Thursday, Sept. 4, 2003 | 9:16 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
For a man who has never lost a professional fight, Lonnie Bradley has had his share of misfortune.
His unbeaten, 29-0-1 record aside, his career has had a staccato feel to it, with lengthy periods of inactivity brought on, for the most part, by an eye injury he suffered in 1997.
But it's never too late to make a run at a world championship, and Bradley -- at the age of 34 -- is poised to give it another try.
Healthy and supposedly ready to go, he's fighting Friday at the Stardust on a Ray Leonard card that will be televised by ESPN2. His opponent changed this week when Nicholas Cervera had to drop out after his mother died, and Bradley is now scheduled to face Epifanio Mendoza in a 10-round bout at 160 pounds.
Mendoza is 16-1 and coming off a win against previously unbeaten Tokunbo Olajide at 154 pounds.
"Mendoza's an upgrade (over Cervera)," Bradley's manager, Frank Meehan, said Wednesday. "But we're looking to surprise people and win this fight early.
"Beating him will bring us up the ladder faster."
Meehan said he has been talking to undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins about a Hopkins vs. Bradley fight, perhaps for later this year or early next year if Hopkins goes ahead with a proposed fight this fall with William Joppy.
Another high-profile option is a fight with former U.S. Olympian Jermain Taylor, who is 16-0, or perhaps one with Joppy.
"If we have to go through Joppy to get to Hopkins, that's fine," Meehan said. "But we'd like to fight Taylor. He's been given too much, too soon."
Bradley, conversely, has had to work for what he has obtained.
He won the lightly regarded World Boxing Organization championship in 1995 and made six successful defenses before he was stalled by the eye injury. He underwent surgery on a retina and worked for Meehan in the construction industry as he dropped from sight in boxing.
Bradley did fight twice in 1999 but was derailed again outside the ring when the WBO placed him on suspension following a convention in Argentina that year.
"That's when he thought his career was over," Meehan said. "But there was no reason for the suspension (and it hasn't been upheld)."
Bradley returned to the ring in August 2002, after which it was determined that he needed to be placed on an extensive training program.
"He's been ready to fight since March," Meehan said, adding that Bradley was hampered by a contract with promoter Don King.
"We were looking for some higher-caliber opponents for him and Don couldn't do it, so we got our release from him in May," Meehan said. Bradley then signed with Leonard in July.
"We're just grateful to be back in the game," Meehan said. "If Lonnie wins this fight here, he'll be right back in the mix."
The co-main event features junior middleweights Verno Phillips and Michael Lerma scheduled for 10 rounds.
Phillips, 35-9-1, has won nine of his past 10 fights and is coming off a big win against fellow contender Bronco McKart. Lerma is 29-7-1.
Also scheduled: Mark Suarez, 18-2, vs. Daniel Mendez, 12-19-1, six rounds, welterweights; Allan Green, 6-0, vs. James Green, 4-3-1, six rounds, light heavyweights; Anthony Russell, 4-0, vs. Ola Ofalabi, 2-1-1, four rounds, cruiserweights; and Larry Gonzalez, 2-0, vs. Alex Viramontes, 2-0, four rounds, junior welterweights. First bell is 5:30 p.m.
Throwing 778 punches but landing only 159, Fields plodded to a 12-round decision victory in a fight that was designed to showcase his promise but is more likely to have exposed his shortcomings. It was his first time on TV and it probably won't be his last, yet he's hardly an intimidating presence despite his 6-foot-9, 278-pound stature and 29-1 record.
"I thought I was going to vomit," said his contractual trainer, Wes Wolfe.
Wolfe is looking to extricate himself from the four-year deal he signed with Fields in May. He trained Fields for 13 months until the fighter's manager(s) sent him to Detroit to work at the Kronk Gym last month.
Emanuel Steward was in Fields' corner for the fight with Williams, a journeyman who put forth almost no effort in seeing his record slump to 23-8-1.
Williams landed only 53 punches in the fight, according to ESPN's statistics. With his reluctance to throw and Fields' repeatedly errant tosses missing the mark, both fighters appeared noncombative.
All three judges scored the bout 117-111 for Fields, 28, who was paid $18,000 for the fight. Williams got $13,500 for a fight in which the crowd periodically saw fit to boo.
Fields, a southpaw, had averaged a mere 1.5 rounds in his previous 29 fights, having won 27 by knockout. He had never been past five rounds, so going 12 was something of an achievement even if the action was limited.
"My skills have gotten a lot better," he said despite some evidence to the contrary.
"I've fought way better fighters," Williams said in a statement that had a ring of truth to it.
A purse bid for a third fight between David Tua and Hasim Rahman is scheduled for Friday in Miami. They may wind up fighting for the vacant World Boxing Association heavyweight title, as current champion Roy Jones Jr. indicates he's ready to surrender the belt even without the WBA's threat to strip him for failing to defend. "They can have the belt," he told Boxing Update. "I've been stripped before. Better yet, I wouldn't give a cow's behind if they did take it. So what?" ... Jones is going to drop back (at least temporarily) to the light heavyweight division and face Antonio Tarver Nov. 8 in a fight that appears to be destined for Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. International Boxing Federation junior middleweight champ Winky Wright will also be on the card.
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