Columnist Dean Juipe: Sanchez thinking of becoming a fireman after scary first-round knockout in Calif.

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Jan. 10, 2002 | 11:30 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.

His mind isn't completely made up, but it appears as if Augie Sanchez is retiring from boxing and will switch to an equally dangerous line of work.

"I'm looking at becoming a fireman," Sanchez said this week when asked about his plans in the aftermath of a frightening first-round knockout at the hands of John Michael Johnson. That fight, held Dec. 7 in Indio, Calif., was over within 31 seconds when Johnson landed a powerful overhand right that left Sanchez not only unconscious but unresponsive for a while.

"I know I scared my in-laws, my wife and my friends," Sanchez said, implying that the brief fight was of grave concern to those closest to him.

Had Sanchez won that fight, he would have been on Saturday's card at the Cox Pavilion that headlines Joel Casamayor vs. Acelino Freitas.

Instead, he's minding the store at Barry's Boxing Gym and weighing a revised future.

"I'm still thinking things over," he said. "I'm not totally leaving boxing out in the cold and I could get into another line of the boxing business.

"But being a fireman appeals to me and I'd like to try it."

As part of the requirements Sanchez must meet to be eligible for the Clark County Fire Department, he said he will either return and complete high school -- he left Cheyenne High in Las Vegas after the 11th grade -- or get his GED.

"I plan on going back to school," he said.

If his boxing career is over at the age of 24, Sanchez will finish with a 28-3 record that includes 25 knockouts. After barely missing a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in 1996, Sanchez -- part of a boxing family -- made a name for himself as a pro with an action-first style that sometimes worked to his detriment.

He gave Prince Naseem Hamed all he could handle before losing by fourth-round knockout in a 2000 fight that was something of a precursor to the Johnson bout in that Sanchez left the ring under alarming circumstances. While the ringside doctor and California Athletic Commission personnel object to this account of the circumstances, Sanchez appeared to be in a life-threatening situation after the knockout loss to Johnson and the immediate care he received was dubious at best.

"At least I won't be getting hit in the head anymore," he said of leaving boxing behind, although he may revise that view after he gets a closer look at fire fighting.

At Wednesday's meeting of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Joe Cortez was appointed referee for the Casamayor vs. Freitas bout, with Las Vegans Robert Byrd, Bill Graham and Dave Moretti named as judges.

Casamayor is a minus 140 betting favorite, with Freitas a plus 110.

"My plan is to hurt him and hurt him bad," Casamayor said after a recent workout. "There is no doubt I will win. He beats opponents quickly but my plan is to take him into the middle to late rounds."

Oscar De La Hoya will appear on ABC's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" TV show Jan. 14 and 17, with his winnings donated to his Youth Foundation. ... De La Hoya was in Las Vegas Tuesday and Wednesday, meeting with Top Rank's Bob Arum and Main Events' Gary Shaw and firming up his May 4 fight at Mandalay Bay with Fernando Vargas. It's a done deal. ... Former world champ Pernell Whitaker pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine in his native Virginia Beach, Va., but received only a year's probation that includes monthly drug tests. Whitaker had been caught with the drug while at the courthouse on another matter. ... Naseem Hamed returns March 23 from London on HBO against an opponent to be determined.