BOXING / TIM KAWAKAMI : Whitaker Will Call His Shots Patiently

Want to fight Pernell Whitaker? The line forms at his door, and the pound-for-pound best boxer in the world will let you know later if he can accommodate you.

It’s a long line, and it helps to be exceedingly polite to Whitaker while he makes up his mind.

Julio Cesar Chavez? The until-recently unconquerable Mexican legend certainly wants a rematch of their infamous Sept. 10 majority-decision draw. And, when he’s in a good mood, Whitaker sounds as if he would be willing to let that happen.

Terry Norris? Sure, why not? Maybe after Chavez, maybe on Whitaker’s precise terms, maybe if a cool $10 million or so can be rounded up as an honorarium for the man called “Sweetpea.”

The public has crowned him, the television people are swooning and if there is anybody who can ignore the alphabet mess boxing has made of itself and fight for his elevated place in history, it is Whitaker.

Whitaker’s official world title belt is the one signifying the World Boxing Council’s welterweight championship, but nobody really cares about it, including Whitaker.

After dominating Chavez and hearing the furor resulting from the outcome, Whitaker walks above the petty politics and ugly promoters’ tricks.

“I can enjoy the pound-for-pound title pretty much for the rest of this decade, the next 10 years,” Whitaker said recently. “After we live this down, somebody else will move on to it.”

Welcome to life two months after “the Fight,” as Whitaker and his camp plot their way into 1994.

“Now that he’s recognized as the pound-for-pound best, Pernell doesn’t want to do what a lot of champions do and fight nobodies,” said Dan Duva, Whitaker’s promoter.

“He wants to fight champions. He doesn’t want to sit around at the top, he wants to beat guys. Pound-for-pound isn’t the same as another title. He isn’t interested in having to keep this specific belt or that one, he wants to fight the best.

“That’s what you do when you’re the best, he feels. The better you are, the better guys you should want to fight, because, what are you scared of?”

Duva can plan Whitaker’s schedule freely: Who’s going to argue? What organization is going to cause a fuss and who cares if it does? When Whitaker fights, the public will know what’s at stake.

“In 1994, Pernell would love to have two fights: Chavez and Terry Norris,” Duva said. “That would be ideal.”

Those happen to be fighters under contract to Don King, the man many blame for the majority-decision draw rip-off. But in contrast to the Chavez fight, where Whitaker and Duva let King dictate the terms just to get the fight, Whitaker has the clout now.

Which means that any rematch with Chavez will not be in a border town like San Antonio, as was No. 1, and that Whitaker’s share of the purse will have to be much more generous than his $2.5-million cut compared to Chavez’s $4-million earnings in September.

And it means Whitaker may not give his approval if Chavez can’t accept reality.

“I don’t know who I’m going to fight,” Whitaker said. “I’m not promising to fight Chavez again--yet.

“Maybe it’ll be some time in March, if I decide not to change my mind. I want him to admit he lost the fight. Until he can sit down and admit it and stop thinking that he won the fight . . . he knows he didn’t win, the fans know he didn’t win, the Mexican people know he didn’t win.

“So he’s just got to wake up and admit it himself.”

Although no talks have begun for the rematch, eventually there will be Whitaker-Chavez II, and it is difficult to see how the result could be different.

After that one, though, lies the more exciting possibility: Norris, the San Diego-based WBC junior-welterweight champion who also lays claim to the pound-for-pound title, although much less convincingly.

Norris wanted to fight Chavez at 147 pounds, but now that Chavez isn’t the main man anymore, Whitaker-Norris could be one of 1994’s most intriguing matches.

“I think it’s the one and only real good fight out there until the middleweight division shakes out,” said Norris’ manager, Joe Sayatovich. “They’re all calling Whitaker the pound-for-pound best, and I’m not sure of that at all.

“I think Terry will jerk his head off, just like he’s going to jerk Simon Brown’s in December. If they fight, Pernell Whitaker’s going to get knocked out.”

Sayatovich says Norris is planning to move up from 154 pounds to the middleweight limit of 160, bringing middleweights and super-middleweights Roy Jones, Jr., Gerald McClellan, James Toney and other significant names into the picture.

“If (Whitaker is) looking to fight Chavez first, that’s probably too late for us,” Sayatovich said. “We’re not going to wait around for that.

“If I can do the Pernell Whitaker fight, I’d rather do that before the move up to middleweight. March, April, May of next year would be fine. Then he’ll move up to middleweight. If he wants Chavez, then we’ll probably pass him up. Who wants to see that fight again? Not me.”

*

To the great surprise of nobody, Duva has dropped his official protest of the Whitaker-Chavez decision.

“Nothing was happening,” Duva said. “Nothing’s going to happen there so we’re going with the verdict from the court of public opinion. And there’s no question what that is.”

The appeal was based on quotes attributed to one of the judges, Mickey Vann, to the effect that he deducted a point from Whitaker for a low blow even though the referee made no such ruling.

Boxing Notes

The three biggest names in L.A. boxing, who all happen to be fighting as junior-lightweights, could finally begin fighting each other next February. The Forum has begun talks for a Genaro Hernandez-Gabriel Ruelas fight for February. Hernandez, the World Boxing Assn. champion, has said Ruelas isn’t in his plans right now, but that fight could mean a huge payday for Hernandez. Ruelas is the WBC’s No. 1 contender.

Meanwhile, Hernandez is still very much in Oscar De La Hoya’s long-range plans. First, though, De La Hoya could face International Boxing Federation champion John Molina in February, also in the L.A. area. The De La Hoya camp had been thinking of having De La Hoya’s first title shot against lightly regarded World Boxing Organization champion Jimmy Bredahl. But, perhaps realizing that HBO would have little interest in that fight, De La Hoya’s handlers seem to have refocused on Molina. “Molina, then Hernandez,” said Bob Mittleman, De La Hoya’s co-manager. Dan Duva, Molina’s promoter, said he hasn’t heard anything from the De La Hoya camp recently. “John would love to do it,” Duva said. “But we were told they were going to fight the WBO guy.”

If Hernandez survives Ruelas and De La Hoya gets past Molina, a Hernandez-De La Hoya unification bout could happen sometime in late spring or early summer. HBO, which recently signed De La Hoya to a multimillion-dollar, multiyear package, clearly wants De La Hoya fighting quality opponents. “If De La Hoya goes in and storms through Molina or Hernandez, legitimate champions, his reputation grows,” said HBO Vice President Seth Abraham. “So that augurs well for the balance of our package. I’d rather go that way than feed him bums for a year just to keep a contract going.”

IBF and WBA heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe and his manager, Rock Newman, checked into training camp a few weeks ago carrying significant extra baggage on their frames. Bowe hit the scale at more than 270 pounds and Newman was near 250. So they made a $10,000 wager, with Bowe having to get down to 250 and Newman to 220. Recently, both men made weight, canceling the bet and perhaps chilling talk that Bowe will go into his rematch with Evander Holyfield on Nov. 6 sloppy and out of shape.

Bowe and Newman have requested a relatively small 18-foot ring for the bout, mostly to make sure Bowe can find the smaller Holyfield should Holyfield choose to back-pedal. “They called the shots when they were champion last time and now we’re calling the shots,” Newman said. “We want 18 feet.” Said Bowe: “There’s nothing wrong with my foot speed. . . . I want him to be where I can put my hands on him.”

Felix Trinidad, a 20-year-old knockout specialist welterweight drawing a lot of attention, is scheduled to fight Anthony Stephens next Saturday on Showtime from Ft. Lauderdale. Trinidad is 21-0 with 18 knockouts and is the IBF belt holder.