Columnist Dean Juipe: Winky’s winning, but Oscar’s dodging

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003 | 9:57 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.

Of the three legitimate world championships at 154 pounds, Oscar De La Hoya owns two of the belts and Winky Wright the other. But it appears as if they'll never fight.

With De La Hoya's promoter, Bob Arum, adamant that a fight with Wright wouldn't sell, the International Boxing Federation junior middleweight champion is left without a big-money bout on his horizon.

"It just so happens that De La Hoya has all the clout," Wright said Wednesday at Caesars Palace. "But I think if the situation was reversed, he'd want to fight me just to see if he could unify the titles."

Wright, 31, is fighting Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center as part of the John Ruiz vs. Roy Jones Jr. undercard. His opponent is the IBF mandatory challenger, J.C. Candelo.

But it's De La Hoya who's on his mind.

"I think Oscar has a say in who he fights," Wright said. "I wish Mr. Arum had stayed out of it.

"So I don't have a big contract with HBO and I'm not a Latino. What's that got to do with it? I want to prove I'm the best at 154 pounds and I would think Oscar would want to do the same."

Yet there's no sign of that fight ever happening, which leaves a void in Wright's resume that may never be filled.

"If I don't fight him, I don't," he said. "But I'll definitely feel I missed something and I feel the fans will have been cheated, too."

Wright, 44-3 with 25 knockouts, will be taking part in his sixth world title fight, although the bout with Candelo will be his Las Vegas debut. In his previous title fights Wright has lost to Julio Vasquez (for the World Boxing Association championship in 1994) and Fernando Vargas (for the IBF belt in '99) and beaten Robert Frazier, Jason Papillion and Bronco McKart in succession.

Candelo, 28, is a native of Colombia who is 25-4-3 with 17 KOs and earned the fight with Wright by beating Angel Hernandez in December. Given that he opened his career with only three wins in his first seven fights, Candelo is something of a late bloomer.

"I expect a tough fight from him," Wright said. "He's the No. 1 contender and I respect him for that. But if I do what I've been trained to do, I should be OK."

Wright knows that if there's even a sliver of hope for landing a De La Hoya fight, he can't afford to look anything but sharp and scintillating.

"If I don't do anything special, it could look bad," he said. "It's my first fight in Las Vegas and there's a thought that I have to look spectacular.

"I'll take a win any way it comes, but don't get me wrong: I'd love it if I could blast him out in one or two rounds."

There is one other world title fight, as WBA cruiserweight champ Jean Marc Mormeck of France makes his U.S. debut in a defense against Alexander Gurov of Ukraine. Mormeck, 30, is 28-2 and has beaten two former Las Vegans in his two most recent fights, Virgil Hill and Dale Brown.

He has also won 25 consecutive bouts since back-to-back decision losses early in his career.

"I'm ready for anything now," he said. "I want to fight the best, so I can prove to everyone that I belong with the elite champions."

His opponent, Gurov, is 32-3-1 and has won his past 12 fights. Like Mormeck, he has fought exclusively in Europe.

Also scheduled: Fres Oquendo, 29-1, vs. Maurice Harris, 19-12-2, 12 rounds, heavyweights; Santiago Samaniego, 36-6-1, vs. Alex Terra Garcia, 20-0, 12 rounds, junior middleweights; Lamon Brewster, 28-2, vs. Joe Lenart, 10-16-3, 10 rounds, heavyweights; Gabe Brown, 14-2-1, vs. Sherman Williams, 21-7-1, 10 rounds, heavyweights; David Izon, 27-5, vs. Al Cole, 32-11-3, eight rounds, heavyweights; Ezra Sellers, 25-5, vs. Jason Robinson, 16-3, eight rounds, cruiserweights; and Vonda Ward, 15-0, vs. Valerie Mahfood, 13-5, six rounds, women, heavyweights. An 11th fight, featuring former heavyweight contender Jameel McCline, has been deleted. First bell is 2 p.m.

The main event offers heavyweights Friday Ahunanya and Terrence Lewis in a 10-round bout. Ahunanya is 17-1 with nine knockouts and Lewis is 31-12 with 21.

Also scheduled: Humberto Soto, 25-5-2, vs. Cesar Figueroa, 23-1-2, 10 rounds, featherweights; Jesse Feliciano, 8-1, vs. Alfonso Gomez, 5-1-1, 10 rounds, heavyweights; Dewey Cooper, 6-0-2, vs. Robert Green, 3-2-3, six rounds, cruiserweights; Juan Salazar, 3-1, vs. Steve Marquez, 1-1, four rounds, junior middleweights; Cornelius Lock, 6-1, vs. an opponent yet to be determined, six rounds, featherweights; and Melinda Cooper, 6-0, vs. Reiko Muruyama, 2-2, four rounds, women, bantamweights. First bell is 6 p.m.