Columnist Dean Juipe: ‘Bones’ shows a lot of heart

Dean Juipe

Thursday, March 9, 2000 | 9:33 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.

He didn't come out of the fight unscathed and his broken right hand is going to force him to the shelf for a little while.

But for Clarence "Bones" Adams, the injury was a small price to be paid in exchange for the benefits he will accrue as a result of his upset victory over Nestor Garza.

Adams, a Las Vegas newcomer, is also the sport's newest legitimate world champion. He earned that honor last Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center when he took a unanimous decision over Garza and claimed the World Boxing Association super bantamweight title.

Having just fought for $40,000, he can now look forward to considerably greater purses. While that's not incidental, it is secondary at the moment as Adams revels in his rising stature.

"It may be a while before I can fight again but right now I don't care," Adams said this week. "If they'd have carried me out of the ring on a stretcher it wouldn't have mattered as long as I had that championship."

His life will change and maybe already has, given Top Rank's plans of showcasing him later this year in an HBO fight. In addition, Adams is weighing the financial benefits of defending his title against another fighter with some drawing power, Danny Romero.

At 25 years old and with 45 fights under his belt, Adams has ascended to the position he and every other fighter aspires: When people see him today they address him as "Hey, Champ."

It's a designation he acquired by outworking Garza and winning a fight in which he was a 5-1 underdog.

To many fans' amazement, Adams dominated the fight. He had Garza down in both the first and fifth rounds, plus he opened a cut near Garza's left eye in the third round.

When the judges' scores were tallied, Adams was up by 10 points on one card and by six points on the other two.

"After that first knockdown I knew he was getting back up, but I had his respect," Adams said. "It turns out I couldn't have asked for a better opponent. He was made for me, plus I don't think he was properly prepared."

Garza clearly was looking past Adams at the prefight press conference, mentioning bigger fights with men like Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Garza was also having some difficulty making 122 pounds, as he was seen the week of the fight in a sauna at a local hotel.

"I thought it would be a grueling fight, but I knew if I could hurt him early it would be different," Adams said. "There was no stopping me after the second knockdown. I wanted to keep going at him, so he wouldn't have any excuses.

"I thought the referee might even stop the fight in the seventh round when I hit him with about 14 straight clean shots."

Garza withstood that assault yet was unable to rally, and Adams coasted through the final round for a victory that forces onlookers to reevaluate his up-and-down career.

He's 39-3-3 but at least two of the losses merit an asterisk, as they were the result of injuries. As it now stands, he hasn't lost since 1994 when the third of his three consecutive losses left him reeling and his career in danger. Defeating Garza was no easy trick, given the former champion's record (38-2) and vaunted punching power (29 knockouts).

"It was a major win for me and I think I proved I'm stronger than what people thought," Adams said. "I've always had power but I haven't always gone for the knockout. This fight here, I may not have knocked him out but I took everything out of him."

He broke his hand (between his wrist and his knuckles) in the eighth round, although the mishap didn't appear to overly affect him.

After the injury heals Adams may be tempted by his promoter to fight Romero, although he doesn't feel it's something he has to do. The reason: Adams got his fight with Garza simply because Romero (who was being offered $80,000) turned it down.

"In a way I want to fight him and in a way I don't," Adams said. "If he didn't want to fight Garza it would be stupid for him to fight me.

"Secondly, I don't know if I want to give him the privilege of fighting for a world championship. It doesn't seem right that he thinks he can get a title fight whenever he wants.

"The way I look at it, when you get the opportunity you'd better take it."

When Adams saw his opportunity, he seized it and produced.

"I took advantage of what was presented to me," he said. "I used the chance I got to shock a few people and prove my ability. It seems like I waited a long time, but now I know how it feels to be a world champion."

* CORRALES READY: Looking fit and flashing a bright smile, Diego Corrales said Wednesday that he's right on schedule and ready for his title defense against Derrick Gainer March 18 at the MGM Grand Garden.

