BOXING / RICH TOSCHES : Haugen: Mancini Is No Laughing Matter

If you get a rush watching violent men with deadly serious intentions, boxing is what you’re looking for. It’s a sport in which a good practical joke generally consists of whacking an opponent below the belt and watching the look on his face.

So what is Greg Haugen doing in this business?

To see the former lightweight champion outside of the ring is to see a man locked in a state of perpetual humor. Example: About a week ago, after watching a night of fights at the Reseda Country Club, Haugen spent 10 minutes in a restaurant bouncing dinner rolls off the head of more-than-slightly agitated trainer Joe Goossen, who was in the midst of an important phone call when the bread bombs began screeching in.

“Haugen, I’ll kill you!” Goossen bellowed.

A second later, thud. Another roll hit home.

Haugen roared with laughter.

Three years ago, at a news conference involving more-than-slightly overweight trainer Lou Duva, Haugen said he would win the championship belt from Pernell Whitaker, prompting Duva to proclaim, “Greg, the only belt you’re gonna get is mine after the fight.”

“Great,” Haugen shot back. “I can use it to tow my car.”

Haugen is preparing for an April 3 fight in Reno, where he hopes to bounce much more than bread off the head of another former lightweight champion and now fledgling actor, Ray (Boom Boom) Mancini, who will be trying to come back after three years off.

Haugen is already in top form.

“Why is the guy making a comeback?” Haugen said at a news conference two weeks ago. “I’m not sure, but I bet it has something to do with his acting career being in the toilet.”

Mancini, 31, has appeared in two episodes of “Who’s The Boss,” along with a few other TV shows. He also has had parts in an off-Broadway play and in films entitled, “Back Street Dreams,” “Wishful Thinking,” “Time Bomb” and “Aces--Iron Eagle III.”

Haugen, as you might guess, is not overly impressed.

“Actor? Give me a break,” he said. “Ray misses the bright lights, the glory. That’s why all these guys come back. The only thing he’s recognized as now is a bad actor. He’s had all these ridiculous parts in movies, these Godzilla Eats Japan kind of movies. He can’t be getting paid for this stuff. He must be paying them just to let him do it.

“No, I haven’t seen any of his movies or plays,” Haugen said. “So what? No one else has, either.”

Acting--good or bad--won’t play much of a part in the fight.

Haugen, the former two-time International Boxing Federation champion, has looked sharp in his recent bouts, handing Hector Camacho his first loss early in 1991, although Haugen lost in the rematch in a close and controversial decision. In his most recent fight he knocked out Alfonso Perez in the eighth round, running his record to 29-4-1. His other losses came against champions Vinny Pazienza--against whom he has lost twice and won once--and the recognized king of the lightweight division, Whitaker.

Mancini is 29-4, but his most recent bout was in March of 1989, when he lost to Camacho in Reno. Mancini lost to Livingstone Bramble twice, being knocked out in 1984 and outpointed early in 1985.

Mancini--who held the World Boxing Assn. title from 1982 to 1984--celebrated his last victory more than six years ago, when he stopped former champion Bobby Chacon, who was making a comeback.

And while Haugen enjoys a good laugh more than the next guy, he also is capable of great anger when Mancini’s name is mentioned.

“He predicts that he’ll knock me out,” said Haugen, who has never been stopped. “I can’t believe he’d be saying a thing like that. Ray Mancini is gonna hurt me? I don’t see that happening. And the more he runs his mouth, the worse he’ll be at the end of the fight. I want to punish him before I knock him out. The more I listen to him, the more I don’t like him. I never had nothing bad to say about him, but then he starts mouthing off about knocking me out.

“I just don’t like the guy. I’m not hyping a fight. I’ve never done that. I just don’t like the punk.”

What has Mancini said to make Haugen bristle so?

“I’ve just said that I don’t think this will be a tough fight for me,” Mancini said from his home in Youngstown, Ohio. “This kid ain’t much, that’s all. He stands and fights, and that’s perfect for me. I don’t need a tuneup for Greg Haugen. After I beat this kid I’ll decide if I want to go on.”

Mancini said the comeback is not about money. But the reported $500,000 or more that Mancini will earn against Haugen doesn’t exactly ruin his day, either.

“It’s really just a way for me to make a buck for my family,” Mancini said. “I have a wife and kids and an obligation to support them. This is an opportunity to do that. The opportunity won’t be there forever. And I can make more from this fight than all my movies together.

“But really, this is not about money. This is my ultimate challenge.”

Haugen laughed when he heard that.

“Let’s face it, he needs the money,” Haugen said. “It’s the only reason any of them ever come back. He’s a starving actor. A challenge? Sure. The challenge is to keep from going broke.”

OK. So Haugen also can be mean. He is, after all, a fighter.

“You can have fun and still be a boxer,” Haugen said. “That’s what it’s all about. It’s the toughest sport in the world. It’s brutal sometimes. But once in a while it’s OK to bounce a dinner roll off a guy’s head.”

Boxing Notes

Gabriel Ruelas of Arleta might get a shot at the WBC super featherweight championship this year. Ranked No. 3 by the WBC behind Jeff Fenech and John John Molina, Ruelas (27-1) should move into the No. 2 spot when Molina fights for the IBF junior lightweight title and would be in line for a mandatory defense against the winner of the rematch April 2 of Fenech and champion Azumah Nelson in Australia. . . . Tickets for the Haugen-Mancini bout are available through Ten Goose Boxing in Van Nuys. The fight is being co-promoted by Dan Goossen, president of Ten Goose, and Lou Falcigno of New York. It will be available on pay-per-view. . . . The Forum had to scrap Monday night’s bout between Mexicali’s Jorge Paez and Puerto Rico’s Jose Luis Vasquez because Paez, who drove from his home in Mexico to a Forum press conference on Thursday, has the flu. Doctors ordered Paez not to fight. Also lost was a scheduled 10-rounder between undefeated David Kamau and Rolando Commings. Still on the card is a 10-rounder matching Armando Castro and Antonio Ramirez in a semifinal bout of the Forum’s super flyweight tournament, and a 10-round bout featuring undefeated David Sample against Forum lightweight champion Fidel Avendano. The card begins at 6:30 p.m.