Columnist Jeff Haney: Guzman puts unbeaten record on the line

Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005 | 9:44 a.m.

Jeff Haney covers boxing for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4041 or haney@lasvegassun.com.

It has been said that shortstops are the Dominican Republic's main export, but in Joan Guzman's neighborhood in Santo Domingo, baseball was an afterthought at best.

Where Guzman and his friends grew up, boxing was the No. 1 game, he said.

"I played a little basketball, but boxing was the thing," Guzman said Wednesday at Gold's Gym in southeast Las Vegas, where he is training for next week's WBO featherweight title eliminator against Thailand's Terdsak Jandaeng.

To demonstrate how impromptu boxing matches were made in his old neighborhood, Guzman grabbed the wrists of two bystanders and pulled them together in a crude fighters' faceoff.

That's what the older kids, serving as de facto promoters, would do to the younger ones, Guzman said. That's how he first learned to box.

"Growing up where I did, you had to fight," he said. "In the streets. Every day."

From those rough-and-tumble beginnings, Guzman went on to win the WBO world title at 122 pounds, a belt he most recently defended with a unanimous-decision victory against Fernando Beltran Jr. in April.

Now at age 29, Guzman is moving up to featherweight, a division he calls a better fit for his body type as well as his desire for more prominent opponents.

"I'm moving up to featherweight because that's where the best fights are ... and I'm too big to keep killing myself to stay down at 122," said Guzman, who puts his record of 23-0 with 17 knockouts on the line against Jandaeng, a southpaw who's also unbeaten (18-0, 13 KOs).

The winner of the Aug. 26 eliminator at White Plains, N.Y., will likely earn a shot at WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrison -- a solid matchup, and one that Guzman hopes could eventually lead to a showdown against Manny Pacquiao or Juan Manuel Marquez.

"I want to fight the biggest names that are out there," Guzman said.

Guzman packs enough of a punch that he acquired the nickname "El Pequeno Tyson" -- "the Little Tyson" -- but recently signed on with trainer Don House of Las Vegas in a bid to become a more well-rounded boxer.

"I've liked working with Don from the first day I met him," Guzman said. "We're working hard on head movement and velocity ... which is what I need (to develop), not just punching power."

House has Guzman sparring with talented left-handers such as Kevin Kelley and Steven Luevano to prepare for Jandaeng.

"Joan already knew how to fight," House said. "I just make sure he's in good condition so he can use his skills."

Gold Coast card

Featherweight Phillip Payne accepted Friday night's scheduled fight against Cornelius Lock on only about one week's notice -- though that's not an unusual situation for him, Payne said.

"I'm always taking fights on short notice," Payne said. "I'm an underdog. I don't get those privileges that some of these other kids have, taking fights on five or six weeks' notice."

Payne (16-14-1, 8 KOs) and Lock (14-2-1, 9 KOs) square off in a 10-round main event of a Guilty Boxing card at the Gold Coast.

Despite his middling record, Payne is ranked 15th by the IBF and 24th by the WBC among featherweights.

"There can be a lot of different reasons for the rankings," said Payne, of St. Louis. "It's probably because I've fought at a higher level of competition, against better fighters."

Payne, 34, said he'll be motivated by a desire to prove he deserves to be ranked, as well as by his status as a decided underdog in the bout.

Lock, a 26-year-old southpaw from Detroit, has good speed but lacks one-punch knockout power.

Payne does not expect to be hampered by the lack of preparation time.

"I had been training all along on my own," he said. "I'm always coming in as the underdog. It's a role I'm comfortable with."

Also on the card, which begins at 7 p.m. in the hotel's Nevada Ballroom: Olawale Afolabi (9-1-3, 3 KOs) vs. Michael Simms (17-3-1, 13 KOs), 6 rounds, cruiserweights; Mario Ramos (13-1-1, 3 KOs) vs. Francisco Parra (12-4, 10 KOs), 6 rounds, super lightweights; Juan Mercedes (8-1, 6 KOs) vs. Ivan Rodriguez of Las Vegas (6-2, 3 KOs), 6 rounds, bantamweight; Dominic Chavez of Las Vegas (2-0, 0 KOs) vs. Alex Arzola (2-1, 0 KOs), welterweights; lightweight Juan Garcia (5-0, 2 KOs) and cruiserweight Aaron Williams of Las Vegas (3-0, 2 KOs) against opponents to be announced.

Vargas-Castillejo

In his second fight since a layoff of more than a year due to back problems, Fernando Vargas is a 3-1 betting favorite against Javier Castillejo on Saturday in Rosemont, Ill. HBO will televise the junior middleweight bout. If he gets by Castillejo, Vargas envisions a megafight rematch against Oscar De La Hoya, who beat Vargas in 2002. Last month in Las Vegas, De La Hoya said if he does meet Vargas again, the fight should take place next year in an outdoor setting at the Rose Bowl.