Corrales, the International Boxing Federation champion at 130 pounds, will be making his second title defense. He took the belt from Robert Garcia with a stunning seventh-round knockout last October, then defended it against John Brown in December.

He's 30-0 with 24 KOs and is regarded as one of the sport's potential superstars.

"I'm putting in the same hard work for this fight that I always do," Corrales said. "There might be someone out there who might have my number, but one thing I do know is that talent alone doesn't always get you over the hump.

"You have to do the work."

Corrales said he's now at 134 pounds and in perfect health.

While many view his opponent, Gainer, as a scrappy southpaw with limited abilities, Corrales is taking nothing for granted. That said, he's as confident for this fight as he was for the one with Garcia.

"Have you ever seen me have a problem with a southpaw?" Corrales asked, rhetorically. "Beating Garcia didn't change my outlook on anything. I'm still a happy kid who knows if he puts his mind to something he can probably get it done."

Lanky and still only 22 years old, Corrales is accustomed to fielding questions about his weight and how he may be forced to a higher weight class. He said he'll stay at 130 "as long as I can, although I suspect I'm going to grow sideways at some point."

But with a solid group of fighters at 130, including Floyd Mayweather, it has to be to Corrales' financial advantage to stay where he's at for a while. Mayweather, for instance, co-headlines the March 18 card as he fights Goyo Vargas, and it's not inconceivable the winners of each fight will meet.

* LA STORY: Promoter Bob Arum said Wednesday that the June 17 fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley will go to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, but only if California governor Gray Davis grants the promotion a tax waiver.

"I'm waiting for the governor to call," Arum said. "Everything's going good and the fight will go to LA, but only if the governor will cap the taxes at $50,000."

If Davis declines, the fight will come to Las Vegas and be held at either Mandalay Bay or the Thomas & Mack Center.

* QUICK HITS: Heavyweight George Linberger, 18-5-1 and once a member of the now-defunct Las Vegas Sting of the Arena Football League, after losing to Butterbean Esch at 19 seconds of the first round of their fight last Saturday at Mandalay Bay: "I've lost to Butterbean. I'm finished." ... The sexual-assault trial of heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi in district court has been pushed back to March 30, reportedly to allow for the possibility of a pre-trial plea agreement. ... The scheduled world title fight between Julio Gamboa and Felix Machado was not held last Friday at Caesars Palace as had been planned, as both men had visa troubles. They were to meet for the IBF junior bantamweight title that Mark Johnson may not be able to defend.

The Orleans has its March 17 lineup falling into place and will offer featherweights Edson Nascimento (36-0) and Jose Luis Baltazar (28-16-1) in its main event. Freddie Neal (14-0-1) and Sandro Marcos (20-5) are paired in the semi-main event at 130 pounds, while Rene Arostegui (23-1) and Randy Stevens (34-6) will fight at 160. Three other fights are scheduled. ... Las Vegas featherweight Steve Forbes jumps up in class to face Alejandro Gonzalez Saturday in Indio, Calif. Forbes is a slightly untested 14-0, while Gonzalez is 41-4 and is a former world champion. ... Mike Tyson's next fight, likely against Lou Savarese, has been delayed to a still-undetermined date in May. The bout is set for Milan, Italy.

Harrah's in Laughlin has its April 1 main events in place, with heavyweight Obed Sullivan (34-6-1) taking on Jeff Lally (23-18-1) and light heavyweight Derrick Harmon (19-1) meeting Jerry Lee Williams (11-8-1). ... Local junior lightweight John Palaki, 22-1-1, is in training for a March 25 fight. Both his opponent and the site of the Top Rank-promoted card are still to be determined. ... Oddsmaker Herb Lambeck makes Naseem Hamed only a 4-1 favorite in his Saturday fight with Vuyani Bungu in London. Hamed is 33-0, Bungu 37-2.