Fight Crowd Rolls In for Camacho-Chavez : Boxing: Even Las Vegas lights up a bit more than usual for this championship matchup of 140-pound veterans.

Once again, it’s “big fight” time in Las Vegas and the good times roll.

The country is supposed to be hurting. But you’d never know there is an economic crunch, not by walking around this town. One headline here proclaimed: “Gaming Revenue Rises 12%.”

Tonight, Julio Cesar Chavez of Mexico and Hector Camacho of Puerto Rico will engage in a fistfight and will then be paid $3 million each.

This is Mexican Independence Weekend here--the holiday is actually Sept. 16--so what better time to have these two boxing for a 140-pound world championship?

The venue will be the 19,000-seat Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and it will be virtually an all-Chavez crowd.

Chavez was probably close to the truth when he said this week, in jest, “If I lose, they won’t let me back in Mexico.”

He is a strong favorite, although odds this week dipped from 6-1 to 5-1.

But this is a fight that has been anticipated for years, so the fight crowd is in town.

The guys in dark suits, sunglasses and crazy hats pack smoke-filled casinos. The jewelry clatters while they laugh, drink and gamble. The bars are full of laughing women and guys trying to be noticed by shouting into their cellulars.

The fight crowd, along with some conventioners, have Las Vegas bursting at its seams.

A taxi? No problem--if you are in a hotel cab line or at the airport. But don’t bother calling one if you are somewhere else.

A hotel room? Forget it. The host hotel for the fight, as soon as it realized what a big score it had for this show, even sold all the rooms it had set aside for reporters.

A nice dinner table, without a reservation? Get outta here . . .

They are all here to see a match that has been talked about for about half a decade. Chavez, at 30 still one of the best fighters anywhere, will be defending his share of the championship against the semi-retired Camacho, also 30.

Camacho has fought once since February, 1991, when he was beaten by Greg Haugen on a decision. Haugen later tested positive for marijuana, but it remains officially Camacho’s only defeat, despite recent promotional nonsense that Camacho is undefeated.

Camacho beat Haugen in a rematch three months later, then knocked out journeyman Eddie Van Kirk last month in Las Vegas.

The always-busy Chavez has fought five times since beating Lonnie Smith here a year ago.

But when running their ledgers back to 1987, you find even bigger gaps in Camacho’s activity. Camacho has boxed 11 times since 1987. In the same period, Chavez has boxed 27 times, against far tougher opponents.

Reflecting on this recently, trainer Alex Sherer said the one constant in Chavez’s career, his busy schedule, has kept him on top.

“Every time you look in the paper, you see a Chavez result from Mexico, usually against some nobody,” Sherer said.

“But the point is, he’s always busy--always training, staying sharp, and keeping his weight down. That’s why he’s been a great fighter for so long.”

Speaking of weight, Camacho had everyone’s attention when he stepped on the scales at Friday’s weigh-in. He has had difficulty making weight for nearly his entire career and weighed 147 against Van Kirk in his over-the-weight tuneup here.

Surprise. Both fighters weighed 140.

Jose Sulaiman, president of the World Boxing Council, called the match an epic one for Latin American fans.

“If this bout were to be held in Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, all 103,000 seats would have been sold, I assure you,” he said.

For both fighters, career-turning victories occurred years back against the same rugged Puerto Rican, Edwin Rosario.

By 1986, Camacho was known as a combination puncher, one with hand speed that seemed to quicken in every fight. He was a superstar in the making.

Then he fought Rosario in 1986. When Camacho tried to mix it with Rosario, he was hurt badly several times. It was the first time anyone had ever stood up to him and fought back effectively.

Camacho got a split decision that night, but many at ringside scored it for Rosario.

And those who have closely followed his career say that fight changed Camacho, from a combination fighter to a hit-and-run boxer. Since Rosario, Camacho has turned some of his fights into contests more resembling 10,000-meter races than fights.

Before he met Rosario, he knocked out 16 of 29 foes. Since then, it’s two out of 12.

Chavez’s convincing ninth-round TKO of Rosario in Las Vegas five years ago stamped him as one of the sport’s stars. He’s 24-0 since then. Moreover, in championship fights, Chavez is 22-0.

If Chavez, as expected, beats Camacho tonight, he could get another long-awaited assignment, against Meldrick Taylor.

Chavez’s promoter, Don King, met recently with Taylor’s man, Dan Duva. Reportedly, they had a cordial conversation about a rematch of the 1990 Chavez-Taylor battle.

Chavez, behind on two of the three score cards, stopped Taylor with two seconds left in thefight with one smashing right hand. Taylor got up, but referee Richard Steele stopped the fight when Taylor wouldn’t respond to his question: “Are you all right?”.

The Duvas and Taylor have complained about it ever since.

Taylor, coming back from a brutal beating by Terry Norris last spring, must defeat Venezuelan Cristanta Espana on Oct. 31 before Chavez-Taylor II can proceed.

On the undercard tonight, former middleweight champion Michael Nunn will try to win Victor Cordoba’s super-middleweight (168 pounds) crown.