Columnist Dean Juipe: Austin contemplating heftier weight, paydays

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Feb. 13, 2003 | 9:20 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.

Participating in his 11th International Boxing Federation bantamweight title fight, world champion Tim Austin suggests that it may be his last. Win or lose against Rafael Marquez in the main event of Saturday's card at Caesars Palace, Austin may move up from 118 pounds to 122 or 126 in an effort to find a bigger star and a greater payday.

"I might move up," he said, when asked specifically about his plans. Yet a handler claims Austin has already made up his mind and after five-plus years as a bantamweight champion he's ready for a change.

Austin can hardly be faulted. Beyond the fact that he isn't fighting as frequently as he would prefer, there are more marketable fights for him at super bantam or, especially, as a featherweight.

"My boxing skills just get better with each fight," he said. "My mechanics are untouchable (and) I have a good knowledge of the ring."

Austin, 31, is 25-0-1 with 22 knockouts, a technical draw with Javier Diaz in 1995 only a slight blemish on his record.

His Saturday opponent, Marquez, is the IBF's mandatory challenger. He's 27 years old and has a record of 28-3 with 26 KOs, with the losses coming to Victor Rabanales, Francisco Mateos and Genaro Garcia.

"I'm going to have to move forward and put him under pressure," Austin said.

"I'm planning on cutting off the ring and picking my shots to attack," Marquez said of his game plan. "It's my responsibility to fight well."

He said he has sparred 150 rounds in preparation for the fight.

"I have that killer instinct that will take me to the next level," he claims, although he knows what he's up against in Austin and has a healthy respect for the champion.

"He's been the champion for a long time for a reason," Marquez said of the division's dominant, if soon to be departed, performer.

In a conference call Wednesday, Cliff Etienne barely radiated confidence in discussing his Feb. 22 opponent in Memphis, Mike Tyson. "I'm treating it like any other fight," he said, as if the biggest fight of his life was no big deal. But he did say "Tyson can beat 99 percent of the heavyweights out there, I just feel that I'm in that 1 percent he can't beat." ... Roy Jones Jr. still has not formally signed to fight John Ruiz March 1 at the Thomas & Mack Center, although promoter Don King says not to worry. Ruiz, for his part, is training diligently in Florida and said this week that Jones "is only messing with his own head" by not having signed. Ruiz added that he hoped to match Jones' quickness and nullify the lighter man's greatest asset. "I feel I can be as fast as Jones," Ruiz said. "I don't feel he's that fast. In every round you're going to see me ca tching him."