Thursday, Feb. 24, 2005 | 10:41 a.m.
Jeff Haney covers boxing for the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4041 or [email protected].
A boxing tragedy made national headlines earlier this month when a 23-year-old fighter named Najai Turpin took his life with a gun in a car parked on a Philadelphia street.
Turpin was best known as one of 16 participants in the network TV reality show "The Contender," hosted by Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard and scheduled to air next month.
The news of Turpin's sad and untimely death hit super middleweight contender Yusef Mack much harder than most.
"He was my little brother," said Mack, who headlines a card Friday night at the Orleans in a scheduled 12-rounder against Richard Grant.
Mack and Turpin grew up in the same West Philadelphia neighborhood and trained there together at the James Shuler Memorial Gym.
Mack said he'll be fighting Friday night to honor his friend's memory.
"He'll be in there in the ring with me," Mack said.
"I knew him my whole life. ... It was very tough, but you have to be strong, you have to move on."
Mack (17-0-2, 11 knockouts) has established a stellar regional reputation fighting primarily in Philadelphia, and Friday's bout will be his first in Las Vegas.
He was named the best upcoming boxer of 2004 last year at the Salute to Philly Boxers awards dinner, and holds the USBA super middleweight belt, a minor championship.
But he's hungry for a shot at a world title.
"I've fought a lot at the legendary Blue Horizon" in North Philadelphia, Mack said. "I'm pretty well-known in Philly as a boxer and I'm trying to get a world title. Basically I'm hoping this dude (Grant) is like a stepping stone to that."
Grant (16-10-1, 3 KOs), 31, a former Jamaican Olympian who now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., doesn't have a record as shiny as Mack's, but he has faced some rugged competition, including current 168-pound champ Jeff Lacy.
In a 2003 fight at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, Grant extended Lacy to 12 rounds before losing a unanimous decision.
"I've seen him fight Lacy and (James) Butler," Mack, 25, said. "He's a 'safe' fighter -- he gets off (some shots) and then gets back. I know I've just got to work him down."
Like his fighter, trainer Percy Custus sees this visit to Las Vegas as a business trip.
"We don't come to no fights to lose," Custus said. "We don't boast about what we're gonna do; we do our talking with our hands."
If he gets past Grant, Mack, ranked No. 14 by the IBF, said he'd like an opportunity to fight Lacy -- "or any other champion who has a world title."
Although Mack has known fellow Philadelphian Bernard Hopkins for 10 years, and the two men have trained in the same gym at times, it's unlikely they'll ever meet in the ring.
For one thing, Mack said, he's comfortable at super middleweight. Hopkins, the longtime undisputed middleweight champ, campaigns at 160 pounds.
"I ain't moving down (in weight) that far," Mack said. "But if he ever wants to move up, it would be nice to have a Philly vs. Philly fight. Keep it in the family."
In the co-main event Friday on the card presented by Guilty Boxing, Daniel Reyes (34-2-1, 29 KOs) faces Omar Soto (13-2-1, 10 KOs) in a 12-round title elimination bout at 105 pounds.
The winner will be in line for a title shot against IBF strawweight champion Muhammad Rachman, who beat Reyes last year in a split decision.
Tickets are $20 and $30.
Lightweight title
It could be a short night on Saturday, March 5, at Mandalay Bay.
Both fighters said this week that the lightweight championship bout between Jose Luis Castillo and Julio Diaz is not likely to last the scheduled 12 rounds.
"I think that we are both very hungry for this," said Diaz (30-2, 22 KOs). "It will be a great war and I do not think I have the patience for it to go the distance, and I do not think he does either."
The fight will air on Showtime (10:30 p.m., tape-delayed in the West) during that cable network's free preview weekend. Also on the card is a super middleweight title bout pitting Lacy (18-0, 14 KOs), the IBF champ, against Rubin "Mr. Hollywood" Williams (26-1, 15 KOs).
Castillo (51-6-1, 45 KOs) risks his WBC lightweight title against Diaz, who voluntarily relinquished his IBF belt in order to take the big fight.
"I wanted to go for something bigger and better and it just seems that these days titles do not really do much," Diaz said.
Castillo, who is training for the bout in the mountains of Mexico City, scored a split-decision victory against Joel Casamayor last December at Mandalay Bay.
"I do not think I have fought anyone quite like Julio," he said. "Stevie Johnston and Joel Casamayor had an awkward style and were very difficult to fight sometimes. Julio is more of a guy that wants to fight that likes to engage me. He is fast and he is quick, so we do have to worry about that. ...
"I think there is a possibility I could knock him out because we will be more engaged and there will be more punching. I think there is a possibility that the fight will end before the 12 rounds."
Oddsmakers have installed Castillo as a 3 1/2-1 favorite with a round proposition of 10 1/2.
Home advantage
WBO super lightweight champ Miguel Cotto (22-0, 18 KOs) puts his title on the line Saturday in his homeland of Puerto Rico against DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley (29-3-1, 16 KOs).
HBO will televise the bout.
"I'm the first left-hander Cotto has ever faced, so that's one advantage for me," Corley said. "He comes straight in, which is good, and I'm prepared to defend whatever body attack he throws at me. I don't mind going into his city because look what Zab Judah did when he went to St. Louis and beat Cory Spinks."
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