Reid’s stock falling despite victory

Dean Juipe

Monday, April 2, 2001 | 10:52 a.m.

David Reid is a pleasant man who has had a fine career in boxing.

An Olympic gold medalist in 1996, Reid signed a lucrative contract with the promotional firm America Presents and went on to became the World Boxing Association junior middleweight champ.

He's still only 27 but Reid, as was obvious Sunday at the Hard Rock, is best viewed in past tense. He is not nearly the quick, accurate puncher he was in his heyday and his career is clearly rushing toward an end.

Looking standoffish, Reid went the 10-round distance in gaining a decision win over an opponent he would have mauled a few years ago. Instead, he shrugged and accepted the victory over journeyman Urbano Gurrola in a fight that drew boos from the dissatisfied crowd.

"I need more fights like this," Reid said, completely in error.

With Fox Sports Net not only televising the fight live but replaying it several times in the next few weeks, Reid's deterioation will be on display more than he cares to admit. No one in the live audience was impressed, and the significance is that Reid himself had said he needed an impressive knockout victory to reestablish his sagging credentials.

"I am not going to go out and just get myself killed in the sport of boxing," Reid added in another misdirected statement, given that he might now be easy prey for any of the major contenders at 160 pounds. Yes, he's 16-1, but there are only seven knockouts on his resume and he hasn't flattened anyone in eight fights, or since facing Simon Brown in June of 1998.

"He moved a lot," Reid said, complaining that Gurrola preferred to remain evasive rather than trade punches in the middle of the ring. "It kind of upset me, but that's the way he fights."

Based on tapes of Gurrola, Reid and his training staff -- which no longer includes Al Mitchell as his chief cornerman -- were counting on Gurrola making a fight of it. When the Mexican refused to even consider being aggressive, the bout settled into an easy-to-score rut.

Judges Dalby Shirley and Dave Moretti saw it 98-91 for Reid, with Art Lurie calling it 97-92. The Sun had it 97-92 as well.

Reid received $25,000 for the fight, while Gurrola took home $10,000 and saw his record dip to 18-8.

There were no knockdowns and few close calls as Reid failed to erase the memory of his most recent fight, a tough brawl with another journeyman -- Kirino Garcia -- that many thought the favorite had lost. The fight with Gurrola was similar only in that Reid failed to achieve his goals.

In the televised semi-main event, Paea Wolfgramm came off the mat in the first round to hammer fellow heavyweight Jimmy Thunder and take a technical decision in a bloodbath that was halted after seven of the 10 scheduled rounds on account of an unintentional head butt. Wolfgramm, 20-3, rebounded from the early knockdown to dominate Thunder, a Las Vegas resident who drops to 35-12.

Each man was paid $10,000.