BOXING / EARL GUSTKEY : Haugen Says He Doesn’t Worry About Facing Chavez in Mexico

Has Greg Haugen, a boxer who says what is on his mind, really thought this one through?

Word came from Mexico City the other day that there is a chance that Azteca Stadium will be sold out for the showdown between Mexican national hero Julio Cesar Chavez and Haugen on Feb. 20.

Now, Azteca Stadium isn’t the Reseda Country Club, a venue more familiar to Haugen. Azteca, one of the world’s biggest stadiums, seats 110,000 for soccer, 120,000 for boxing.

There hasn’t been a crowd of 100,000 for a fight since the Dempsey-Tunney fights in Chicago and Philadelphia in the late ‘20s.

What prompts concern is that Haugen, boxing’s answer to Don Rickles, always talks a good fight, as well as fights the good fight.

But what happens if in prefight days, Haugen manages to get an entire nation infuriated at him . . . and then somehow beats Chavez?

A couple of years ago, when Haugen fought Hector Camacho in Las Vegas, he started yelling insults at Camacho’s entourage during the weigh-in.

“Hey,” Haugen yelled. “Have any of you moochers figured out what you’re going to do after tomorrow, when I beat this bum and you’ll all have to get real jobs?”

Haugen won. They had to get real jobs.

Haugen was asked Friday if he has pondered crowd control problems if he should somehow beat Chavez before 120,000.

“Hey, I’ve fought in tough places before,” he said. “It’s nothing new to me. (Promoter Don) King knows I wanted this fight real bad, so he made me fight him in Mexico City.

“I don’t care. I’ll beat him. I’ve fought in a lot of hostile places. They made me fight (Pernell) Whitaker in Hampton, Va. I had to fight the European champion in Copenhagen. I had to fight Vinny Pazienza in Providence, R.I.

“Besides, this guy is not as good as everyone makes him out to be. His record is padded. He gets hit a lot. And every time he tries to hit me in the ribs with that left hook, I’m coming at him with a right uppercut.

“(Meldrick) Taylor beat him up, then Chavez got lucky in the last round. I’m going to jab him, which will be easy because he’ll come in on me. And I’m going to follow up with right hands. We’ll find out how well he fights backing up.”

But the question of security has been raised by others for this show, which also offers Gabe Ruelas of Sylmar against Azumah Nelson of Ghana, Ruelas’ long-awaited championship opportunity.

“I’ve talked to Don (King) about security for our boxers, and we’re going to talk more about it,” said Dan Goossen, promoter for Haugen and Ruelas.

Whatever, Haugen says he won’t be intimidated by the crowd or the boxer.

“I’m going right after this guy, in the first round,” he said.

“He’s a good fighter, not a great one. I’m going to wrap him up a lot and I’m going to talk to him. And I’m going to win. Losing is not even on my mind.”

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The California Athletic Commission released a strongly worded statement this week, relating to its financial crisis. Commission chairman Bill Eastman and his executive officer, Richard DeCuir, say that unless the commission receives legislative help in getting independent financing--namely, a tax on pay-per-view telecasts--boxing is finished in California.

The release says: “The Department of Finance’s proposed $200,000 budget cut to the California Department of Consumer Affairs’ State Athletic Commission, effective July 1, 1993, will close the commission’s doors unless new legislation is passed to raise licensing fees and derive funds from pay-per-view boxing.

“ ‘These proposed cuts, coupled with a projected drop in revenue, will close the commission’s one remaining office. With the commission out of business, there will be no boxing in California,’ Commission chairman Bill Eastman said.”

The release continues: “. . . A death knell is sounding for the long, colorful history of boxing in this state. We simply won’t pretend to regulate when resources don’t allow us to protect boxers.”

Boxing Notes

The Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe fight in November was bought by 735,000 pay-per-view households, at $35.95 each. NBC’s Olympic Triplecast 15-day package, at $125 each, was bought by 165,000 households. Pay-per-view telecasts of other Holyfield fights, against George Foreman and Buster Douglas, were bought by 1,450,000 and 1,059,000 households, respectively. The only other non-boxing pay-per-view event to approach those numbers in the last three years was a 1990 pro wrestling show, bought by 675,000 homes.

The Michael Nunn-Victor Cordoba fight, originally scheduled for San Juan, Puerto Rico, has been moved to Memphis, for next Saturday. It will be a rematch of their close WBA super-middleweight title fight, won by Nunn, on the Julio Cesar Chavez-Hector Camacho card last year in Las Vegas. On the Nunn-Cordoba Showtime card is the long-awaited U.S. debut of onetime Soviet amateur star Constantine Tzyu, voted outstanding boxer at the 1991 World Championships in Sydney. Tzyu, a welterweight, has been campaigning as a pro in Australia.

What do Holyfield and Foreman have most in common these days? Neither can make up his mind. Holyfield has reversed himself at least twice on his boxing plans after his defeat by Bowe, and Foreman always sends mixed signals about what he wants to do. Foreman at one point said his 1991 match with Holyfield was his final fight, as ordered by his wife. Now, after beating Pierre Coetzer last weekend in Reno, he is saying much the same, putting the proposed Foreman-Tommy Morrison fight in doubt. “I have to talk that over with my wife,” Foreman said of a fight he had already signed for.

Jorge Paez and Jesse Torrez will be the headliners at the Forum on Feb. 1. . . . On that long-awaited card including a light-flyweight showdown between Michael Carbajal and Humberto Gonzalez March 13 at Las Vegas, co-promoter Bob Arum apparently felt that two little guys in the spotlight needed some balance--so he has added heavyweights Jorge Gonzales (6 feet 6) and Mike White (6-10).