Columnist Dean Juipe: Forbes sees bout as pivotal

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Sept. 27, 2001 | 11:09 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.

Fighting for the first time as a reigning champion, Steve Forbes comes into his Saturday fight with John Brown in Miami looking to remind boxing fans that he's a significant factor in the junior lightweight division.

Forbes, of Las Vegas, holds the International Boxing Federation title at 130 pounds yet admits he has been overlooked in the public eye.

"I wouldn't say I get no respect, but I sure don't get much," Forbes said of a division that also includes Floyd Mayweather Jr., Joel Casamayor and Acelino Freitas among others. "When compared to the other world champions, I'm sort of the forgotten guy.

"Hopefully I can change all of that."

The Showtime cable network will televise Forbes' fight with Brown, which is a rematch of a Dec. 3 fight at the same site in which Forbes won by eighth-round TKO when Brown was injured and unable to continue. Also on the card are separate fights featuring Casamayor and Freitas.

"I hope to fight all the champions some day," Forbes said. "Although I'm ready for them, I need to get my name out there. I may need a few more fights so that people get to know me better."

Forbes, 24, is 19-1 with five knockouts and was forced into a rematch with Brown by edict of the IBF. An interim fight, scheduled for April 22 in California with fellow Las Vegan Justin Juuko, was a lost cause for Forbes when he was forced to withdraw due to a back injury.

"The layoff got me a little frustrated and depressed," Forbes said of being off for almost 10 months. "Now I'm ready to go. We've been working on a few things to take Brown out of his game plan.

"I'm going to be hitting and moving. He's not going to be able to catch up."

Floyd Mayweather Sr. is now serving as Forbes' trainer.

Known for his great quickness, Forbes wants to fight Brown differently than he did the first time.

"That was one of the roughest fights I ever had," he said. "I thought I had to get his respect, so I fought him on the inside. I was saving the right hand for no reason, but once I threw it I knew it would land.

"But I know I can box better than that."

Forbes' loss came at the hands of Alejandro Gonzalez by majority decision last year in California.

"The decision was wrong," he said of the judges' verdict that night. "Gonzalez was the 'known' fighter at the time and I was not. That may have had a lot to do with it."

Brown, 33, is 23-8 with 11 KOs and has faced a number of quality fighters in recent years, with his best wins coming against Gabe Ruelas and Robbie Peden. He has fought and lost to Calvin Grove, Harold Warren, Jesus Chavez, Angel Manfredy, Shane Mosley and Diego Corrales.

Brown, who suffered a punctured eardrum in his loss to Forbes, has fought once this year, handling Carlos Rocha in four rounds last April in New York.

Headlining are Robert Davis and Monte Barrett in a 10-round bout that has the unusual distinction of matching fighters with identical records. Each man is 25-2 with 15 knockouts.

Also scheduled: David Defiagbon, 15-0, vs. Reynaldo Minus, 16-8, eight rounds; Paolo Vidoz, 5-0, vs. Ronald Copeland, 7-0, six rounds; Jean Bergeron, 10-0, vs. Willie Palms, 9-0, six rounds; Todd Diggs, 4-2-3, vs. Taurus Sykes, 14-1, six rounds; Samuel Peter, 4-0, vs. Giles Knox, 4-0-1, four rounds; and Jason Heit, 1-0, vs. Kevin Gilchrist, 3-6, four rounds. First bell is 6 p.m.