Columnist Dean Juipe: Vargas, Marquez exchanging shots before upcoming bout

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

Even if neither one could speak a lick, Fernando Vargas and Raul Marquez would likely have a good and interesting fight. But the fact that each man has shot more than a few verbal salvos at the other has turned their July 17 bout at Caesars Tahoe into a refreshing showdown of sorts that figures to be excellent entertainment.

Vargas, the IBF junior middleweight champ, is defending his title against one of his predecessors in a fight to be televised by HBO. Marquez was the IBF champion until losing in December of 1997 to Yory Boy Campas, who, in turn, was beaten by Vargas last December.

Vargas, 21, is 16-0 with all 16 wins by knockout. In addition, he has not had a fight go beyond the seventh round.

Marquez, 27, is 30-1 with 20 KOs.

Vargas is the betting favorite yet Marquez has displayed some ability and has no shortage of heart.

"I used to like Raul," Vargas said. "As a matter of fact, I still do. He's a cool guy and he can say what he wants to say.

"But his skills, I feel, are not there. You can hit him with your eyes closed. He gets hit with everything and he's cut prone."

Marquez has become known as something of a "bleeder," yet he claims those days are in the past.

"Fernando keeps saying I cut and swell easy, but that was a year and a half ago," Marquez said. "My face didn't hold up against Yory Boy because of a big cut I got (winning the title) against Keith Mullings.

"But the last two fights I've had I didn't get any scratches or anything. He keeps saying I'm going to be an easy fight and my face must have 300 stitches, but if it was 300 I'd look like Yory Boy and I wouldn't still be fighting."

Unless Marquez is over the hill, he'll give Vargas a battle for as long as the fight lasts. Vargas, however, doesn't feel it'll take too long to determine a winner.

"It's going to be my show," he said. "I still consider Marquez a tough fighter, but I've been with tougher fighters. This is kind of sad to say, but usually southpaws are intelligent fighters and hard to hit, but Raul isn't.

"I thought (Anthony Stephens) and Campas gave him back-to-back beatings. He only won the title from Mullings because of a head butt."

Both Vargas and Marquez have been training in the high altitude of Big Bear, Calif., and it's no surprise they bumped into one another in the midst of the small community. It's also no surprise there was a confrontation.

It occurred May 22, the night Oscar De La Hoya was defeating Oba Carr at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. A bar in Big Bear put up a sign welcoming fans to watch the fight on TV with Vargas serving as the informal host.

Marquez and his entourage decided to drop in.

"The sign right out front said 'Come See the Fight with Fernando Vargas' and obviously he came there to intimidate me," Vargas said. "My people responded by being aggressive and I'm a fighter, so I reacted aggressively."

Words were exchanged but apparently no blows were struck, at least among the principals.

"I didn't say much," Marquez recalls of the incident. "He yelled 'If you want the belt, come and get it' but I pretty much ignored him.

"I look at Fernando and think he's kind of childish. He talks a lot."

He's also a potentially great fighter who could emerge as the biggest star of the new millennium. At 154 pounds, Vargas is in a division with another dynamic youngster, David Reid, plus De La Hoya will move to that weight class at the end of the year.

HBO has had Vargas under contract and recently extended its deal with him for four more fights, culminating with a match next year against Reid, the WBA champion.

"I love what I do and I love being champion," Vargas said. "I like coming out of a fight clean -- that's how you last longer. I'm not like Raul, who looks like he's been through the wars."

As the focal point of this show, Vargas will be on display at Caesars Tahoe and will have open workouts beginning Monday. As a former champion, Marquez is happy to have Vargas carrying that promotional load.

"I see he's kind of worried about this fight," Marquez said. "There's a lot of pressure. They make Fernando out to be a big star and I read a lot about how he's the No. 1 guy and everything.

"It's kind of funny: He tries to be tough and he gets in my face and tries to give me that look, but we'll see what happens in the ring. He says I'm a dumb fighter, but I'm ready and I'm well rested.

"The pressure's on him."

* QUICK HITS: Speaking on the Geraldo Rivera show on CNBC, promoter Don King said the federal government's pursuit of him is racially motivated. "It's no longer prosecution, it's persecution," he said, referring to the FBI looking into his records to see if he had bought influence with boxing organizations, specifically the IBF. "I have not given (IBF president) Bob Lee any money," King said. "Look, there's a double standard here. He's black, I'm black." Asked directly whether he felt race was the primary factor in the FBI's pursuit of him, King said "no question about it." Two of King's attorneys also appeared on the show and supported him. While William Murphy said "Don's a favorite target and so it feeds on itself," Peter Fleming asked "Of all the promoters, why was Don King's office the only one the FBI raided?" ... Former heavyweight champ Tommy Morri son has had his competency questioned by a Tulsa judge, who ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Morrison rather than sentence him on a drunken-driving charge. Tulsa County Special Judge Kyle Haskins asked for the evaluation at a pretrial hearing last week and sentencing was delayed until Aug. 9. Morrison, who is HIV positive, responded to Haskins with a nod.

The Showtime card July 24 in Las Vegas will take place at the Flamingo Hilton, not the Las Vegas Hilton as initially released. Champions Terron Millett and James Page defend their titles against Virgil McLendon and Freddie Pendleton, respectively, with heavyweight contender Henry Akinwande also pencilled in. ... That same night at the Tropicana, heavyweight Ed Mahone takes on Derrick Banks and David Kamau meets Edgar Ruiz in a fight for a minor welterweight title. ... Heavyweight Brian Nielsen of Denmark, mentioned as a possible opponent for Mike Tyson this fall, lost his first fight after 49 wins when American journeyman Dickie Ryan stopped him in the 10th round of a bout in Veile, Denmark. ... Bally's is considering an all-female card within the month. ... Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes he has WBC featherweight champion Cesar Soto matched with Princ e Naseem Hamed, probably in Las Vegas, either Oct. 2 or Nov. 6.

Arthur Williams is back in the gym after losing his IBF cruiserweight title to Vassiliy Jirov June 5 in Biloxi. "I felt I should have boxed him more," Williams said this week at Nevada Partners. "He was awkward, but I didn't fight him right." He'll take a fight this fall and then has been promised a rematch with Jirov for later in the year, as per their original contract. "I'll have my body in better shape," Williams said of the target area Jirov aimed for and found. ... No opponent yet for local heavyweight Jorge Luis Gonzalez for his July 25 fight in Kansas City, although it may be veteran Phil Jackson. "He's got no heart," Gonzalez said of his potential foe. "He's got nothing and he gets scared. His eyes don't lie." ... Trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, who as Eddie Gregory won the WBA light heavyweight title in 1980, has been approached about facing form er heavyweight champ Larry Holmes on a pay-per-view card that would feature old-timers. Holmes recently defeated Bonecrusher Smith in a similar format.

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