Columnist Dean Juipe: Barrera-Morales III maybe as early as May

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Nov. 21, 2002 | 9:03 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.

Prior to last Saturday's doubleheader at Mandalay Bay, promoter Bob Arum said it was his desire to match the winners next spring and then have that winner go on to face featherweight kingpin Marco Antonio Barrera.

But the cable network HBO has different plans now that Erik Morales defeated Paulie Ayala and Guty Espadas upset Bones Adams, and it wants to make a Morales vs. Barrera fight without another one in between.

"I don't want to get into a confrontation or conflict with HBO," Arum said this week. "Not that Morales and Barrera still couldn't take interim fights, but if the money's there I can see them fighting each other next."

Morales and Barrera have already split a pair of fights, and Arum and Barrera's promoter, John Jackson, have already talked about No. 3. The target date is May 3.

"It takes two to tango," Arum said, "and right now things are still up in the air. I want to see what develops and it might take two or three weeks to sort out, but HBO is pressing for Morales vs. Barrera in May."

Arum's initial plan of matching last Saturday's winners was partially derailed by Adams' unanticipated loss. "If Bones had won, HBO may have seen a fight between him and Morales as more attractive than one between Espadas and Morales."

In both fights at Mandalay Bay, the man moving up in weight was the loser. Ayala couldn't handle Morales' size and reach, and Adams faltered as he too moved up a division to test the featherweight waters.

Arum thinks Ayala will return to the super bantamweight (122 pound) division.

"Paulie was outfought because he had no answer for Eric's physical advantages," Arum said. "I'd suggest he go back to 122, where he still has some very good fights available.

"People don't think there's much difference when you're only moving up four pounds, but four pounds is a greater percentage of Paulie's overall weight than it is when someone like Oscar De La Hoya moves up a division."

As a related addendum, Arum feels Roy Jones Jr. will get pulverized when he moves up from 175 to fight World Boxing Association heavyweight champion John Ruiz March 1 in Las Vegas.

"It won't even be competitive," Arum predicted. "Jones is going to get beat and get beat bad. It's ludicrous. How he's going to get in on Ruiz?"

"He was a decent opponent," McCullough said Wednesday, referring to Eremeev. "But I jumped on him right from the start. He had a cut over his right eye and one by his left eye, too, when his corner threw in the towel."

McCullough said he's feeling good about his prospects and might agree to fight Scott Harrison in February or March in the latter's native Scotland.

"I've got the rust off," McCullough said. "I threw 559 punches against Eremeev in less than four full rounds, and I'll come at Harrison the same way."

Also scheduled: Jairo Ramirez, 10-1, vs. Richard Barragan, 6-1-1, eight rounds, junior welterweights; Omran Awadi, 10-0, vs. Francis Royal, 7-7, six rounds, heavyweights; Cornelius Lock, 5-1, vs. Elias Mingucha, 3-1, six rounds, featherweights; Artur Petrosyan, 8-4-1, vs. Jose Juarez, 4-7-2, four rounds, junior lightweights; Bryon Tyson, 3-0, vs. Darren Hughes, 2-3, four rounds, junior middleweights; and Melinda Cooper, 5-0, vs. Rita Valentini, 2-1, four rounds, women, junior bantamweights.

Heavyweight David Tua, 41-3, has agreed to face Russell Chasteen, 19-5, as part of a Nov. 30 card in Atlantic City, after which a Tua vs. Hasim Rahman rematch supposedly will fall into place. ... That Nov. 30 Atlantic City card is offering eight heavyweights vying for $100,000 in a winner-take-all tournament as its main event. The first-round pairings were set this week and include: Tim Witherspoon, 51-11-1 vs. Paolo Vidoz, 11-1; Gerald Nobles, 20-0, vs. Maurice Harris, 19-12-2; Jeremy Williams, 39-4, vs. Anthony Thompson, 17-1; and Ray Austin, 17-3-1, vs. Derrick Jefferson, 26-2. Each fight is three rounds, with the winners advancing and all the fights will be held that night. ... No Boxing Notebook next week as the Sun does not publish on Thanksgiving.