Fame Expected to Prove Lucrative, but Fleeting, for These Three Boxers

The citizens of Whiting, Ind., nearly all 7,247 of them, have been buzzing for weeks in anticipation of Sunday, when their Marty Jakubowski slips through the ropes in Las Vegas against Julio Cesar Chavez.

The next time Whiting sees Jakubowski, he probably will have several new things:

--A check for about $20,000.

--A pair of dark glasses.

--And a headache.

“I’m not a religious man, but a thing like this can make you religious,” Jakubowski said. “My friends are saying they’re praying for me. One guy said he went to church and lit a candle for me. I told him, ‘Why didn’t you light the whole church?’ ”

Chavez, the World Boxing Council’s super-lightweight champion, is 83-0 with 71 knockouts and has long laid claim to being the best fighter, pound-for-pound, in the world.

Jakubowski brings a 23-0 record into the non-title fight, having fought a long lineup of club fighters in and around the Whiting-Chicago-Gary, Ind., area.

Another bad sign for Jakubowski: Against hugely modest opposition, he has only four knockouts, the last one coming in July of 1990.

“All I’ve got to do is what the other 83 people who fought Chavez didn’t do,” Jakubowski said, laughing. “There’s nothing to it.”

And if the Chavez-Jakubowski matchup isn’t lopsided enough, Terry Norris, the WBC super-welterweight champion who dominated Sugar Ray Leonard and Meldrick Taylor, will fight San Francisco’s Irish Pat Lawlor, who was soundly beaten three years ago by Drafton Bunch and, in his last two bouts, was knocked out by John Jackson and beaten by Hitoshi Kamiyama in Tokyo.

Lawlor also takes an honest look at his non-title fight against Norris.

“When they told me I could fight him, I was really surprised,” Lawlor said. “He’s such a great fighter. There’s nothing much I can say. He’s got me beat on all sides. He’s younger and faster and stronger . . . everything. I have to try to frustrate him somehow. How? I don’t know. I honestly have no idea. I really have no clue.”

The third bout of the night brings together Julian Jackson, the WBC middleweight champion with a 45-1 record and 42 knockouts, and club fighter Eddie Hall (21-9-1) of Uniontown, Pa. It, too, is a non-title fight.

The bouts form one of the most unevenly matched cards in boxing history, one that also includes WBC super-middleweight champion Michael Nunn (38-1) vs. little-known Tim Johnson (12-4) of Nashville; former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Greg Haugen (31-4-1) vs. little-known Armando Campas (16-4-2) of Mexicali, Mexico, and heavyweight Tony Tucker (47-1, 37 knockouts) vs. little-known Anthony Wade (17-3 with four knockouts).

So why this lineup?

Well, perhaps promoter Don King put it best last week at a Los Angeles news conference:

“If you don’t give people the opportunity, they’ll never have the chance,” he said.

A reason put forth by others is that Chavez, Norris, Jackson and Haugen all need a bit of exposure to build up their real fights Feb. 20 in Mexico City. On that card, Chavez will take on Haugen; Norris is scheduled to fight former champion Simon Brown, although that fight is in jeopardy because of an eye injury to Brown; Jackson will fight hard-punching Gerald McLellan (26-2, 24 knockouts), and WBC super-featherweight champion Azumah Nelson of Ghana will fight top-ranked contender Gabriel Ruelas of Arleta.

Today’s card at the Mirage Hotel, despite having three of the best fighters in the world, is little more than an exhibition. Chavez will earn about $400,000 for the fight. Jakubowski’s purse is about $20,000.

“People keep telling me-- my people--that anything can happen, that I can beat Chavez,” Jakubowski said. “Of course, none of them have to crawl into the ring with this guy.”

Norris will earn $300,000 for his fight against Lawlor, who will earn $18,000.

“My friends and family are excited about this fight, but maybe not in the right way,” Lawlor said. “They’re excited in the ‘Do you want me to call 911?’ kind of way.”