Columnist Dean Juipe: Win would salvage rough year for McCullough

Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 259- 4084 or [email protected]

Snake bit throughout 1999, Wayne McCullough is hoping to salvage what's left of the year and reclaim a bit of the luster that accompanied his rise to world champion's status four years ago.

Aside from enjoying the baby girl born to his wife Cheryl, McCullough has had a miserable '99. Due to a series of injuries and mishaps, he has not had a fight although he is on schedule to headline an Aug. 30 boxing card at the Hard Rock.

The Irishman, a long-time Las Vegas resident, has had no fewer than three physical mishaps this year. The first, a spider bite, poisoned him and left a scar on his left hand. The second, a back injury incurred while sparring, knocked him out of a big-money fight last spring with WBC super bantamweight champion Erik Morales. And the third, at the Vegas 4 drive-in theatres, had him back in the emergency room last month with a scratched cornea in his left eye.

"I've had enough stuff like that to last a lifetime," McCullough said this week of his disparaging series of setbacks. "Hopefully I won't have any more, ever."

The most recent of the injuries was at least as unlikely as the previous two.

"I couldn't believe it," McCullough said. "A friend was in town and wanted to go to a drive-in, so we go out there and set up our chairs by the car and everything seemed fine.

"Then a big wind storm blows through and it seemed like some dirt or dust got caught in my eye and I couldn't get it out. I had to go to the hospital."

McCullough resumed training last week and sparred 15 rounds at Nevada Partners, where he continues to work in preparation for a 10-round fight with an opponent still to be determined although it may be journeyman Mike Jaurez. With McCullough not having fought since losing a decision to Naseem Hamed last Oct. 31, he's looking to sharpen his skills in his fight later this month and maybe fight again on the Oct. 2 Mike Tyson undercard in Las Vegas.

He's 22-2.

"It's been so long since I've fought, to tell you the truth I don't even know what I'll be like in the ring," McCullough said. "I want to feel good. I just want to get back in there and go a few rounds, win, and not have any injuries."

McCullough, who gained the WBC bantamweight title in 1995 but later lost that belt and moved from 118 to 122 pounds, turned 29 last month. The significance is that he once believed he would retire by the time he was 29.

"I said that I would (retire), but now that I'm 29 and haven't taken any punishment, I can't," he said. "I thought by now I would have had 35 fights and that it would be time to quit.

"But it's not."

* JOHNSTON HOPEFUL: Looking to atone for a mediocre performance in a dismal fight, WBC lightweight champion Stevie Johnston trained in Las Vegas for his Saturday fight with Angel Manfredy in Connecticut on HBO and is hopeful of regaining his lost fans and stature.

Johnston, 27-1, is coming off a June 26 fight with Aldo Rios at Mandalay Bay that put everyone to sleep. Rios had no desire to win or even fight and Johnston spent the entire 12 rounds halfheartedly chasing him.

Johnston won, but it was ugly.

"Those kind of fights turn fans off," he admitted. "I know I disappointed a lot of people, but I just couldn't catch the guy."

But that fight won't be anything like this one, as Manfredy is a straight-ahead puncher with brawling tendencies and a 28-3-1 record. Amazingly, and as a result of Johnston looking so ineffective against Rios, Manfredy is currently a minus 170 favorite in Las Vegas sports books. Johnston is a plus 150.

"In boxing, you're only as good as your last fight," said Johnston's trainer, Miguel Diaz. "And in his last fight, Stevie looked really bad. He had no answer for Rios."

Because there were beliefs Johnston was insufficiently prepared for Rios, he moved his training camp from Denver to Pat Barry's gym in Las Vegas. Diaz believes Johnston has responded and will handle Manfredy in spite of what the bettors are thinking.

"All those people are going to be sorry they bet on Manfredy," Diaz said. "Stevie wants to win very badly and he's very intelligent. He knows he's not a great puncher, but he's a solid fighter with a great chin and he has the boxing ability to just wear a man down.

"We're expecting the real Manfredy and we're expecting the real Stevie Johnston to beat him."

* QUICK HITS: Nothing official yet, although it appears the Ricardo Lopez vs. Will Grigsby fight for the latter's IBF junior flyweight title will be held Sept. 4 at the Las Vegas Hilton. Julio Cesar Chavez is on board in a support role. ... Former Las Vegan and ex-world champion Kennedy McKinney has taken an Aug. 28 fight with Mario Diaz in Tunica, Miss. McKinney is 33-4-1, while Diaz is 23-9. ... A fight scheduled for last Saturday in Lafayette, La., between Las Vegans Roger Mayweather and Leroy Owens didn't come off. "They said ticket sales were slow and cancelled it," Owens said. "I'm mad; I lost 15 pounds for that fight." ... The Avi resort held its initial boxing card last Saturday in Laughlin and a crowd of around 700 watched as George Ibediro defeated Adrian Lott by sixth-round knockout to win the cruiserweight main event.

Shannon Briggs, held to a draw last Saturday in his heavyweight fight with Frans Botha in Atlantic City, said Wednesday he believes he will get Mike Tyson Dec. 11. "I've received some calls indicating I might get the fight," he said during a conference call. "We'll see what happens." Briggs, 31-2-1, said he may have underestimated Botha. "I didn't think his boxing ability was as good as it was," he said. "The guy's a world-class fighter." Botha, on the same conference call, said Briggs was better than Tyson. "He's a more difficult fighter to face than Tyson, who's very predictable," Botha said. "I thought Shannon and I had a very competitive fight. I did very well against him." Showtime will rebroadcast that fight card, including Marco Antonio Barrera's decision win over Pastor Maurin, Saturday at 11:15 p.m. In the undercard feature, Barrera improved to 49 -2 in spite of being knocked down in the seventh round.

Despite his loss in the Pan American Games, local lightweight Jason Ingwaldson remains the country's top-ranked amateur at 132 pounds according to new listings supplied by USA Boxing. The only other Las Vegan in the rankings is Ishe Smith, who is No. 8 at 147 pounds. In addition, Las Vegas has two Junior Olympic fighters ranked, including Alvaro Morales, who is No. 1 at 165 pounds. Avelino Chavez is No. 9 at 139 pounds. ... Top Rank has signed Carlos Navarro, 19-0, to face WBA super bantamweight champ Nestor Garza on the undercard of the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad show Sept. 18 at Mandalay Bay. ... Heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi remains incarcerated in Las Vegas on a July 22 sexual assault charge, as he was unable to post the $2 million bail last Friday. Ibeabuchi, 20-0, has an Aug. 25 preliminary hearing.

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