Phillips aims to play spoiler against Forrest

Dean Juipe

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

Vince Phillips is shrewd enough to recognize the obvious.

At 36, he's getting old by boxing's standards. He's also a year removed from world championship status, having been stopped in five rounds last February by Terronn Millett with the International Boxing Federation's junior welterweight title at stake.

Yes, he sees what's happening as he approaches a Saturday fight at the Hard Rock with up-and-coming welterweight Vernon Forrest. He knows he's being used.

"He's looking at me as a steppingstone," the 11-year Las Vegas resident said of a fight in which he's a plus 1000 underdog in the Hard Rock's sports book. "Maybe he's not taking me lightly but he thinks I'm an old fighter who has seen his best days and is just looking for a payday.

"But they've got the wrong guy."

Phillips, 40-4 with 29 knockouts, may not be in last-hurrah straits, yet he realizes if he loses this fight his status will have significantly regressed. He'll become more "opponent" than contender.

"I'm seen as the opponent in this fight, I know that," he said. "A part of that is my age and a part of it was my last (title) fight. But I can't be concerned about the odds; I've always been an underdog because of my history."

That history includes a dalliance with drugs that at one time impacted his career. But the Phillips that steps into the ring with Forrest is certainly in shape and by all accounts fully prepared to resurrect his career at the expense of a young man who many believe has championship potential.

Forrest, 30-0 with 25 knockouts, currently has the North American Boxing Federation belt in his possession and is being groomed for a world title try later this year. As it is, he's booked for an April 15 fight on the Fernando Vargas-Ike Quartey undercard at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

So Phillips is in position to disrupt any number of plans.

"This is the hardest Vince has worked in years," said his trainer, Kenny Adams. "This is a life-and-death fight for him and he knows it, he knows it very clearly."

Phillips looks good working out and his weight -- which is always a major consideration and prone to be a substantial problem for him -- is under control. He said he opened this training camp at 159 pounds (for a fight at 147), while he opened camp for Millett at 187 (for a fight at 140).

"You're only as good as your last fight, but look at Vince right now," Adams said as Phillips toiled in a ring set up at the Saturn of West Sahara car dealership. "Listen to the pop in his punches. He's sharp; the sharpness is right there."

Phillips has fought once since losing to Millett, taking out journeyman Angel Beltre within three rounds Dec. 10 in Biloxi, Miss. But even that win didn't negate Phillips' poor showing against Millett, who had the defending champion down twice before the referee stopped it in the fifth.

"I felt my legs weak from taking my own punches," Phillips said, referring to his habit of smacking himself in the head in the dressing room before a fight. "That's when I knew I wasn't there."

After seeing a contemporary like Millett handle Phillips, Forrest apparently jumped at the chance to take a shot at Phillips himself. Forrest is a minus 1500 betting favorite although he hasn't faced the type of opposition that Phillips has met.

"I like Forrest, but who has he fought?" Adams asked rhetorically. "X. Y. Z. Nobody."

Forrest, 28, opened his career fighting regularly in Las Vegas (under the guidance of his manager at the time, Billy Baxter) and has been fighting competent, if beatable, opponents the past few years. Wins over Ray Oliveira, Gilberto Flores, Adrian Stone and, most recently, Santiago Samaniego, have positioned Forrest as a world title contender.

Phillips, who moved to Las Vegas in 1989 and will be fighting here for the 18th time Saturday, has key wins over Mike Johnson, Harold Brazier, Kostya Tszyu and Freddie Pendleton to his credit. The May 31, 1997, TKO-10 over Tszyu brought Phillips the world championship he eventually relinquished to Millett.

"I see Vince being better in this fight than he was with Tszyu," Adams said. "He looks that good to me."

Phillips gladly accepts the praise while acknowledging the accolades will be fleeting from here on out should he lose to Forrest.

"I'm like the Rodney Dangerfield of boxing," he said. "No one ever really looked at me as a great fighter, just as a guy who could punch. But there's a lot at stake here. Victory is very important."

Photo: Vince Phillips works out