Local fighter feels slighted

Friday, July 15, 2005 | 10:08 a.m.

Promotional banners for Saturday's big fight card at the MGM Grand feature the main event boxers, Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor, most prominently, of course.

In smaller lettering, they advise fans to catch former champ Vernon Forrest, junior bantamweight star Fernando Montiel and super bantamweight titlist Oscar Larios.

While they're all worthy warriors, it didn't escape Wayne McCullough's notice this week that his name and likeness were missing.

"If you're smart, you put 'local fighter Wayne McCullough' up there," McCullough said at the MGM.

A 12-year resident of Las Vegas, McCullough squares off against Larios for the WBC world super bantamweight championship in Saturday's top undercard bout at the Grand Garden Arena.

Hopkins (46-2-1, 32 knockouts) risks his undisputed middleweight championship against Taylor (23-0, 17 KOs) in a scheduled 12-rounder. HBO Pay-Per-View will televise ($49.95).

Though McCullough was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and speaks with a distinctive Irish accent, he has long been fully immersed in his adopted hometown, living and often training in Summerlin.

"Some people think I still live (in Ireland) or that I travel back and forth half the time, but that's not how it is," McCullough, 35, said. "I'm a Las Vegan. I've been here 12 years. I have been a world champion here; my daughter was born here.

"It will be sweet to fight in Las Vegas, fighting on the big stage. It's a dream come true. I'm still wondering if I'm going to wake up."

Yet McCullough feels a little like the odd man out leading to Saturday's show -- probably, he said, because his opponent Larios is aligned with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, which is promoting the card.

"De La Hoya thinks this is going to be a coming-out party for Larios," McCullough said.

Larios (55-3, 35 KOs) won a unanimous decision against McCullough when the two fought an action-filled title bout in Lemoore, Calif., in February.

The deal for a rematch received a boost, McCullough said, when Hopkins watched the fight and thought McCullough was robbed by the judges. Hopkins became a partner in De La Hoya's promotional company after the two fought last September.

"Fighters are all alike," McCullough said. "They'll tell you if they thought you won, or if they thought you lost. ... (Hopkins) said, 'We want you on that card.' "

McCullough entered the first fight against Larios after a period of inactivity in his career, having fought just two rounds in nearly two years.

"I think the layoff hurt me," McCullough said. "I could feel my sharpness coming back in the last round."

In training for the rematch, McCullough sparred up to 11 rounds a day -- more than his usual limit of five or six rounds -- with sparring partners Craig Stott, Matt Fardell and Brian Clements.

"In the 11th round (of sparring) I felt as strong as I did in the first," said McCullough, who is trained by Freddie Roach. "I know I'll have the conditioning for the middle rounds (of Saturday's fight)."

McCullough has never been knocked down, let alone knocked out, in the ring. So he found it curious when Larios, in interviews leading to the rematch, started talking about going for a knockout.

"I've fought Erik Morales (in 1999) and Naseem Hamed (in 1998) and they both hit harder than Larios," McCullough (27-5, 18 KOs) said. "I think Larios is more of a boxer-mover, but he thinks he's a fighter, which is good. That means he'll try to come right at me."

If he does, McCullough's promoter Dan Goossen said, Larios and McCullough could set an unofficial record Saturday for the most punches thrown by both fighters in a bout.

"I knew what to expect from Wayne (in their first meeting), but I was surprised by how many punches Larios threw," Goossen said this week at the MGM.

Larios, 28, of Guadalajara, Mexico, has won 16 consecutive fights and is generally considered the best 122-pounder in the world. He's a 3-1 betting favorite.

"Wayne McCullough is a very strong warrior, like a Mexican. Like we say in Mexico, we're going to go to war to see who has (more guts)," a smiling Larios said.