Columnist Dean Juipe: Olympic team turns to sports psychologist

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004 | 9:28 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.

With the United States unable to produce an Olympic gold medalist in boxing at Sydney in 2000 and with the country able to produce only two gold medalists over the past three Olympiads, changes are in store.

Dr. Robert Voy of Las Vegas, the president of USA Boxing, said Wednesday that his organization is examining resumes and will hire a sports psychologist to work with America's Olympic team members in training and at the Olympics in Athens this summer.

"We'll be taking a sports psychologist with us to Athens," he said. "We should be selecting one shortly."

Time is of the essence because the U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials are scheduled for Feb. 16-20 in Tunica, Miss. Winners in that event will advance to the U.S. Olympic Box-Offs, scheduled for Feb. 27 in Cleveland.

The U.S. team will then face representatives from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean in the "Americas" competition March 14-20 in Tijuana, Mexico, and those winners will advance to Athens. The U.S. and all other countries, including powerhouse Cuba, will be limited to a maximum of an 11-man team in Athens, or one fewer than previous years.

"The expense is always a problem for us because we cut things so close, but we've had experience with sports psychologists in the past," Voy said. "The LA Games (in 1984) were the last time we took one to training camp, and since then we've used them on and off.

"But the coaches feel it's worthwhile, so we're going to hire one soon."

Smith, 25, raised his record to 14-0 by taking a unanimous decision against Bailey, prevailing by 7, 5 and 1 points on the judges' cards. Smith had Bailey down late in the second round, but he failed to capitalize or stop his opponent, who dropped to 27-4.

"Before the fight, I would have said Ishe was going to stop Bailey in the middle rounds," said Smith's co-manager, Mike Levy. "When Bailey went down, I thought maybe it was going to go easier than what I'd hoped for, not that Bailey was really hurt too bad; he just seemed to be stunned for a moment.

"But when Ishe didn't (get a knockout) and just cruised through the fight and won, it was OK but it wasn't the spectacular and dominant performance that we wanted. We had such high expectations for this fight."

Levy said Smith was hampered by an ill-fitting mouthpiece that "shredded the inside of his cheeks and had him spitting up blood."

He added that no determination has been made as yet for Smith's next fight or opponent.

"We really don't have any ideas just yet, but we may in another week or so," he said. "We still need a fight where Ishe looks spectacular, so maybe that will come next.

"Either way, I still expect him to be fighting for a world title by the end of the year."

"One guy wanted to turn it into a bar (which is what it was before the late Johnny Tocco purchased the property and turned it into a gym) and another guy wanted to buy it and turn it into a place where they would shoot videos," Pollins said. "When the best offer was $400,000 in cash, I said to myself, 'Maybe I'll just stay here.' "

Pollins is asking $595,000 for the site. If he fails to receive a worthy offer, he said he may keep the gym and perhaps add a museum quality to it.

"I might take it off the market," he said. "People see the For Sale sign and think it's a fire sale, but it's not. It's a building that's near and dear to my heart.

"Maybe I can turn it into a museum that also has a gym for fighters, and we could sell T-shirts and hats and gloves and stuff like that."

Arturo Gatti is big on the East Coast and his junior welterweight fight Saturday in Atlantic City against Italy's Gianluca Branco is getting a lot of play in the papers back there. HBO will televise. ... Cory Spinks vs. Zab Judah has been added to a Don King card scheduled for March 20 at a site to be determined. IBF heavyweight champ Chris Byrd is also on the card, perhaps against an opponent as lackluster as former light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion Virgil Hill. ... Johnny Tapia will fight fellow featherweight and Albuquerque resident Frankie Archuleta March 5 in Las Vegas, N.M. Tapia is 53-3-2 and Archuleta is 22-4-1. They'll take part in the first fight at that site since Jack Johnson defeated Jim Flynn for the heavyweight title July 4, 1912.

The major networks are holding open dates for fights being negotiated, including a heavyweight rematch between Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko that is targeted for April 24. Also being discussed is a Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight (perhaps against ex-junior middleweight champ Raul Marquez) for May 8, and a Roy Jones Jr. fight for May 15. ... Just in case you think the Federal Bureau of Investigation's look into boxing (and its raid of Top Rank's Las Vegas offices two weeks ago) is having a residual effect on the sport, consider that junior middleweight Anthony Ivory -- with a professional record of 28-66-4 -- was allowed to fight (and lose again) on a card Friday in Bloomington, Minn.