Columnist Dean Juipe: Local fight figure marketing documentary to cable network

Dean Juipe

Thursday, July 26, 2001 | 9:25 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.

Jacob Duran is a fairly well-known figure in the local boxing community, working as a cut man and guidance counselor for a number of up-and-coming fighters.

He has an admirable sincerity and congeniality that makes him, at the age of 49, an easy man to like.

He also has been working with a talented director, John Barnthouse, on a project that proved to be riveting when it was reviewed this week.

Entitled "Boxer's Nightmare," Duran and Barnthouse are all but finished with a documentary on the sport that has a number of spellbinding qualities. They hope and anticipate the cable network HBO is equally appreciative and that it will purchase the rights to the film.

"Obviously, everyone's waiting to see the finished product," Duran said. "Until people see it, they look at me and John and they just don't know what to expect."

As we decided while discussing the project, there's a "credibility bridge" that Duran and Barnthouse need to cross to reach a powerful network such as HBO. But given the surprising depth, intensity and focus of their effort, chances are good that HBO will reciprocate.

"The doors have been opened," Duran said. "This documentary is designed for HBO and my job now is to market it to them with a zero budget."

With Duran compiling information from a survey of local boxers, as well as handling an array of taped interviews with fighters, doctors, promoters and similar personnel, there was a wealth of material to choose from while making the film. And Barnthouse, 26, who works full time at The Visual Effects Company, has contributed an amazingly smooth and professional touch in his role as the film's director.

"There was a time I didn't know anything about boxing," he said. "But now I've been brought into the inner circle. The year and a half we've spent on this has been educational and a real learning tool.

"I think the people that see it and the fighters themselves will agree."

Running just more than an hour in its present form, "Boxer's Nightmare" addresses a number of pertinent issues that fighters at all levels of the game must confront. Anything that would benefit a fighter -- from nutritional needs, to training practices to contractual assistance -- is frankly examined by the documentary's all-star cast.

Of particular interest were physicians Dr. Margaret Goodman and Dr. Flip Homansky of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. In one segment, Goodman is shown communicating with veteran fighter Jose Luis Lopez before a recent bout and advising him to take Tylenol -- and not aspirin, because it thins out blood -- if he felt the need.

It was the type of informational tidbit that accentuates the film's reliability. (Goodman and Homansky also co-wrote a newly published book, "Ringside & Training Principles," that is deservedly plugged during the documentary.)

Fans are also apt to be enlightened by the musings of former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, who does his best to explain the dark side of the sport.

"I've been screwed out of hundreds of millions of dollars," Tyson says during one of his sequences. "They steal our souls."

Through it all, however, is the sense that boxing has something worthwhile to offer its participants and that changes within the industry -- especially here in Nevada -- will make the sport a more positive experience for fighters and fans alike.

For instance, NSAC executive director Marc Ratner is shown calling for a standardized contract between fighters and managers, while former referee (and current promoter) Mills Lane lobbies for a common sense approach that stresses the need for fighters to always stay at or near their ring weight.

Referee Joe Cortez, trainers Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Emanuel Steward, and former junior middleweight world champion Fernando Vargas also have provocative pieces in the film, which opens and casually follows the daily routine of a relatively nondescript local fighter, Raul Galvan. (The latter was chosen to symbolize how demanding, and unrewarding, the sport can be on a day-to-day basis.)

"Boxing needs to change, we all know that," Duran said. "The purpose of our documentary is to get the issues out there so that fighters and other people can see what a boxer goes through.

"I'm in the trenches and I know what the hardships are because they've happened to me and others. We're talking about issues of health and safety."

As an aside, one of those issues -- the matter of initiating a pension fund for fighters -- could benefit if HBO buys the film. Duran said he would be willing to begin such a fund in HBO's name with any profits from the documentary that might come his way.

* QUICK HITS: The Hasim Rahman vs. Lennox Lewis heavyweight rematch is being targeted for Nov. 10 in Las Vegas. ... A fight between local featherweight Augie Sanchez, 28-2, and NABF champ Robbie Peden, 19-1, has been added to the Aug. 18 Chris Byrd vs. David Tua card at the Cox Pavilion. ... Tua was a minus 600 and Byrd a plus 400 Wednesday at the Las Vegas Hilton. ...The Hilton also had Evander Holyfield at a minus 140 and John Ruiz even for their Aug. 4 WBA heavyweight title fight in Beijing. ... Heavyweight Michael Grant needs surgery to repair a ligament in the ankle he injured while losing in the opening round to Jameel McCline last Saturday at Caesars Palace.

Kenny Bayless has been selected to referee the Aug. 4 fight at Mandalay Bay between heavyweights Wladimir Klitschko and Charles Shufford. Patricia Jarman-Manning, Paul Smith and Mike Gliena (of Illinois) will judge. That same night, Joe Cortez will referee the Bones Adams vs. Paulie Ayala super bantamweight fight, with Duane Ford, Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld (of New Jersey) judging. ... The new rankings for USA Boxing are out and one local amateur is listed, as Jesse Feliciano is No. 9 at 139 pounds. Feliciano trains at the A-T Gym in North Las Vegas under Alfonso Parisani.