BOXING / RICH TOSCHES : Even at the Top, Anger Often Has Bigger Punch Than Money

You would think that among today’s seasoned professional boxers, with millions tucked away in mutual funds and high-yield bank accounts, the old playground taunt concerning mothers wearing Army footwear wouldn’t mean much anymore.

You would think wrong.

The ploy doesn’t always work. Several years ago, when heavyweight Mitch (Blood) Green opted for this tactic with a tirade against Mike Tyson at 3 a.m. on a New York street in an effort to lure Tyson into a lucrative fight, all he got was a fight. Right then. Green got a bloody nose and no money. And he was ridiculed by comedians for months.

But often, the tactic does work. A month ago, super-featherweight Gabriel Ruelas of Arleta used it to lure Azumah Nelson into a sanctioned bout that will bring Ruelas a purse six times larger than any of his previous 34 bouts.

And earlier this week, words apparently also worked for super-welterweight champion Terry Norris, setting up a likely showdown with Julio Cesar Chavez in 1993 that could bring each $10 million.

Ruelas, the World Boxing Council’s top-ranked contender, had been scheduled to fight Nelson on Nov. 7 in Lake Tahoe. But Nelson abruptly pulled out of the agreement in September, choosing instead an easy and moderate payday to defend the WBC super-featherweight title against little-known Calvin Grove.

Ruelas, 22, seethed. He went to Lake Tahoe, sat at ringside for Nelson’s bout and then, after Nelson won a decision over Grove, was brought face-to-face with the Nelson for a post-fight TV interview.

Ruelas seized the moment.

“He ducked me once,” Ruelas said angrily, staring into Nelson’s eyes. “Eventually, he has to fight me. And then, I’m going to kick his. . . .”

Nelson had been smiling. He stopped. His eyes narrowed and he pushed a finger toward Ruelas before TV-types intervened.

Two weeks later, Nelson signed to fight Ruelas on Feb. 20 in Mexico City.

How important was Ruelas’ display?

“Put it this way,” said Dan Goossen, Ruelas’ manager. “Before it happened, Nelson said he wanted $2 million to fight Gabriel. After it happened, he signed to fight him for quite a bit less than $2 million. Quite a bit less.”

Nelson will earn $350,000 for the fight. Ruelas, whose top purse has been $20,000, will earn $125,000.

“It was not a show,” Ruelas said of the on-camera display. “He had me so mad at that point, I just couldn’t keep it in. I guess it helped get the fight signed. He definitely reacted to it. Hey, if that’s what it took to get him to fight, fine.”

There was one drawback, however. Ruelas’ mother didn’t like her son talking like that on national TV.

“She told me never to use that language again,” Ruelas said.

Thursday, at a news conference at the Century Plaza Hotel to announce that Feb. 20 card in Mexico City, Norris, the WBC super-welterweight champion, used the same tactic to rile Chavez, the WBC super-lightweight champion. Chavez will defend his title against veteran Greg Haugen on the Feb. 20 card. Norris was to have defended his title against former welterweight champion Simon Brown, but Brown recently underwent surgery for a detached retina. A new opponent for Norris will be chosen.

But the fight Norris (32-3) really wants is against Chavez, who is 83-0 with 71 knockouts.

So Norris burrowed in.

“First of all, I want to thank God Almighty for my success,” he said. “He is the only God. Some people seem to think Chavez is God, but I want you to know he is not.”

After a quick translation into Spanish, Chavez stared hard at Norris.

Norris then vowed to knock Chavez out in two rounds, and Chavez reacted angrily. He said he didn’t like people who talk too much and spent the next five minutes--as Norris continued to threaten--making the universal hand signal for yak-yak-yak.

When it was Chavez’s turn to talk, he was brief. After Haugen, he said, he will sign to fight Norris and shut him up. With that, he and his entourage stormed off the stage. As the group left, all, including Chavez, held the talking hands over their heads.

“I’ve never seen Julio react that way,” said Joe Sayatovich, Norris’ manager. “Terry finally got to him. You see, it’s still a macho thing with fighters. The money doesn’t matter sometimes. You think they might be beyond that stuff at this stage of their careers, but among these top guys, the best fighters in the world, it can be even more intense. Someone threatens to kick someone’s butt, and that’s a challenge. The adrenaline comes.”

Don King, who promotes Chavez’s fights, smiled.

“They will fight in 1993, as soon as possible,” King said. “What I saw just now was a very big cash cow dance through this room.”

Norris made other waves during the week, firing long-time trainer Abel Sanchez and replacing him with Joe Goossen.

Sanchez, according to Norris and Sayatovich, had worn out his welcome.

“He was getting greedy,” Sayatovich said. “He wanted more and more money, a bigger percentage of everything. That had been going on for a year or more. And then, in the past few months, he started training other fighters, including a pretty good fighter in San Diego who’s in the same weight class as Terry. I asked Abel what he was thinking about. I asked him how he could train a guy who might one day get a chance to fight Terry.

“He didn’t have the right answers.”

Norris’ father, Orlin, is still the primary trainer for his son. Goossen, who has trained former middleweight champion and current WBC super-middleweight champion Michael Nunn along with Gabriel and Rafael Ruelas, will work closely with the Norris team, however.

Also on the Feb. 20 card in Mexico City will be a bout between WBC middleweight champion Julian Jackson (45-1, 42 knockouts) and Gerald McClellan (26-2, 24 knockouts).

As a preview to the Feb. 20 card in Mexico City’s 102,000-seat Azteca Stadium, some of the same fighters will hold what amounts to little more than sparring sessions against a lineup of nobodys next Sunday in Las Vegas. The card is headlined by Chavez. He will fight a non-title bout against Marty Jakubowski of Whiting, Ind., who is 37-0 with only eight knockouts against Midwest club fighters.

In what could be even more of lopsided bout, Norris will fight Pat Lawlor (18-3, five knockouts) of San Francisco, whose only claim to fame came is a victory in 1991 over a flabby and stumbling Roberto Duran.

The rest of the non-title line-up for the show at the Mirage hotel:

--Jackson vs. Eddie Hall (21-9-1, 11 knockouts) of Uniontown, Pa.; Nunn (38-1, 25 knockouts) vs. Tim Johnson (12-4, two knockouts); former IBF heavyweight champion Tony Tucker (47-1, 37 knockouts) vs. Anthony Wade (17-3, four knockouts) of Indianapolis and Haugen (31-4-1 with 16 knockouts) vs. Armando Campos (16-4-2, nine knockouts) of Mexicali.