Columnist Dean Juipe: Back in business

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Oct. 9, 2003 | 10:06 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.

The temptation, the lure of fighting again ensnared Maalikk Brown.

Out of the ring for more than four years, Brown began a rejuvenation process when he returned to the gym five months ago with an eye on extending his professional career.

Tonight at the Tuscany Casino he gets a chance to show what's left in the tank when he takes on Gustavo Enriquez in an eight-round cruiserweight bout that is part of promoter Richard Steele's six-fight card.

For Brown, it's a welcome opportunity.

"I don't have any high expectations," he said this week. "I'm not interested in fighting four or five more years. But I want to finish my career comfortably and I'd love to have a solid year or two.

"My thing now is to have a good time and put on a good show. I'm not looking for anything other than staying safe."

Brown, 36, is a rail thin 6-foot-3 1/2 and a natural light heavyweight at 175 pounds. The contract weight for this fight is 185 pounds, although neither Brown nor Enriquez is a true cruiserweight.

"I've always been in shape and I've led a clean life," Brown said. "Speed hasn't been my forte, but I'm quicker now that I've been working with (trainer) Mike McCallum.

"Before, it was just power. I'd go into the ring nervous and tense and wanting to knock everybody out. Now I have the same power but more speed and I'm probably smarter and better than I ever was."

Brown is 18-3-2 with 14 KOs. A San Jose, Calif., native, he says his best win came early in his career when he won a slugfest with Melvin Jones in Concord, Calif., down the road from Oakland.

His opponent tonight, Enriquez, is 10-4.

During his absence from the ring, Brown cared for a young daughter, went to school to secure a real-estate license and found success in the latter profession.

"I found my knack to be real estate," he said. "I like meeting people, doing the contracts and putting somebody in a house that they didn't think they could afford."

While real estate became his second calling, Brown still yearned to put a better end on his boxing career.

"There was a time I thought I was finished (as a fighter) and that was depressing," he said. "I wasn't comfortable with that.

"I only meant to take a year off, but then I woke up and it was more like five years."

When he walks into the ring tonight, he's hoping it feels like it was only yesterday that he was regarded as a rising prospect.

Also scheduled: Adan Hernandez, 12-1, vs. Marco Perez, 17-4, eight rounds, junior lightweights; Raul Galvan, 3-3, vs. Louis De La Rosa, 3-8-2, six rounds, super bantamweights; Adriano Dos Santos, 6-11, vs. Alejandro Ramirez, 4-5, six rounds, junior lightweights; Julio Luma, 1-0, vs. Aamn Boyd, 0-1, four rounds, junior welterweights; and Dylan Baffuto, 0-4, vs. Leonard Simmons, pro debut, four rounds, light heavyweights. First bell is 8 p.m.

The bout was stopped following the 10th round when referee Pat Russell claimed a cut over Hernandez's left eye occurred because of an unintentional head butt. Hernandez was leading on the judges' cards at the time by 6, 4 and 3 points and was declared the winner.

But Forbes said Russell missed what really happened.

"We've watched the tape over and over and you can see me landing a right uppercut and splitting him wide open," Forbes said. "It was a punch, not a head butt, and the referee missed it. He let us fight on until the end of the (10th) round, then he called it when Hernandez's corner started hollering that it had been a head butt.

"But it was a clean punch."

Forbes, 26, also said he had Hernandez hurt in the fourth.

"He survived it, but he was almost out on his feet," Forbes said. "I had him hurt real bad."

Hernandez also had a cut over his right eye and is expected to be sidelined for quite awhile. He's 40-3-1 and Forbes is 23-2.

In Jones' case, part of camp will be devoted to getting back down to the light heavyweight limit of 175 pounds after fighting as a heavyweight earlier this year.

"I have always had to come down in weight before a fight, so essentially this is nothing new to me," Jones said in quotes relayed by a publicist. "I'm really happy. I'm going to punish (Tarver) and then take him out."

Tarver counters by saying his accent on weight training and swimming will swing the fight his way.

"Jones will be in an uncomfortable position the whole fight," he predicted. "He's in for the fight of his life."

Tarver's IBF and WBC light heavyweight titles -- which Jones owned before temporarily jumping to heavyweight -- will be at stake in the fight.

San Antonio has landed the Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Manny Pacquiao featherweight fight. It will be Nov. 15. ... A pay-per-view card scheduled for Nov. 22 in Los Angeles has been announced and will feature WBC super bantamweight champ Oscar Larios vs. Thailand's Napapol Kiattisakchocchia in the main event. Two other fights are scheduled, including one for the IBF lightweight title that Paul Spadafora vacated due to problems making weight. Javier Jauregui and Levander Johnson will fight for that belt. ... Showtime will replay James Toney vs. Evander Holyfield and Diego Corrales vs. Joel Casamayor Saturday at 10 p.m. ... The Orleans card Oct. 17 is taking shape and will offer lightweights Michael Clark, 31-2, and Antonio Ramirez, 20-6-6, in the main event. Also scheduled is a super bantamweight fight between Juan Ruiz, 15-1, and Phillip Payne, 13-8-1, plus f ights featuring light heavyweight Joe Spina, 8-0, welterweight Avelino Chavez, 8-0, cruiserweight Dewey Cooper, 8-0-2, and female bantamweight Melinda Cooper, 9-0, each against opponents yet to be determined.