No Bones about it: Adams may quit

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Nov. 21, 2002 | 9:02 a.m.

If Clarence "Bones" Adams sticks to his criteria, he may or may not ever fight again.

Disappointed in having lost a split decision to Guty Espadas in the primary undercard bout beneath the Erik Morales vs. Paulie Ayala main event last Saturday at Mandalay Bay, Adams said this week that retiring from the sport is a possibility. In fact it may be forced on him, given the salary demands he expressed.

"My purse was $50,000 (for the fight with Espadas) but that means it's really only $30,000 to me and that's before Uncle Sam," Adams said from his home in Las Vegas. "One thing's for sure: I'm not (expletive) fighting again for $30,000.

"I don't necessarily have to fight again and I'm not going to keep doing it for nothing. I've made enough money in boxing that I can walk away from it."

But Adams, who is 41-6-3, has now lost three straight fights and could find that he has priced himself out of the game. A possibility, purely based on conjecture, is that he could get in excess of $50,000 to go to England and take on fellow featherweight Naseem Hamed, but few other options exist that would meet his financial demands.

Had he beaten Espadas, as had been expected, he would have been in line for a greater payday and perhaps matched with Morales or Ayala. But Adams failed to get the judges' favor in a bout that went to the cards and was scored 115-114 and 115-113 for Espadas and 115-113 for him.

"I don't think I lost," Adams said. "I know it wasn't a top performance and that I can fight a helluva lot better than that, but I thought I deserved at least a draw."

Like a pitcher who leaves his good stuff in the bullpen, in retrospect Adams says he felt he peaked a little too early.

"I spent too much time in camp," he said of his 12-week stay at Big Bear, Calif. "Maybe I trained a little bit too much. I thought I looked great (the week before the fight), but when I had trouble getting started I was concerned.

"I felt stronger as the fight went on, but it took me awhile to get going."

He also said "I fought the wrong fight" and that he wasn't following his corner's instructions.

But promoter Bob Arum, who handles Adams, feels wear and tear may be coming into play. Adams is only 28 years old, but he made his professional debut at 15.

"I've got to sit down with Bones and (manager) James Prince and see what we can do, but I wonder if Bones still has his legs," Arum said. "He's not old, but he's been fighting a long time."

Should Adams choose to continue, it will have to be as a featherweight as Arum said moving to junior lightweight is out of the question. "Those guys are monstrous," he said of the class at 130.

But Adams had trouble making 126 and has battled weight issues for several years.

"Making 126 is still kind of hard," he said. "I was 138 by the time I stepped into the ring.

"I don't know if going to 130 would be the right thing to do, but it's a possible answer."

He is, he says, open to suggestion.

"I know I can still fight if I want to," he said. "I'll wait a little while and see what kind of fights get thrown my way, and then make a decision."