Columnist Dean Juipe: Mayweather worries Hernandez

DEAN JUIPE is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter. His office phone number is 259-4084. He can be reached on the Internet at [email protected]

He has to be confident, having lost only once in 15 years of professional fighting.

Yet here's Genaro Hernandez sounding leery, talking about his Saturday fight at the Las Vegas Hilton with Floyd Mayweather.

His concerns: A slight problem with his weight; the lack of a suitable sparring partner in recent weeks; the belief that Mayweather's style will be difficult to solve; and the knowledge that the shoe may now be on the other foot, that he recalls being a young man on the upswing who could handle a more experienced opponent.

It was Hernandez at his typically honest best.

"I know Mayweather's not a guy I can just walk around," he said by phone from his training camp in Los Angeles. "But everything's all right. It should be a good fight."

It may actually be a great one.

Hernandez, 32, is 38-1-1 with 17 knockouts in a career that dates from 1984. Currently the WBC junior lightweight champion, he is also a former WBA champion at the same weight.

Mayweather, 21, is 17-0 with 13 KOs in two years as a pro. Amazingly, given that a challenger is rarely a betting favorite over a champion, Mayweather was a minus 170 favorite Wednesday at the Hilton. Hernandez is a plus 130 for a bout to be televised by HBO.

To hear Hernandez tell it, perhaps Mayweather deserves to be favored.

"He's got a complicated style," Hernandez said. "I think he's a lot like his uncle, Roger.

"Roger gave everyone a hard time with lots of angles. Floyd looks about the same, except he's even quicker. I think it'll take at least a couple of rounds to figure him out."

Hernandez was utilizing IBF lightweight champion Shane Mosley as a sparring partner for a few weeks, but then Mosley had to take off for a Sept. 22 fight in New York with Eduardo Morales. That left Hernandez without a sparring partner with the type of quickness Mayweather enjoys.

"Working with Shane was great, but then he had to leave," Hernandez said. "I was just getting used to his speed, plus he's smarter (than Mayweather). But since he left, I haven't had anybody with that type of quickness."

Hernandez has also been keeping an eye on his weight, saying "I have to lose a couple of pounds, but this is something I've started having a little problem with in recent times."

Only once has Hernandez fought above 130 pounds and that was by design. He took on Oscar De La Hoya three years ago at 135, losing by sixth-round technical knockout in part because he suffered a broken nose.

He returned to the junior lightweight ranks, reclaimed a world championship and bolstered his stock with a key victory over Azumah Nelson last year. He comes into Saturday's fight having won six straight, although all but one went the distance.

This one may, too.

"If a knockout comes, it comes," Hernandez said. "But I'd rather not trade with him. I'd rather stay standing up.

"You last longer in boxing that way."

Hernandez has lasted because he's intelligent and durable. Those who see him handling Mayweather picture a masterful performance by a very experienced and calculating champion.

Yet he plays down his advantage in experience.

"First, he's been working with some great professionals and anyone with his type of amateur experience really isn't a novice," Hernandez said of Mayweather. "Second, I remember when I had only 17 or 18 professional fights behind me and I was taking on guys with 50 fights. And I was able to take care of them."

Hernandez vs. Mayweather tops a six-bout card promoted by Top Rank. Also scheduled: Vassiliy Jirov, 16-0, vs. John Kiser, 14-18-4, 10 rounds, cruiserweights; Lamon Brewster, 19-0, vs. Marcus Rhode, 23-11, eight rounds, heavyweights; Lionel Ortiz, 17-5, vs. Eric Holland, 20-21-3, six rounds, middleweights; Augie Sanchez, 17-1, vs. an opponent yet to be determined, six rounds, featherweights; and a women's bout between Debra Nichols, 6-0-1, and Sandra Yard, 3-2-1.

First bell is 5:30 p.m. and tickets remain, with approximately 1,000 having been sold and the Hilton theatre seating 1,900.

