Columnist Dean Juipe: Not exactly 2 of a kind

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000 | 10:23 a.m.

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

Ronnie Shields, who trains David Tua, makes it a point to say Lennox Lewis has never faced a man like Tua.

But Emanuel Steward, who trains Lewis, counters with a similar argument that is at least as convincing as the one offered by Shields.

"David Tua is stepping out of his league," Steward said Wednesday during a conference call with the trainers promoting the Lewis vs. Tua heavyweight title fight Nov. 11 at Mandalay Bay. "This is a 'super' fight and it's not like anything Tua has experienced.

"The class of guys he has fought in the last year definitely are not in the same class as Lennox Lewis. Obed Sullivan, Gary Bell, guys like that, didn't prepare Tua for Lewis.

"If he thinks he's prepared, he's mistaken."

Tua has been fighting some softies in 1999 and 2000, and he has taken sufficient advantage to have landed a fight with the WBC and IBF champion. Yet none of his four bouts in that time span went past the third round, and Lewis figures to be there for Round 4 and maybe thereafter.

"Most of Tua's fights end with him gradually wearing down the other guy," Steward said. "But that won't happen with Lennox. I think he has to be considered along with George Foreman and Sonny Liston as three of the strongest men in the heavyweight division in the last 50 years."

Shields would add Tua's name to that list.

"Lewis has never fought anybody, anybody, as strong as David," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if Lewis comes back to his corner after the first or second round and tells Emanuel 'This guy is stronger than what we prepared for.' "

But Steward says they are prepared for a very strong opponent and realizes the challenge at hand.

"Tua is the most dangerous guy Lennox has fought," Steward agreed. "He's going to force the fight and force Lennox into some explosive situations.

"I have a lot of fear and respect for David Tua. I have apprehensions. He has an unbelievably durable chin; he's never been stopped, staggered, knocked down or cut.

"But the strategy he's going to use is one Lennox has seen from 98 percent of his opponents and it's not that simple. There's a price to pay (for crowding Lewis). He can punch with both hands."

Lewis, 35, is 37-1-1 with 29 knockouts and has been a world champion since 1997.

Tua, 28, is 37-1 with 32 KOs.

They'll meet on a pay-per-view card that includes three other bouts: Ivan Robinson vs. James Leija; Ben Tackie vs. John Molina; and Lawrence Clay-Bey vs. Clifford Etienne.

The main event pits a long-standing champion on a hot streak against an eager, younger man who has been waiting for this moment for at least two or three years, or since moving toward the top of the division's rankings.

"We're going to make Lewis punch," Shields said. "He'll be able to do it for a few rounds, but he won't be able to keep David off him.

"You look at Lewis' past fights, he never has knockouts after six or seven rounds. That's when David is just getting started. By the middle of the fight Lewis will be getting tired, but that's when David gets a second wind."

Tua is training at the Prince Ranch in the foothills of Mt. Charleston, although the camp has rolled in the welcome mats to some extent after entertaining every journalist and visitor who requested an audience with the affable Samoan.

"We had to," Shields said. "All of a sudden, everyone was calling. It became a distraction. This is a big fight for David and he didn't want to lose his focus.

"But don't get me wrong, he loves all the attention."

Lewis is training in the Poconos in Pennsylvania.

"I'm very, very happy with the way things are going," Steward said. "Lennox is focusing on speed now. Earlier it was balance.

"When I first got involved with him I thought there was a chance he could be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Now he has the confidence to make that happen.

"He's actually improving a lot."

Interestingly, Steward admitted that he and Lewis want to make a statement with this fight. And that statement is to jostle Mike Tyson into a put-up or shut-up position pertaining to the possibility of a Lewis vs. Tyson fight next year.

"Lennox wants an impressive knockout," Steward said. "We're trying to force (Tyson) into a fight and the only way to do it is with a solid knockout."

He added that if they fight, Lewis would win.

"I think Lennox would knock out Mike," Steward said. "Tyson has digressed and he has zero wins against top fighters in recent years."

But Tua is up first and that's a fight neither Steward nor Lewis can afford to look past.

"David is very intense right now," Shields said. "He wants to show people he belongs with the best. He's stronger mentally than he's ever been. In his mind right now, no one in the world can beat him.

"When you're mentally strong, that's a hard person to deal with."

Shields has been in the opposing corner across from Lewis in an earlier fight, as he once worked with Andrew Golota. But that bout ended in one round with Golota counted out.

"Ronnie will have Tua prepared, we know that," Steward said. "But Lennox is physically very big and physically very strong and he fights tall. I think height is going to be a big factor and Tua is going to have second thoughts after he gets hit."

Lewis stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 240 pounds. Tua is a squat 5-10 and will weigh anywhere from 230 to 250, a weight that Steward says is "too much" for a man with that frame.

He also says Lewis has been getting "better sparring" than Tua because the latter's camp doesn't have anyone as imposing as the champion.

Steward's prefight summation includes a belief that both men will come out fast, each intending to send a message to the other.

"Lennox has to come out and establish respect by showing his punching power right away," Steward said. "But both these guys are coming to fight.

"I guess my belief that Lewis has a good chin will be put to the test."

The Rebels will provide five fighters to the show, although head coach Skip Kelp was unable to find any takers when it came to matching defending national champion Manny Libatique.

"No one wants to fight him this early in the season," Kelp lamented. "You'd think someone out there would want to fight him, but it hasn't happened. It's too bad because we're here to fight."

When the shoe was on the other foot last week at Nevada-Reno, Kelp inserted a freshman -- Zenon Mallari -- into a fight with a national champion at 112 pounds. Mallari didn't win, but, as Kelp said, "he's better off for it."

Representing UNLV at Palace Station will be Joey Song, Jose Gonzalez Jr., Dave Lamarca, Chris Kennedy and Louis Ohiaeri.

They'll take on opponents from schools such as Air Force, California, Reno and Penn State.

Tickets are $20 and $10, with UNLV students admitted for $5. First bell is 7 p.m.

Roy Jones is expected to re-sign with HBO and take a Jan. 20 fight in Tampa. A Derrick Gainer vs. Victor Polo featherweight title fight will lend support. ... A Tim Austin (IBF) vs. Paulie Ayala (WBA) bantamweight unification title fight appears closer to coming to fruition. ... Scheduled and postponed six times, Virgil Hill vs. Fabrice Tiozzo is back on for Dec. 9 at a site to be determined. ... Cheryl McCullough called from Ireland to report on her husband Wayne's medical condition. Diagnosed with a cyst on the brain and pulled from a scheduled fight with Sandor Koczak in Belfast last Friday, Wayne McCullough's boxing career may be over. The McCulloughs, however, are waiting for further and more conclusive tests to be conducted. They're due back in Las Vegas Sunday. ... Robert Benson, a featherweight who fought under the name Bobby Tomasello, died Wednesday in Boston after lapsing into a coma following a Friday fight on ESPN2. Benson, 14-0-1, fought to a 10-round draw with Steve Potse before losing consciousness.

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