Columnist Dean Juipe: Tonya finds her niche in boxing

Dean Juipe

Friday, March 15, 2002 | 10:19 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

With debts piled high and her rent well overdue, Tonya Harding has been searching for a way to make money.

As a disgraced figure skating queen with a conspiracy conviction on her record, finding a steady income hasn't been easy. But she seems adaptable if the right scheme comes along.

A variation of "Nudes on Ice" wasn't it, although that concept was floated in Las Vegas and apparently had Harding's approval. At the very least it would have been marginally successful if not hilarious for the short term, although there was a belief that it couldn't handle a long run.

But Harding needn't worry, or wouldn't need to worry if I were her manager.

As she demonstrated this week on national TV, she has a future in professional boxing.

Competing in the debut installment of "Celebrity Boxing," Harding showed not so much that she is a great fighter but that she has the proper instincts. She's gritty, rugged and just feisty enough to rumble her way past the vast majority of female fighters that are out there.

Better yet, Harding's "white trash" imagery translates well in boxing and would all but immediately make her a cash cow. In short, she has all the requisite ingredients that it takes to make at least a small fortune in the sport.

Matched against the squeamish Paula Jones, whose claim to fame is accusing Bill Clinton of an improper sexual advance, Harding was in easy. Jones didn't belong in the ring and didn't want to be there after getting smacked in the face once or twice, and she continually shied away from any confrontation. If the referee hadn't been oblivious to the spirit of the rules -- which call for an immediate end to a fight when one of the participants turns away from his or her opponent -- he would have stopped the bout earlier than he did.

Jones was cowering in a corner when the end came in the third round. It was clear her fighting days were over.

But Harding, even at the age of 31, can make a career of this if she's so inclined. She's solid, even a little stocky, and a much better athlete than most women who enter the sport.

I guarantee you that every major boxing promoter would sign her to a contract.

As it is, they're scrounging for females who can fight, as almost every card these days has one women's bout. And, even in Las Vegas where you might expect better, the quality of these fights is almost always terrible. Typically, the girls flail at one another, rarely connect with any meaningful blows, and remind those on hand that women's boxing is years if not decades away from being truly interesting.

Harding could capitalize on this drought and do it with very little training.

In all probability, she would be at ease in the ring even without the overly protective headgear that the celebrity boxers were asked to wear. Like her or not, Harding -- who was banned for life by the U.S. Figure Skating Association in 1994 for her part in the bungled assault on Nancy Kerrigan -- is a tough gal with an ability to draw attention to herself.

Boxing, in that it would provide her with some badly needed cash while keeping her in the limelight, is clearly the solution to her problems.