Columnist Dean Juipe: Birds of a feather on pay TV

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Jan. 30, 2003 | 9:12 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.

It's a relatively attractive card, but Bob Arum couldn't sell it to one of the major cable networks.

So he's doing the next best thing: Putting it on pay-per-view and hoping the $35 fee allows him a decent return.

"I've been forced into this," Arum said Wednesday, referring to Saturday's card at Mandalay Bay and its pay-per-view stature. "I wouldn't do this unless I had to."

Being held in a 4,004-seat ballroom at the hotel, Arum's card has two world title fights and a third 12-rounder of some interest. The main event offers Juan Manuel Marquez, 39-2, vs. Manuel Medina, 60-12, with the vacant International Boxing Federation featherweight title at stake; the second title fight matches David Santos, 42-5, and Carlos Hernandez, 37-3-1, with the vacant IBF junior lightweight championship on the line; and the third fight pits rising star Miguel Cotto, 13-0, against ex-champ Cesar Bazan, 39-5-1, in a test at 140 pounds.

While the practice of bunching mid-level fights for a pay-per-view audience may sound experimental, Arum has already warmed to it. He'll have a second card with a similar cast of fighters March 22 at the same site.

"The point is, these are good, competitive fights that boxing fans want to see," he said. "But with the marketplace the way it is, I couldn't get HBO or Showtime to put up the right kind of money.

"So what I'm banking on is that people who are interested in boxing will support cards like these. This card here might not be one that appeals to the general public, but there are enough hard-core boxing fans and people of similar interests that we might be able to make it work.

"I'm gambling that I can break even, but what I'll also be able to do is take the winners of these fights and move them into bigger fights that the networks will buy."

Tickets, priced from $50 to $250, are available yet close to a full house is expected. Many of the spectators are coming in groups from California, Mexico and El Salvador to back specific fighters on this largely Hispanic card.

Familiar faces dot Saturday's lineup, particularly in the main event where Marquez is a minus 525 betting favorite and Medina is a plus 375 underdog.

"I'm happy it's finally here," Marquez said of having to wait patiently for a second crack at a world title. A fixture at or near the top of the IBF rankings at 126 pounds, Marquez lost his previous title try when he dropped a decision to Freddie Norwood in 1999.

Since then, he's 10-0.

"The trick is to not let this chance go to waste," Marquez said through an interpreter. "It's been three years, which seems like a long time, but I never got desperate. I knew it would come, eventually."

Fighting for the ninth time in Las Vegas, Marquez isn't putting any credence on the betting line that's stacked in his favor. Nor is he listening to his friends.

"I hear people say this should be an easy fight for me, but I don't think it will be," he said. "When I think of Medina, I think of one of the better fighters in the world and I've prepared for him as if he's at his best.

"Maybe there's a reason I'm favored, but it shouldn't be by much. Those people (who set the line) supposedly know boxing, but if they did they'd know this is going to be a tough fight."

Marquez, at 29, is two years younger than Medina but he will also be giving up two inches in reach.

"Medina uses his distance, his height, very well," Marquez said. "I also have to watch out for his head; he uses it a lot (as a weapon)."

If Medina seems as old as Methuselah, it's because he began his professional career at the age of 14. He has been in countless battles and has answered the bell 524 times, including 186 rounds in world championship fights.

He and Marquez are vying for a title that came open when the IBF stripped Johnny Tapia of the belt for failing to sign a rematch agreement to meet Medina, who lost to Tapia by majority decision last April in New York.

Another vacancy

The other vacant IBF title that will be at stake came open when Steve Forbes failed to make weight for his August fight with Santos in Temecula, Calif. Forbes won the bout by majority decision but the IBF stripped him and has sanctioned a Santos vs. Hernandez fight for its 130-pound title.

Forbes was moved into the No. 1 contender's position and will -- if he can get back to 130 pounds -- likely meet the winner.

"I thought he disrespected the IBF," Santos said of Forbes not making weight. "Then he had 22 pounds on me for the fight, yet I still believe I won. The fact that there was some doubt is why I'm here for this fight."

Santos is a plus 150 in the Mandalay Bay sports book and Hernandez is a minus 180. Each man is 31 years old and neither will surprise the other.

"I've seen him fight when I didn't have to worry about him, and I always thought he was made for me," Santos said. "He hasn't changed and he hasn't gotten any better. He's a one-type fighter who will be standing right in front of me.

"Each of the guys he has lost to is just like me."

But Santos does have at least one concern.

"He's a Top Rank fighter and I'm not," he said of Hernandez. "Top Rank wouldn't have brought me here if they thought I was going to win, so I feel I've got to win the fight convincingly. I've got to win big and without any controversy, because the most difficult part of this whole thing is having to fight Hernandez on a Top Rank card."

If Santos has a failing, it has been his inability to win a big fight. He has lost twice to Forbes, plus was beaten by Joel Casamayor, Lewis Wood and Rodrigo Cerda -- the last three each with a minor title at stake.

