Columnist Dean Juipe: McClain loves role of boxer-turned-promoter

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Dec. 20, 2001 | 9:37 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.

Johnny McClain sees his emergence as a promoter as a natural development and simply another step in a varied and intriguing life.

Once a cruiserweight fighter of some repute, McClain has moved back to Las Vegas after an 11-year absence and will begin promoting fight cards at the C2K nightclub in the Venetian Resort hotel-casino on the Strip. His first card is Jan. 13.

"I've been a hustler all my life," McClain said this week at the Nevada Partners Gym, where he was checking out the talent. "I always welcome the challenge.

"It's an opportunity to do what I love."

McClain is recalled locally for his fighting career, which included a couple of minor titles, and is known nationally for his marriage and promotional arrangement with his wife, Laila Ali.

The pair will also open a boxing and aerobics gym next month in a shopping center at 6280 S. Pecos Road.

"The city can always use another gym, and there hasn't been anything on that side of town since the World Gym closed," McClain said. "It'll be for members only and will include personal trainers.

"We have an option on the business next to it, so there are expansion possibilities.

"We're looking forward to it."

The gym, to be called Absoloot Boxing & Fitness, opens Jan. 15 and will have a daily five-hour block of time reserved for boxers. For those interested in mixing boxing with aerobics, a soon-to-be-released instructional video by Laila Ali will provide guidance.

McClain, 34, also has a stable of fighters under contract, including Fitz Vanderpool of Trinidad & Tobago -- who is ranked No. 3 by the WBC at 154 pounds -- and Charles Whitaker, a welterweight who will headline the debut card at C2K.

"I'm signing more and more fighters," McClain said.

As for his promotional duties, McClain may have only recently become licensed in Nevada but he has been doing cards elsewhere, including Los Angeles, where he has lived in recent years.

"I ended up getting involved with other people's promotions and I actually was catching the headaches that promoters take, so I decided I might as well do my own shows," he said. "My pet peeve is that I demand that everything goes just the way it should."

Once an aspiring actor who had a theatrical agent, McClain said the chance to do regular boxing cards in Las Vegas has a great appeal to him.

"All my life I've been told what I can't do, and that just feeds my fire," he said. "I'm around now to doing what I've always wanted to do.

"If people want to call me an opportunist, that's fine. Maybe my wife's name has opened a couple of doors for me, but I'm driving the hell out of it.

"I'm righteous and I'm going to pay fighters what they're worth. I have empathy for them because I went through so much when I was fighting."

Harmon will have the picture of a missing child, Jaquilla Scales of Wichita, Kan., on his trunks as part of a recently launched campaign sponsored by the Missing Children Help Center of Tampa, Fla.

Scales, 4, has been missing since disappearing from her bedroom on Sept. 5.

"This is great exposure for a child to be seen on a national level," said Ivana DiNova, the founder and director of the Help Center. "I know the law enforcement agency is very happy for the opportunity and so are we."

This is the third time Harmon has stepped forward to assist in this manner.

As for his fight, Harmon will put his 20-2 record up against Demetrius Jenkins, who is 20-6-1, in a 12-round fight for a minor title. That bout, plus Antwun Echols vs. Lawrence Chapman at 168 pounds, will be televised by ESPN2.

Wayne McCullough vs. Alvin Brown was dropped from a Wednesday card in Oroville, Calif., and will, instead, be part of the Jan. 12 card at the Cox Pavilion. ... Winky Wright vs. Jason Papillion is now part of the Feb. 2 Roy Jones Jr. card in Miami. ... HBO claims its telecast of last Saturday's draw between WBA heavyweight champ John Ruiz and challenger Evander Holyfield from Connecticut drew 3.4 million viewers and a 10.6 rating, making it the best watched cable fight of 2001. ... Bones Adams is a minus 130 favorite and Paulie Ayala is even money in the Mandalay Bay sports book for their Feb. 23 fight at that casino. It's a minus 250 that the fight will go its 12 scheduled rounds and a plus 210 that it will not. ... Marco Antonio Barrera has been bet down to a minus 200 favorite and Erik Morales is a plus 170 for their March 2 fight at the MGM.