a credible opponent. Of course, I honestly believe Augie is the next featherweight world champion."

Sanchez has risen to No. 10 in the most recent WBC ratings.

"I'm waiting for somebody to give me a title shot," he said. "At some point, one of the champions is going to have to fight me."

His latest victory, stopping Didier Schaeffer, almost went unnoticed in England.

"My fight was first and they hadn't even opened the doors yet," Sanchez complained. "My wife and mother-in-law couldn't even get in for it. There was nobody in the audience because Tyson overshadowed everything and people came late just to see him.

"When I told someone before the fight that I was on the card, all they did was ask me if I could get Tyson's autograph for them."

* ORLEANS CARD: The Orleans is hosting a Friday card that has junior lightweights Juan Arias and Julio Cesar Sanchez-Leon in the 10-round main event.

Arias, 29, is 28-0 with 23 knockouts and is said to have looked good in workouts this week at the Top Rank gym. Sanchez-Leon, 24, is 17-11 with 12 KOs and has lost his last two fights.

Also scheduled: Antonio Mesquita, 16-0, vs. Ivan Ledon, 12-4-1, 10 rounds, junior welterweights; Rene Arostegui, 23-1, vs. an opponent yet to be determined, eight rounds, middleweights; Willie Stewart, 8-0, vs. Tokumbo Ojajide, 6-0, six rounds, welterweights; and Arthur Petrasyan, 3-0, vs. an opponent to be determined, four rounds, welterweights. First bell is 7 p.m.

* QUICK HITS: UNLV's club boxing team hosts a tournament with Penn State Saturday at The Sporting House at 7 p.m. ... The Nevada State Athletic Commission has denied a boxing license to former junior middleweight world champ Terry Norris, who was interested in resuming his career on the March 3 card at Caesars Palace. Norris is only 32 years old but has been through a number of tough fights and has suffered from slurred speech. ... The state has two new boxing judges -- Robert Hoyle and Burt Clements -- and two new referees -- Tony Weeks and Vic Alegria. ... Tuesday at the NSAC offices (555 E. Washington) the commission will hold a workshop and review a number of policies on such things as medical testing and discipline hearings. The session starts at 9:30 a.m. and is open to the public. ... Just down the street on the same day, heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi w ill stand trial on sexual assault charges in Clark County District Court.