Reid may get big test from Mullings

A day earlier David Reid admitted there may be no tougher opponent than a former world champion coming off the loss of his title.

Keith Mullings reinforced that fear Thursday with a compassionately stated address in which he underscored that he was coming to win their World Boxing Association junior middleweight title fight Saturday at the Hard Rock hotel-casino.

Mullings may be the betting underdog but he figures to be a handful for Reid, the WBA champion at 154 pounds.

"This is a fight I need and want," Mullings said. "Reid is basically going to have to kill me to stop me. I'm there to win this fight and prove I haven't fallen by the wayside."

Mullings, 31, has a disjointed record of 16-5-1 that at least moderately belies his abilities. He's a tough guy who has lost four fights by split decision, including one in Las Vegas to Raul Marquez two years ago.

He gained the World Boxing Council championship one fight later when he upset then-champion Terry Norris, but he was, in turn, upset by Spaniard Javier Castillejo last January in Spain.

That loss put Mullings back into the self-descriptive category of "suspect."

Now he has a chance, perhaps his last one, for complete redemption.

"Reid has a lot riding on this and so do I," Mullings said. "He has some people who have some doubts about him and he wants to lay those doubts to rest, just like I want to lay the doubts about me to rest.

"Plus I want the respect and accolades I think I deserve."

Mullings will have to win to return to prominence in the sport, and he's a plus 325 in the Hard Rock sports book. Reid, 13-0 and a 1996 Olympic gold medalist, is a minus 450 betting favorite for a fight that will be televised by HBO.

"Keith, he's funny," Reid said after hearing what Mullings had to say. "But I'm quite sure he's coming to fight and I know he's going to try with all his heart to take my belt, but it's not going to happen.

"I've come too far to lose."

Reid's trainer, Al Mitchell, expects his man to be tested to the fullest extent and predicts it will be "an excellent, competitive fight."

Mullings and his people come across as genuinely appreciative of having a chance at Reid, given that this is an optional defense for the champion. "It's rare for a champion to fight the best man available, but that's what David is doing and I congratulate him for it," said Mullings' manager, Arnie Rosenthal.

Reid, 25, won the WBA title in April by taking a decision over Laurent Boudouani in Atlantic City, and he followed that up with a successful mandatory defense and decision win over Kevin Kelly at the same site in June.

He's being paid $450,000, while Mullings receives $100,000.

Aside from seeking a victory and maybe a knockout to end a streak of three consecutive decision wins, Reid will also be looking to answer questions about his chin and his famous droopy left eyelid. The chin comes into question as he has been down three times in his last three fights, while the eye routinely sags under the TV lights and the punishment of a fight.

Yet Reid's promoter, Dan Goossen, believes the best approach is to take Reid for what he is.

"Every fighter has some sort of real or imagined weakness," he said. "There's not a fight that goes by where I don't worry about my guy's chin, or his hands, or, in David's case, his eye.

"I'll agree that cosmetically he's disadvantaged. But it's David Reid, so I don't have any concerns with his eye. He's a guy who has never let anything hold him back."

As for thoughts that Reid is a medical risk, Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Marc Ratner said the state cannot and would not prevent a legitimate champion from defending his title.

"We'll watch the eye closely during the fight," Ratner said. "But it looks fine today and if we were to give him a prefight exam he would pass it every time."

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