Bones launches comeback

Dean Juipe

Thursday, June 26, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.

Out of the ring for more than 16 months, Bones Adams restarts his career Tuesday with an eye on a bigger prize in the not too distant future.

Adams, of Las Vegas, is scheduled to face Manuel Sepeda in Niles, Ohio, in a 10-round featherweight fight to be televised by ESPN2.

It will be his first fight since losing by unanimous decision to Paulie Ayala in front of 5,000 fans at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Feb. 23, 2002.

Adams, who turns 29 July 6, is 41-6-3 and a former World Boxing Association super bantamweight champion. Sepeda is 15-6-2.

"I knew I was always coming back to boxing," Adams said. "I missed it. But then I started training again and it was like, 'Oh yeah, I didn't miss this.' "

Adams habitually puts on pounds between fights and he says he peaked at 155 in the months since fighting Ayala. The fight with Sepeda has a contract weight limit of 129 pounds.

"I'm OK with that," he said. "I feel good. I used my training camp to get back in shape."

Adams was certainly in shape as he jousted with Ayala for 12 hard rounds in a fight that brought him $600,000. But he didn't like the judges' decision, just as he didn't when Ayala beat him by split decision at the same site Aug. 4, 2001.

"I thought I won (the rematch) by a round or two," Adams said.

But the outcome of that fight is, in part, motivating him to continue his career. A pro fighter since 1990, he still feels he's missing something.

"I would have thought I'd have won a real big fight by now," he said. "I feel I won the last fight and I think I've had a lot of bad deals go against me."

Derailed by injuries on and off throughout his career and suffering with a cold in the days leading up to the rematch with Ayala, Adams is hoping for a third fight with his nemesis or a fight of at least equal magnitude early next year.

"I don't know what he's doing, but I'll fight Paulie again," he said. "I'll fight anybody for a decent payday.

"I took this fight (with Sepeda) for little or nothing because I need two or three fights to get ready for a bigger fight.

"After this fight, I should be back in the picture."

Adams, who beat Nestor Garza for the WBA title at 122 pounds in 2000, is not ranked in the top 10 (at either 122 or 126 pounds) by any of the three major organizations.

Ayala has been just as inactive as Adams of late and had a proposed fight with Danny Romero never get off the drawing board. Ayala vs. Adams III is a possibility, as is a fight between Adams and Johnny Tapia.

"We haven't talked about (Tapia) or anyone else, but that's because I want to wait and see how I stand after this fight here," Adams said. "I hear I'm fighting a very tough guy."

Adams doesn't watch tape of upcoming opponents and says he knows little of Sepeda. "You know me," he said. "I usually don't like to watch tapes of the other guy.

"I'll see what he's got when I get in there."