Thursday, Jan. 25, 2001 | 11:24 a.m.
Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.
It has long been established that losing to either Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Diego Corrales is no disgrace.
Justin Juuko of Las Vegas has lost championship fights to both of them.
Yet Juuko is back in the mix as a title contender at 130 pounds after a key victory Sunday in San Antonio over Antonio Ramirez in a fight that was nationally televised by the Fox Sports Net.
With World Boxing Association junior lightweight champ Joel Casamayor in the audience and looking on, Juuko stopped Ramirez in the ninth round to position himself for a fight with Casamayor. Each man is promoted by America Presents and a Juuko vs. Casamayor bout could fall into place shortly, particularly if a Casamayor vs. Acelino Freitas showdown becomes difficult to sign.
"We're with the same company, so I'm definitely interested," Juuko said of taking on Casamayor.
Juuko, 28, improved his record to 35-4-1 with 26 knockouts by wearing down Ramirez, 17-3-4, and stopping him in the ninth round of a fight scheduled for 12 with a minor title at stake.
Ramirez, 29, was down in the fifth round and then bludgeoned by a strong right hand in the ninth that sent him to the seat of his pants and prompted his corner to throw in the towel. The end came at the 2:45 mark when referee Jerry McKenzie was forced to intervene.
"I'm a professional," Juuko said, referring, in part, to having been scheduled to fight two weeks ago in Las Vegas before having his fight and opponent switched. "This was a great tune-up for me and I thought I could take him out when the time was right.
"I knew he was weakening. He was a strong guy, but if I hit a guy clean, he's going to go."
It was Juuko's first fight in seven months and had him thinking not only about Casamayor but about a possible rematch with Mayweather.
"He's the one I really want to fight again," Juuko said. "I know how to fight him."
Among the newly arranged fights added to the schedule: Shane Mosley vs. Shannon Taylor, March 10 at Caesars Palace; David Tua vs. Danell Nicholson, March 23 at Texas Station; Oscar De La Hoya vs. Arturo Gatti, March 24 at the MGM; and Prince Naseem Hamed vs. Marco Antonio Barrera, April 7 at the MGM.
Also, Las Vegas remains in the running for an April 21 fight between WBC and IBF heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis and Hasim Rahman.
In addition, Laughlin has picked up a fight of some significance in that IBF junior lightweight champion Steve Forbes of Las Vegas will make his first title defense when he takes on ex-champ Roberto Garcia. That bout is on for April 1.
Add in fights that have been set for some time, such as the Feb. 3 unification bout at Mandalay Bay between junior welterweight champs Kostya Tszyu and Sharmba Mitchell, the Feb. 17 title doubleheader at the MGM that has Erik Morales and Guty Espadas in the featherweight main event, and the March 3 heavyweight title fight at Mandalay Bay between Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz, and the city is in for a constant selection of boxing for at least three months.
Mosley, 36-0, vs. Taylor, 28-0-1, was formally announced this week for Caesars and will have Mosley defending his WBC welterweight title against the No. 2-ranked contender.
Tua, 37-2, vs. Nicholson, 39-3, was put together and tabbed for March 23 at Texas Station, with Tua fighting for the first time since his November loss to Lewis.
De La Hoya, 32-2, vs. Gatti, 33-4, was slipped into HBO's schedule when the former champion implored the cable network to find a spot for him in March. That fight has not yet been formally announced but it appears to be a go.
Hamed, 35-0, vs. Barrera, 51-3, was announced in London earlier this week and prompted Hamed to say "This fight has been on the horizon for four years. The name in the background has always been Barrera, Barrera, Barrera. The time has come and the winner will leave his name in the featherweight division for a long, long time.
"This is a career-defining fight. One of us will get knocked out, I can tell you that. God willing, I feel I have the strength to knock out Barrera in style."
Crayton is 31-14-7 with 19 knockouts, while Zepeda is 25-5-2 with 20 KOs. They're scheduled for eight rounds.
In another eight-round fight, William Abelyan, 18-4-1, meets Adarryl Johnson, 13-7-2, at 130 pounds. Three other fights are scheduled for a show that opens at 7 p.m.
One-time Las Vegan Jimmy Thunder, now 34 years old and on the way down with a 34-11 record, has signed to face WBC cruiserweight champ Juan Carlos Gomez, who is 33-0 and apparently moving up to the heavyweight division. They'll fight Feb. 24 in Hamburg, Germany. ... Paramount has purchased the rights for a movie on the life of Jackie Kallen, a Michigan-based manager of fighters who was in Las Vegas last week and is best known for once guiding James Toney's career. Meg Ryan will play Kallen in the movie, which will be directed by Charles Dutton. ... Haven't heard the name of Butterbean Esch for a while? "He's looking for fights but I think we'll have to scale him down," Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler said. "He's been making good money fighting on De La Hoya's cards, but now that we're not doing that anymore we'll try to see if ESPN is interested."
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