Columnist Dean Juipe: De La Hoya planning for knockout

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]

Loathing a man he once respected, Oscar De La Hoya intends to put a beating on Julio Cesar Chavez when they tangle Sept. 18 at the Thomas & Mack Center. The fight is a rematch of a 1996 bout that was stopped in the fourth round with Chavez bleeding badly from a cut above his left eye.

Because Chavez left the ring that night saying he wasn't impressed, and because he has failed to repent, De La Hoya is promising to make him pay in the rematch.

"I'm ready for this guy," he said Wednesday during a conference call from his training camp in Big Bear, Calif. "This fight is meant to be a war. I'm going to go in aggressive and with no respect whatsoever.

"My only satisfaction will be in getting a knockout -- a devastating knockout. I will not be satisfied if it goes to a decision."

Tickets for the card are virtually sold out, with promoter Bob Arum saying only 300 remain in the 18,500-seat arena. He also said 15,000 closed-circuit seats will be available in Las Vegas, and that he expects the fight to exceed the nonheavyweight pay-per-view record of 800,000 homes established by De La Hoya's fight with Pernell Whitaker last year.

The host casino, Caesars Palace, has De La Hoya up as a minus 1100 favorite in its sports book. Chavez is a plus 900 underdog.

Chavez has taken a battery of tests administered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and was tentatively okayed for the fight Wednesday. The NSAC will also have a doctor re-examine Chavez's eyes on Tuesday.

"He's dangerous, any fighter in shape is dangerous," De La Hoya said of his 36-year-old rival. "If I'm not prepared, he can beat me."

Chavez is 101-2-2 in a career that dates from 1980. De La Hoya, 25, is 28-0 and "anxious" for the fight to arrive.

"There's bad blood," he said of his relationship with the six-time former world champion. "I don't respect the guy and I cannot have a friendship with him. I don't like him and he doesn't like me.

"He's arrogant. There's a lot of tension between us."

De La Hoya admired Chavez before their first fight. But that was then.

"I had a respect for him because of his name," he said. "But I have no reason to respect him outside the ring now. I couldn't believe it (after the 1996 fight) when he had the nerve to say he wasn't ready and that he was already cut coming into the fight.

"If he was a real man, he'd have said 'Oscar beat me this night fair and square.' It makes me want to beat him down with no remorse."

In the sixth week of training, De La Hoya said -- predictably -- that he was feeling strong.

"I feel like a different fighter now," he said. "I've noticed the change in my body from vitamins and weight training. The way I feel, I feel unstoppable."

That being the case, taking the "under" in the round proposition at Caesars may be enticing. The over-under is 5 1/2.

"If I land a good punch, he'll go down," De La Hoya said. "It'll be difficult to convince the diehard Chavez fans that I beat him fair and square, but that's what I intend to do."

Around the ring

Bam Promotions has cancelled its Sept. 17 card at The Orleans. ... Las Vegas cruiserweight Tiwon Taylor, 21-5-1, is looking at a hearing in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission after allegedly testing positive for marijuana following his Aug. 28 loss to Saul Montana at the Las Vegas Hilton. ... Local light heavyweight Rocky Gannon officially retires from boxing at a party in his honor Saturday, although his next move is to take a shot at professional wrestling. "He's very marketable and we're both in favor of it," said his wife, Nicki. Gannon will bulk up to 240 pounds to wrestle. ... HBO has an interesting fight Saturday from a bullring in Tijuana, Mexico, as WBC super bantamweight champ Erik Morales takes on two-time former champion Junior Jones. Morales, a minus 200 favorite at Caesars Palace, is 30-0 and will be making his fourth title defense. Jones, a plus 170 underdog, is 44-3 and coming off a loss to Kennedy McKinney as well as an injured right shoulder. "Eventually Morales will catch up with Jones," predicted Morales' trainer, Las Vegan Miguel Diaz. Local oddsmaker Herb Lambeck is taking Morales, who at 21 is six years younger than Jones, because of his "home-field" advantage. "It's impossible for me to bet against a Mexican titleholder defending on his home turf," Lambeck said. ... The IRS has placed a $6.3 million lien on the Farmington, Conn., home of Mike Tyson, claiming he owes back taxes. Tyson also owes $25,000 in unpaid property taxes in Farmington, the Hartford Courant reported. The home is for sale with a $22 million price tag, although it was purchased for Tyson by a former advisor for $2.7 million in 1996. Tyson also has homes in Las Vegas, Ohio and Maryland.

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