Augie's challenge

Regardless of who Top Rank finds to meet Sanchez on the Hilton card, the pressure is on the Las Vegan to produce. He may be 17-1 with 15 knockouts, yet Top Rank is threatening to drop him when his contract expires next spring.

"I try not to wave it in front of him, but he knows the situation," said Sanchez's trainer, Pat Barry. "They think he hasn't developed and that he may be washed up or a has-been even though he's only 20.

"It's imperative for him to keep his deal with Top Rank. He needs that for his career and if he has any aspirations to move up in the boxing world."

Adding to Sanchez's uneasiness is the fact he's fighting on the undercard of an event headlined by Mayweather, a local adversary and rival who comes from a similar background.

"Top Rank thinks he hasn't matured like Mayweather has," Barry said. "I agree that he could have stepped things up a little bit, but he's been cautious because he lost a fight and then had a long layoff. He's been fighting some inner demons."

As a way of bolstering his position with Top Rank, Sanchez issued a statement this week in which he said he appreciated the promotional firm's support and that he planned to persevere "throughout this difficult learning experience."

Around the ring

Las Vegan Freddie Norwood was stripped of his WBA featherweight title for failing to make weight for a title defense last week in Japan. "His mind wasn't where it was supposed to be," said his trainer, Kenny Adams. "He had a personal problem and he really didn't train at all. Losing the belt will cost him a lot of money, which he started to realize after they took it away." Norwood will attempt to regain the WBA belt when he faces the winner of an upcoming fight between Antonio Cermeno and Carlos Rios. ... Another Las Vegan trained by Adams, WBA super middleweight champ Frankie Liles, has been idled by shoulder surgery. Plus, he's looking for a new promoter after completing his contract with Don King. "He might fight by the end of the year," Adams said, adding that Liles "has been courted" by a handful of promoters, including Magic Johnson. ... Still another Adams client, IBF junior welterweight champ Vince Phillips of Las Vegas, was contemplating an undercard spot on the Hilton card Saturday but pulled out due to lingering knee problems. His new manager, Bill Miller, said "I didn't want to send him out there for some bum fight. Vince is in a once-in-a-lifetime situation and we'd like to get Julio Cesar Chavez to take a fight with him. We talked about it before Julio fought Oscar (De La Hoya) and we actually shook hands on it. But now Chavez looks like he's backing out. Well, this is a challenge to him: I say he's lost his heart if he won't fight Vince Phillips. It's a fight people want to see and it's the only way Chavez can put his 'no mas' from the De La Hoya fight behind him." Phillips has a mandatory coming due with Terron Millet.

De La Hoya's February defense on HBO, likely against Oba Carr or Frankie Randall, is being shopped in Mexico and New York City. ... Tony Lopez won last Saturday's junior welterweight main event at Caesars Tahoe, stopping Jaime Ocegueda in the third round. ... Barry's Boxing, a gym that had been located on Valley View near Spring Mountain, has moved to 2769 S. Highland. ... Raul Marquez was a decision winner over Shibata Flores last Friday in Connecticut. He came out of the fight unmarked and will take one other bout before going after either the IBF or WBC junior middleweight title. ... HBO has a Roy Jones vs. Otis Grant fight ready to announce, with a Nov. 24 date at Ledyard, Conn. ... America Presents, looking to push WBC featherweight champ Luisito Espinosa of the Philippines, has accepted Kennedy McKinney as an opponent Nov. 28 at a site still to be determined. Kostya Tszyu and Miguel Angel Gonzalez will headline. ... Local super middleweight Joseph Kiwanuka has pulled out of an Oct. 8 fight in Kansas City. ... Jeff Wald, an adviser to Mike Tyson, on claims by two men that they were struck by Tyson following an auto accident in Maryland Aug. 31: "Hopefully this will all be resolved before the (Nevada State Athletic Commission) hearing (on relicensing Tyson)." The implication is that Tyson will offer the men a settlement to drop their claims. The NSAC may set the date for reconvening its hearing on Tyson's license today, with Oct. 16 a possibility.

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