Thursday, Sept. 12, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
In sports gaming vernacular, John Brown is something of a live 'dog.
Brown, who meets hot prospect Miguel Cotto in a featured bout on Saturday's Oscar De La Hoya vs. Fernando Vargas card, has faced a succession of top-flight fighters in recent years.
Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses. But he always shows up to fight, and he figures to give the youthful Cotto a reasonably good test when they step into the ring at Mandalay Bay for a fight scheduled for 10 rounds at 140 pounds.
"I'm sure he knows he's in for a fight," Brown said in reference to his opponent, who is 10-0 with nine knockouts and is already billed as a future world champion if not potential star. "I'm the most experienced man he's ever fought."
Brown, 34, is 23-9 with 11 KOs while never being accused of ducking a fight. Among the contenders and champions he has faced are Juan Negron, Lamar Murphy, Calvin Grove, Lionel Butler, Harold Warren, Jesus Chavez, Lemuel Nelson, Angel Manfredy, Gabe Ruelas, Shane Mosley, Diego Corrales, Robbie Peden and Steve Forbes (twice).
Brown defeated Negron, Butler, Nelson, Peden, and, spectacularly with an eighth-round knockout in 1998, Ruelas.
A product of a dozen foster homes as he was growing up on the East Coast, Brown was within a busted eardrum of possibly beating Forbes for the vacant International Boxing Federation junior lightweight title when they first fought in 2000. That fight was stopped in the eighth round and ruled a TKO victory for Forbes, although Brown was ahead on two of the judges' cards.
He lost the 12-round rematch with Forbes in his most recent fight, last September.
"I've beaten a lot of guys and I'd like to beat Cotto," Brown said. "He knows I can fight and he knows I can rumble. And I don't think he can punch any harder than me."
That evaluation remains to be seen, of course, as Cotto, 21, is viewed as a big hitter with an array of talents. But the only notable victim on his ring resume is former lightweight contender Justin Juuko, who was stopped in the fifth round when they fought in June.
"This is a crossroads fight, as they like to say," said promoter Bob Arum. "We have a great veteran against a prospect, and in cases like these the prospect doesn't always win."
Yet Brown clearly realizes he's the underdog.
"I can't really say anything bad about Cotto," Brown remarked. "He's young and he's coming up and they want to see him progress.
"They're trying to move the kid up and this is a pretty big event with Oscar and Fernando, so people will be watching.
"But I'm going to do what I regularly do, which is fight from the heart and with guts. We're both human, so once we get in the ring nothing else matters."
Brown became available for this fight when one with Philip Ndou scheduled for Aug. 30 in New York fell through.
"This is a blessing," Brown said of the circumstances that led him to Cotto. "I'm in good condition and I'm ready for whatever he's got. I hear he's left-hook crazy, but I beat the best left hooker of all time in Ruelas."
Brown is also pleased to be fighting at 140 for the first time, after years of straining to make 130 and 135.
"I might have beat Forbes the second time if I hadn't been sick from having to make weight," he said of that fight, which lowered his record in championship bouts to 0-4 without damaging his reputation.
One card, to be televised by ESPN2, will be held in the South Pacific Ballroom at Mandalay Bay, while the other, to be televised by the Spanish-speaking network Telefutra, will be held at the Orleans.
"I understand it from a business standpoint," said Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Marc Ratner. "It gives the promoter a two-hour window on two different networks to promote Saturday's card (at Mandalay Bay)."
As for the difficulties in staffing, neither the NSAC nor Top Rank feels overburdened.
"We'll make it work," Ratner said of his crew. "And I'll go back and forth between the two."
Likewise, Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler down played the logistics of dueling events and in orchestrating separate cards that offer a total of 11 fights.
"We've got capable people working for us and everything's going smoothly," Trampler said. "Really, I'm getting lots of help and it hasn't been a problem. It might even be easier to have both cards in the same town."
Scheduled at Mandalay Bay: James Crayton, 33-15-2, vs. Julio Diaz, 24-2, 10 rounds, lightweights; Roque Cassiani, 20-9-1, vs. Justo Sencion, 19-1, 10 rounds, lightweights; Leroy Humphries, 3-4-2, vs. Calvin Brock, 10-0, six rounds, heavyweights; Daniel Almanza, 4-10, vs. Dmitriy Salita, 7-0, six rounds, junior welterweights; and Felipe Campa, 7-4-1, vs. Ronnie Longakit, 6-6-1, six rounds, junior welterweights. First bell is 5:15 p.m.
The Orleans card underwent some revision Wednesday when scheduled main event participant Martin Castillo dropped out due to an eye injury. The lineup now includes: Alberto Ontiveros, 18-4-5, vs. Jose Lopez, 25-7-1, 10 rounds, junior bantamweights; Jose Aguiniga, 15-0, vs. Julian Rodriguez, 13-5-1, 10 rounds, super bantamweights; Randy Suico, 17-0, vs. Juan Garcia, 7-6-2, eight rounds, junior lightweights; Marshall Martinez, 6-0, vs. Manuel Bocanezra, 7-3-1, six rounds, lightweights; Francisco Corrales, 8-1, vs. Martin Ramirez, 6-12-1, six rounds, junior welterweights; and Isidro Granados, pro debut, vs. Oliver Bodanos, 1-5-2, four rounds, super bantamweights. First bell is 5:30 p.m.
"This is a tremendous boxing weekend, maybe the most exciting one we've had in five or six years," Ratner said. "Plus the main event isn't just a West Coast fight or only of regional interest; it's just as big on an international level."
Joe Cortez will referee the De La Hoya vs. Vargas fight, with fellow Nevadans Doug Tucker, Patricia Jarman-Manning and Paul Smith serving as judges. ... The main event weigh-in will be Friday at 2 p.m. at Mandalay Bay and is open to the public. ... First bell Saturday is 5 p.m. and the main event is slated for approximately 8:15. ... The pay-per-view fee is $50. ... Fifteen local sites will also have the card on closed circuit, including: Mandalay Bay, the Luxor, the Excalibur, the Monte Carlo, Circus Circus, the Orleans, the Gold Coast, the Plaza, the Golden Nugget, the Beach, the San Remo, the Hard Rock, Green Valley Ranch, Sunset Station and Primm Valley. Admission is $50 and a total of 20,000 seats will be available with a 6 p.m. starting time.
archive
