At Lean 130, Hunger is De La Hoya’s Motivator

Oscar De La Hoya, whose hearty appetite for glory and food has been only marginally quenched by a minor title and weeks of discipline to whittle himself down to 130 pounds, looks at tonight’s opponent, Italian import Giorgio Campanella, with undisguised relish.

“I’m a hungry fighter--I’ve worked very, very hard to get down to 130,” De La Hoya said. “So I think of Campanella as a plate of fettuccine. And I love fettuccine.”

In his first Las Vegas headline performance, De La Hoya tops a pay-per-view card at the MGM Grand that also features the first title defenses of Roy Jones Jr., International Boxing Federation middleweight champion, who has grumbled about his place as a headliner being usurped by De La Hoya, and Rafael Ruelas, IBF lightweight champion, who is supposed to fight De La Hoya sometime in 1995.

This is De La Hoya’s last fight at the 130-pound junior-lightweight limit and the only defense of his World Boxing Organization 130-pound title. His next fight is expected to be on July 29 against Jorge Paez for the vacated WBO 135-pound title.

De La Hoya (12-0, 11 knockouts) said he is eager to face a fighter with Campanella’s straight-ahead, brawling style. Campanella (20-0, 13 knockouts) has never fought outside Europe.

“What I’m looking forward to is eating,” said De La Hoya, who will earn $500,000 for the bout. “Eating after the weigh-in. I’m hungry. Very, very hungry. It’s going to be a good fight, but I want to get it over with because of the weight.”

For Ruelas, who won his title by coming back for a dramatic decision over Freddie Pendleton at the Forum in February, the bout against Mike Evgen of St. Paul tonight is a major change of attitude.

“Leading up to my title fight, I knew who I had to beat; I was the young challenger, (Pendleton) was a world champion,” said Ruelas (40-1, 31 KOs). “Now, it’s like the roles have been reversed.”

Ruelas, who will be paid $200,000, spent most of his training time preparing for Carl Griffith, whose reported substance-abuse problems forced a change in opponents to Evgen (25-2, 12 KOs).

Jones (25-0, 22 KOs) has what he acknowledges is a major chip on his shoulder. He was the showcased fighter last August in Bay St. Louis, Miss., when De La Hoya was on the undercard.

Jones, will make about $750,000 tonight in his first title defense.

“I came here with an attitude,” said Jones, who is fighting IBF No. 1 contender Thomas Tate.

“The reason I have an attitude is I’m 25-0, an Olympic champion, what else do I need? And still I have not seen my face on the cover of a major boxing magazine or headline a card in Las Vegas? Why? I want to know.”

Tate (29-2, 21 KOs) is the younger brother of former middleweight champion Frank Tate and has dedicated this fight to his family.

The first bout on the televised card is 19-year-old flyweight Danny Romero (16-0, 14 KOs) against Hugo Torres (24-4-2, 12 KOs).