Thursday, Oct. 30, 2003 | 10:18 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn't seem to have brought his punch with him since moving up a division to lightweight, yet the Las Vegas-based world champion is predicting he'll make quick work of Philip Ndou when they fight Saturday in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Mayweather, 26, is 30-0 with 20 knockouts but has added only two KOs to his ledger in his past six fights. And since vacating his World Boxing Council junior lightweight title to fight, instead, at 135 pounds, he is 3-0 but with no knockouts.
Nonetheless, this week in Grand Rapids he was quoted as saying, "It's not going past six rounds," in discussing his bout with Ndou.
The WBC lightweight title fight will be televised by HBO, as will a companion featherweight unification fight between Derrick Gainer and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Ndou, of South Africa, is a lean, aggressive fighter who is 31-1 with 30 KOs. His best win came against Cassius Baloyi two years ago and he's coming off a four-round stoppage of Yoni Vargas in Los Angeles.
Sports books in Las Vegas are listing Mayweather as a minus 500 favorite, with Ndou a plus 350.
Mayweather has a decision win against Victoriano Sosa in his only other fight this year, and was twice taken the distance by Jose Luis Castillo in his previous fights at 135.
He's already talking about possible ensuing fights, including, once again, calling out Oscar De La Hoya.
But Mayweather, the self-described "black sheep" of boxing, can't always be taken at his word. For instance, in the same interview in which he predicted he would send Ndou packing, he told the reporter that he was coming out of a "peaceful" camp in Las Vegas, when, in fact, the opposite appears to be more true.
While training for Ndou, Mayweather and his entourage were interrupted one evening by two men who forcibly entered the Top Rank Gym and beat two of Mayweather's acquaintances with clubs while having drawn guns. Mayweather, it's said, watched the beatings from the ring; police were later called.
Jantuah, a junior middleweight, raised his record to 25-1 by disposing of Marco Primera in the first round of their scheduled 10-round fight in Rosemont, Ill. Primera dropped to 16-5-1 after being knocked down in a corner and choosing to not continue.
Regrettably, a Fox Sports Net announcer working the fight interviewed Jantuah afterward and used an accusatory tone, as if blaming Jantuah for knocking out Primera.
"I show up to fight, but he's nothing," Jantuah politely responded.
Jeff Mayweather, who worked Jantuah's corner and overheard the post-fight interview, also found the line of questioning disturbing.
"What was (Jantuah) supposed to do?" he said. "He hit the guy hard and he went down. It's not his fault the fight only went one round."
Davis' fight with fellow cruiserweight Louis Azille went its fully scheduled 12 rounds in Bushkill, Pa., and the outcome was determined by the judges. One had Azille, 18-2-2, ahead by a point, while Davis, 20-2-1, was ahead by 6 and 3 points on the other two cards.
In Shufford's heavyweight fight with Gilbert Martinez in Robinsville, Miss., the Las Vegan lost a 10-round majority decision in which he exhibited little in the way of effort in falling to 20-5. Martinez is 16-6-1.
The event begins with cocktails at 6 p.m. in the Key West Room and will be followed by a catered dinner and the fights.
Admission is $275 per person. Call 259-0452 for more information.
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