Boxing his way to the top

Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

What: Top Rank boxing at the Orleans Arena

Doors open: 4 p.m. today

First fight: 5:15 p.m.

Tickets: $20 to $100 at the Orleans box office

TV: Versus network (Cox cable channel 67) 9 p.m. (tape-delayed in West)

Physically imposing at 6-foot-8, with a fighting weight of about 260 pounds and an 86-inch reach, Tye Fields comes across as humble and soft-spoken outside of the boxing ring.

He makes a point of thanking his family, his trainer, his management team.

He calls it "an honor" to compete, to test his skills against other professional fighters, insisting he would never take an opponent lightly.

Yet a goal lingers in the back of his mind. Not only does Fields hope to advance through the heavyweight rankings, but he envisions a specific world title match: a showdown against 7-foot Russian Nikolay Valuev, the WBA champion.

"Oh, sure, it's one of my goals to win the heavyweight championship," Fields said. "To achieve that, I'd like to fight Valuev, the big Russian. He's the one I really want.

"But there's a path I have to take to get there, and I know I have to keep working hard."

The path goes through the Orleans Arena tonight, when Fields (36-1, 1 no-decision, 33 KOs) meets Kendrick Releford (14-8-1) in a bout that will be televised nationally on the Versus network (Cox cable channel 67).

It will be the first fight under the Top Rank promotional banner for 31-year-old Fields, a native of Missoula, Mont., who has lived in Las Vegas for six years and trains under Jesse Reid at Barry's Boxing Center.

Fields hopes his affiliation with Top Rank leads to an eventual title shot, but even he acknowledges he would be an unlikely heavyweight champ given his background.

Fields, who played college basketball at Oral Roberts and San Diego State, had no amateur fights and did not start boxing until he was 24 years old.

He was practicing in an Iowa gym with the Des Moines Dragons, a minor league basketball team, when a now-forgotten boxing promoter approached him.

"This promoter came up to me and he was like, 'Forget about basketball. Get into boxing. I'll make you the heavyweight champion,' " Fields said. "At first, I thought he was kind of crazy. I had never boxed in my life.

"But I thought about it, and I thought boxing could be a good sport for me. I felt that by that time I had peaked in basketball."

Managed for the past three years by Las Vegan Billy Baxter, the veteran poker expert who has also managed Roger Mayweather, Vernon Forrest and others, Fields says his game has matured since he made his pro debut in 1999.

"I've learned the trade, the science," said Fields, a left-hander who goes by his longtime nickname "Big Sky," having disavowed previous nicknames such as "Railroad" and "Killing."

"I've learned a lot of technique along the way, how to take advantage of my body, my size, throwing a lot of punches, using the jab, taking advantage of my endurance."

Top Rank Chief Executive Bob Arum said tonight's bout with Releford won't be one of the "gimmes" that Fields used to take in building his gaudy record.

"It's going to be a journey for Tye, but I'm expecting tremendous results," said Arum, who promoted Releford's father, Kenneth Releford, in the 1980s. "There are so many big Russian guys out there who outsize the American heavyweights, but that's not the case with Tye."

A victory tonight would probably place Fields in the WBA's top 10, said Arum, who hopes to make fights for Fields at Madison Square Garden and in Macau.

"I could see Tye as a road warrior who also returns to fight for the hometown fans," Arum said. "I want him to be backed by this city."

That sounds fine to Fields.

"A lot of doors are opening for me now," he said. "When I hear Bob Arum say those things, it puts goose pimples on my neck."

Full card:

Will Grigsby (18-3-1, 7 KOs) vs. Ulises Solis (22-1-2, 16 KOs), 12 rounds, IBF junior flyweight championship

Fernando Omar Lizarraga (16-3, 12 KOs) vs. Jorge Solis (31-0-2, 22 KOs), 10 rounds, featherweights

Kendrick Releford (14-8-1, 5 KOs) vs. Tye Fields, Las Vegas (36-1, 33 KOs), 10 rounds, heavyweights

Zack Page (11-9-1, 3 KOs) vs. Johnathon Banks (13-0, 10 KOs), 8 or 10 rounds, cruiserweights

Arturo Ortega (12-2-3, 7 KOs) vs. Andy Lee (6-0, 3 KOs), 6 rounds, middleweights

Delia Hoppe (3-4-1, 1 KO) vs. Melinda Cooper, Las Vegas (17-0, 9 KOs), 6 rounds, women, bantamweights

Gabe Gonzalez (1-1, 1 KO) vs. Angel Flores, Las Vegas (6-1, 0 KOs), 4 rounds, lightweight

Martin Vierra (2-0, 1 KO) vs. Ryan Ulell, Las Vegas (pro debut), 4 rounds, super lightweight