Columnist Dean Juipe: Mosely wants a shot at De La Hoya

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2000 | 10:04 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.

Shane Mosley realizes the question is coming and he's ready for it, up to a point.

"I know you have to ask me about it," he said. "It's your job. Besides, people want to know."

The topic: His feelings on being the possible opponent for a June 17 fight with Oscar De La Hoya that will either go to the new Staples Center in Los Angeles or the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Either way, it's a big-money, high-prestige assignment -- the virtual "chance of a lifetime" that any rising fighter would cherish.

And while Mosley wants the fight and had discussed it to some extent in earlier phone conversations, this week he shied away from getting too specific.

"Maybe we can get it scheduled," he said. "I'm certainly willing and able to do it. It would put the icing on the cake for me as far as 2000 is concerned."

Mosley can do some not-so-subtle lobbying for being the right man at the right time to face De La Hoya by dominating his Saturday opponent at the Hard Rock, Willy Wise. The sports book at the hotel sees the bout as highly one-sided, with Mosley a minus 4000 favorite and Wise at plus 2500.

The round proposition is a record low: two.

"I want to use this fight to make a statement," Mosley said of the scheduled 10-round match at 147 pounds. "Wise isn't the hardest puncher out there but he's a credible opponent. He went the distance with Derrell Coley and he beat Julio Cesar Chavez, so he's no one to be looking past."

It's a measure of how far Chavez has slipped that the man who defeated him last October is a 40-1 underdog against a fighter who has only fought once at 147 pounds. While there was a time when a win over Chavez would have made anyone famous, Wise remains so obscure that even this week there was some doubt about the spelling of his first name.

Apparently it's Willy with a Y.

"Yeah, but the fact remains Coley maybe didn't beat him and Chavez definitely didn't," Mosley said. "He's a sleeper."

Wise, 33 next week, is 24-6-4 with a mere seven knockouts. Aside from a 1997 win over Dingaan Thobela there was nothing to suggest he would handle Chavez when they fought last fall at the Las Vegas Hilton.

But the upset victory allowed Wise to advance to a fight with Mosley, a former world champion at 135 pounds who is now fighting at his natural weight.

Mosley, 29, is 33-0 with 31 knockouts and has not had to go the distance in nine fights.

"Maybe this one goes the distance but if I can knock him out I'll see it as a tremendous win for me," Mosley said.

In his debut at 147, Mosley gained a 10th-round knockout over Wilfredo Rivera Sept. 25 in Temecula, Calif. Earlier, he won the International Boxing Federation lightweight title by defeating Philip Holiday in 1997 and he defended that championship eight times before abandoning the division.

Aside from Holiday and Rivera, Mosley's better victories have come against John John Molina, James Leija, Golden Johnson and John Brown.

But he still has some selling to do, given the fact De La Hoya's promoter, Bob Arum, once said "It's a ridiculous fight" when asked about pairing his man with Mosley. "I don't believe a fight with Oscar would be competitive in any way."

* HARD ROCK UNDERCARD: Aside from the main event and the co-feature of Vince Phillips vs. Vernon Forrest, six other fights are scheduled on Saturday's Hard Rock card.

The lineup: Kevin Kelley, 50-4-2, vs. Franki Archuleta, 18-0-1, 10 rounds, featherweights; Pat Coleman, 26-5, vs. Cirilo Nino, 21-8-3, eight rounds, junior middleweights; Robert Davis, 18-0, vs. Wesley Martin, 11-21-8, eight rounds, heavyweights; Jimmy Thunder, 34-9, vs. Jimmy Haynes, 12-11-1, eight rounds, heavyweights; Charles Shufford, 12-0, vs. Jeff Lally, 23-17-1, eight rounds, heavyweights; and Talmadge Griffis, 10-0-1, vs. an opponent yet to be determined, six rounds, heavyweights.

Phillips, Kelley, Thunder and Shufford are Las Vegas residents.

First bell is 5:30 p.m. and tickets are $40 to $225.

* REID-TRINIDAD: Wednesday outside Caesars Palace on the Flamingo Road side of the property, workers were hectically moving ground and making preparations to construct a temporary stadium that needs to be functional by March 3. That's the night World Boxing Association junior middleweight champ David Reid will defend his title against Felix Trinidad.

A capacity crowd of 10,100 is expected for what will be the first outdoor fight at Caesars since the initial De La Hoya vs. Chavez fight on June 7, 1996.

Trinidad went up as a minus 260 favorite in the hotel's sports book, while Reid is plus 220.

"A lot of people who don't know boxing think Felix is going to kill me," Reid said. "But I'll be the one putting him to sleep. I won't be running from him like De La Hoya did."

Trinidad, 36-0, is coming off a decision win over De La Hoya and is moving up a division to challenge Reid for his title. Reid is 14-0 against fairly reputable opposition, most recently Keith Mullings.

"Trinidad beat the man, so now I'm going to beat the man who beat the man," Reid said. "This is a fight people want to see."

Reid's promoter, Dan Goossen, dismissed the notion that Reid's droopy right eyelid would be a factor in what is certain to be a competitive bout.

"There are certain things athletes have to overcome," Goossen said. "Whether it's a physical problem or a question of ability, the great athletes find a way to do it. David has overcome his eye problem and it's not as if other fighters can just take potshots at it.

"It's not a detriment."

As for Reid perhaps being too inexperienced for Trinidad, Goossen went to a basketball analogy.

"It's like Kobe Bryant coming out of high school to play for the Los Angeles Lakers," he said. "There were people who doubted he could do it, but special athletes find a way to get the job done.

"That's how David is and we've matched him through the first 14 fights of his career so that when this day came he would be ready. He has faced all kinds of fighters and handled each and every test.

"He's prepared. He'll go right after Trinidad."

* QUICK HITS: Top Rank has added an Oba Carr vs. Yory Boy Campas fight to its March 4 card at Mandalay Bay that headlines Paulie Ayala vs. Johnny Bredahl. Carr, 49-3-1, and Campas, 74-3, have agreed to meet at the off-weight of 151 pounds. ... Former heavyweight champion Greg Page of Las Vegas has taken a Feb. 9 fight with Terrance Lewis in Rosemont, Ill. Page is 56-15-1, Lewis 26-5. ... Julio Cesar Chavez, 103-4-2, has a spot on the March 3 undercard at Caesars Palace. No opponent yet. ... There's talk of the Resort at Summerlin hosting its first boxing card, April 1, with local featherweight Augie Sanchez perhaps headlining. ... In what had to be a head-spinning fight last Saturday in Doncaster, England, highly regarded junior lightweight Acelino Freitas was down in the first round but bounced back to put challenger Barry Jones down six times before the fight was stopped at the end of the eighth round. Freitas, who has been mentioned as a possible opponent for Floyd Mayweather, is 21-0.