Hernandez has similar credentials, dropping fights to Genaro Hernandez and Floyd Mayweather Jr., along with Aaron Zarate. But the native of El Salvador is sufficiently popular at home and in his adopted Bellflower, Calif., that he has four bus loads of fans -- plus the president of El Salvador -- en route to Las Vegas.

Cotto takes risk

If Las Vegas had a bus link to Puerto Rico, Cotto might have enjoyed the type of support Hernandez will receive. Cotto is very popular in his home country and is perceived to be a budding superstar, but he is taking the risk of fighting a former champion who isn't too far removed from his heyday.

Bazan, who was beating guys such as Stevie Johnston as recently as 1998, has gone so far as to say Cotto is making a mistake and that he will knock his younger opponent out.

Cotto, 22, and Bazan, 28, are paired in the third fight of note and Cotto is a minus 1050 favorite. Bazan is a plus 650.

"It's a career step for me," Cotto said. "I'm ready for it."

But Bazan, in published reports originating in Mexico, said Cotto is not. He flatly predicts his experience will make the difference and that he will win by KO.

"He's full of s---," Cotto said. "He's going to know what I have when we get into the ring.

"Maybe he just said those things to raise his own confidence. I think he's actually scared."

But Cotto has been scared at least once in his life, too, and it came after he broke his right arm and shoulder in a 2001 car accident. He fell asleep at the wheel and plowed into a concrete wall, which led to surgeons placing a titanium rod (that can trigger airport metal detectors) in his arm.

"It's fine now, but my first thought was that my boxing career was done," Cotto said of the incident. "For a week or two, I thought I might have to start looking for another job."

He has come back to win each of his ensuing seven fights and reclaim his position as one of the sport's future stars.

"I'm not feeling any pressure," Cotto said as his biggest fight to date looms.

Three other fights are scheduled on the card, including: Richie Ueding, 6-6, vs. Dmitriy Salita, 10-0, six rounds, lightweights; Jason Naugler, 7-1, vs. Gustavo Soto, 8-13-1, six rounds, junior middleweights; and Mihaly Kotai, 20-0, vs. an opponent yet to be determined, six rounds, junior middleweights.

Arum said he is not concerned about having to sell an Oscar De La Hoya vs. Yory Boy Campas card, which is on for May 3 in Las Vegas. Many observers have complained that Campas is over the hill, but Arum sees it a different way. "Campas is known to the fans and he's a big, rugged guy who will make Oscar fight," Arum said. "Besides, who knows what to expect after what happened last Saturday?" The latter reference was to Richardo Mayorga upsetting fellow welterweight champ Vernon Forrest by third-round KO in Temecula. ... Mayorga owes Forrest a rematch by their contractual agreement, yet he's free to pursue an interim fight first and he may use it to face the winner of an IBF title fight between Michele Piccirillo and Cory Spinks that's scheduled for March 14 in Italy. ... On the upside for Forrest, he will be feted as the Association for the Help of Retarded Children "man of the year" at a banquet Tuesday in New York.

The Orleans will host a Goossen-Tutor card Feb. 28. ... The Aladdin has a Duva Boxing card set for Feb. 21 that has cruiserweights Kelvin Davis and Rogerio Lobo in the main event. ... Fernando Vargas looks to return from his NSAC suspension June 14, likely in Los Angeles. ... March 29 is the new date for undisputed middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins' fight in Philadelphia with Morrade Hakkar. ... Overlooked undercard results from last week: Joel Casamayor by decision (98-92, 97-93, 96-94) over Nate Campbell in Temecula; and Diego Corrales by KO-5 over Mike Davis in Atlantic City. ... No site yet but WBA 130-pound champ Acelina Freitas meets a faded Gabe Ruelas on March 15. ... Same with Vassiliy Jirov vs. James Toney and Montell Griffin vs. Antonio Tarver, set for April 26. ... WBA featherweight champ Derrick Gainer wants to go directly to a fight with Mar co Antonio Barrera, as opposed to being in co-main events April 12 at a site TBA. "Why wait?" Gainer said in a quote relaye! d by his publicist. "We are the two best featherweights in the world, so let's give the people what they want to see."

A Saturday card on Showtime from Connecticut has once-hot prospect Francisco Bojado in a supporting role vs. Frankie Santos. Bojado, a junior welterweight, is 10-1 but is coming off an unexpected loss to Juan Rubio last February. "Losing is always a wake-up call," Bojado said during a conference call this week. "I'm not glad I lost, but I'm glad that it happened this soon. It would have been worse if it happened later when big money was involved." He has switched trainers and is now using Floyd Mayweather Sr. ... News sometimes travels slow from Kampala, Uganda, but Las Vegas resident (and Uganda native) Justin Juuko defeated Veance Mponji there earlier this month. Juuko, 38-7-1, stopped Mponji, 11-5-1, in the second round.

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