Boxing : Roman Has Identity Crisis in U.S.

His adviser, Rafael Mendoza, likes to call Gilberto Roman the Sugar Ray Leonard of the flyweights.

Only in America could you get away with calling Gilberto Roman the best fighter you never heard of, because elsewhere in the boxing world it simply isn’t true. Everywhere else, the little guy has a big name.

Roman, the brilliant Mexico City boxer who defends his World Boxing Council super-flyweight championship at the Forum Tuesday night against Santos Laciar of Argentina, isn’t exactly an unknown in Japan, Thailand or South Africa, where he has stiffened legends.

“If Gilberto was a middleweight, he’d be fighting people like Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran, and he would beat both of them,” Mendoza said.

A year ago, some Japanese promoters took Roman to Nagoya to meet an unbeaten Japanese flyweight, Kiyoshi Hatanaka. Roman was an underdog that night, but it was lesson time for the Japanese boxer. Roman won decisively.

Roman grew up in Mexicali’s Nuevo Pueblo neighborhood, with nine brothers and sisters. His father ran a convenience store . . . and spent much of his time apologizing to parents whose sons had wound up in fisticuffs with Gilberto.

Roman was directed to an amateur boxing program, was sent to Mexico City and made Mexico’s 1980 Olympic team. In Moscow, where his name was somehow turned around and he was listed as Roman Gilberto, he made it to the quarterfinals before losing a 3-2 decision to the eventual gold medalist, Peter Lessov of Bulgaria.

Today, Roman, 27, is a stablemate of one of his 1980 teammates, WBC super-bantamweight champion Daniel Zaragoza. Roman, in fact, is the godfather of Zaragoza’s son.

Roman is 52-4-1, but he’s 0-1-1 against Laciar, whose record is 77-8-11. In 1986, Roman and Laciar drew in Laciar’s hometown, Cordoba, Argentina, and a year later Roman lost on a cut at Reims, France.

For both, Tuesday’s is a tough fight, and a bonus for Southland boxing fans who have come to expect championship fights at the Forum. This is the sixth 1989 world title fight at the Forum.

The WBC has retooled its heavyweight rankings to suit promoter Don King. King plans to bypass the No. 1 contender, Evander Holyfield, and pit heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Razor Ruddock and Buster Douglas. Accordingly, the WBC has promoted Ruddock to No. 2 and Douglas to No. 3 in the rankings, past Michael Dokes, who is No. 4.

Never mind that Holyfield, everyone’s No. 1, had to fight for his life to beat Dokes last March, or that Ruddock has beaten only Bonecrusher Smith (No. 20) lately, or that Douglas looked awful--to say nothing of grossly fat--on the Tyson-Carl Williams undercard in July, when he beat Oliver McCall, who was unranked.

Let’s see, what possible reason could there be for denying Dokes the No. 2 spot? It couldn’t be that King felt Dokes’ manager was asking for too much money when they talked about a Tyson-Dokes fight, could it? Noooo, of course not.

Must be some kind of clerical error.

The WBC’s middleweight ratings still don’t list International Boxing Federation champion Michael Nunn anywhere. Some folks think Nunn may be the world’s best middleweight, but you’d never know it by looking at WBC ratings. Roberto Duran is the WBC champion.

But how about this--Sumbu Kalambay is ranked eighth and Iran Barkley 10th. Both were beaten by Nunn, Kalambay in 91 seconds.

Boxing Notes

The Trump Plaza Hotel has made official the long-rumored date of Nov. 4 for its Evander Holyfield-Alex Stewart heavyweight fight. Both fighters are unbeaten, Holyfield in 22 bouts, Stewart in 24. The Showtime fight will be Stewart’s prime-time debut. He has stopped all 24 of his opponents, but hasn’t fought anyone close to Holyfield’s stature. . . . Insiders say the proposed George Foreman-Gerry Cooney “battle of the whales” in Atlantic City is almost official. . . . Former lightweight champion Vinny Pazienza meets David Gauvin Nov. 20 in Providence, R.I.

Marvin Hagler says the Sugar Ray Leonard-Tommy Hearns draw at Caesars Palace last July vindicates his 1987 charge, after his loss to Leonard, that boxing judges favor Leonard in close fights. . . . “That just shows you that you’re never going to get a break (from the judges) against Leonard,” he said while at the Dana Point Resort to tape a “Greatest Sports Legends” show. . . . Hagler now lives in Milan, Italy, where he’s developing an acting career. . . . “‘I’m going to live in Italy another six months to a year, and learn the language,” he said. . . . When asked if he’s considering a return to boxing, Hagler said: “No. I’m finito (finished).”