BOXING / TIM KAWAKAMI : Jones, Toney to Take a Jab at a Career Springboard

Roy Jones and James Toney, contenders to fill a vacancy in the hearts and minds of boxing fans once occupied by such greats as Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns, posed for pictures, promised victory and peered malevolently at one another Friday at the House of Blues.

Leonard watched it all, as he has watched hundreds of other boxing news conferences since his retirement, and for once, his presence didn’t overwhelm the moment. In fact, it seemed to add to it.

Jones and Toney, undefeated champions considered two of the top three fighters in the world, will fight for Toney’s International Boxing Federation super-middleweight title on Nov. 18 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Jones is the fighter with the blistering hand speed and ability to move around the ring like a halfback. Toney is the fighter with the underrated defensive skills and devastating inside power.

And in an era when cautious promoters and chaotic decisions have cut away at boxing’s stature, Jones vs. Toney is a fight that suggests comparisons to the days when Leonard, Roberto Duran, Hearns and Hagler lifted the sport higher.

Does anybody in boxing stoke those kinds of passions any more? Julio Cesar Chavez did, for a while, in Mexico. Mike Tyson might again, once he is released from prison, but he carries enormous baggage. Pernell Whitaker is the sport’s best, but with Chavez on a swift decline, he has nobody in his weight class to give him the competition he needs to achieve real superstardom.

If a new Leonard or Hagler or Hearns is going to emerge in the next few years, it probably will be as a result of this November bout and whatever bouts spin off it.

“This is a fight that takes you to the next level, you understand that?” said Leonard, who acknowledged that he’d feared this fight would never take place. “It’s a fight that propels you to the point where people say, ‘He’s a great fighter.’ You can’t do that when you fight the other guys.”

When it appeared that the fight might never happen, Leonard, who works with the MGM, moved to remind both men of what they might be throwing away.

“I was talking to both guys,” Leonard said, “saying, ‘Hey, this is the fight that’s going to make you who you want to be, and who you think you are.’

“Naturally, both guys have complaints that they are not making marquee money. But it takes this kind of fight to make you a marquee name.”

Jones has recognized that reality by agreeing to relinquish his IBF middleweight belt in order to move up to fight Toney, and by signing a deal that pays the fighters strict percentages of the pay-per-view profits.

Usually, in such a high-profile bout, the fighters are guaranteed a set amount that can be inflated if the PPV buy turns out to be more than expected. Toney and Jones are getting no such guarantee. Their only guarantee is that the winner will have a very, very bright future.

“If I win the fight, I’m sure I’d be considered the top guy,” Jones said. “Nobody would have any other choice.”

“I think I become a bigger star after I win this fight,” Toney said. “I will be the man.”

Toney’s veteran trainer, Bill Miller, says that until you measure yourself against the best, you can’t claim to be No. 1.

“This fight will put him where he wants to be,” Miller said. “They always tell us this before every fight, ‘Beat this guy, and that will do it.’ When we fought Tim Littles, they said it. When we fought Prince Charles (Williams), they said, ‘Oh, he’s a bad guy, this will do it.’ Then afterward, it’s always somebody else.

“But this is the guy. It takes this type of fight for both of them. They need each other.”

Beyond this fight, for both fighters, lies the possibility of a series of big bouts. Gerald McClellan, one of the sport’s hardest hitters, is the World Boxing Council super-middleweight champion and would love a shot at Toney or Jones.

Terry Norris, who abandoned plans to move up from junior-middleweight after losing to Simon Brown early this year, might be tempted to try it now that he has regained his WBC junior-middleweight title.

After about a decade of less-than-scintillating fighters, could this be the start of a new era?

“It definitely could be something like that,” Jones said. “I could have a series with James. I could have a series with McClellan. I still could have a series with Terry Norris.

“It could knock boxing out of its slump.”

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One of the more interesting undercurrents is the noticeable tension between Jones and Bob Arum, who promotes both men and is promoting the fight but has been having public disagreements with Jones over money the last few months.

“It’s not a comfortable thing,” Jones said. “See, if you go ahead and do stuff the way you’re supposed to do stuff, we wouldn’t have any problems.

“If you go back and play those games with me and do like he does all the rest of the fighters, you’re wrong. I’m not James Toney. I’m not one of those old fighters who kisses his behind and will just do it his way.”

The most recent point of contention was a $150,000 payment Jones said Arum was withholding.

“It’s due Sept. 15, and I will, of course, pay him,” Arum said. “He made it seem like it was past-due money, which it wasn’t. Why he said that, I have no idea. He’s a very moody kid.”

Boxing Notes

Michael Carbajal’s attorney says that the former light-flyweight champion is bewildered about the statements being made about Carbajal’s possible involvement in Phoenix gangs after Carbajal was arrested on felony charges involving gunshots at a party last weekend. Carbajal allegedly fired shots into the air and flashed gang signs when he was denied entrance to the party last Saturday morning. He was booked and released, pending an investigation. He faces a maximum 1 1/2-year sentence.

“Michael has adamantly and vehemently denied he has any connection with any gang,” said the lawyer, Ben Miranda.

Miranda, who says Carbajal has been advised not to make any statements about the incident or the allegations, blasted suggestions that Don King, who recently signed the fighter away from long-time promoter Bob Arum, had had an immediate, bad influence on Carbajal. “Don King has nothing to do with any unfortunate circumstances that Michael may find himself in,” Miranda said. “Michael’s still the same he’s always been, and he’s always going to be the same--doesn’t drink, smoke, do drugs, doesn’t belong in a gang and he lives in a neighborhood that generally can be characterized as containing a lot of those elements. Don King didn’t tell Michael to stay in his community. But Michael’s committed to living in the neighborhood. Michael feels comfortable in his neighborhood and he doesn’t consider moving anywhere an option at this point.”

Meanwhile, negotiations continue for a third Carbajal-Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzalez bout, but there has been little progress and Miranda said Friday that as far as the Carbajal camp is concerned, there will be no second rematch. King has promised Carbajal a $1-million purse to fight Gonzalez, who is promoted by the Forum and believes he deserves more than Carbajal for the bout. “Chiquita is going to blow it,” Miranda said. “Chiquita is going to be nowhere in a year, and we’re moving in other directions.”

Tonight, Gonzalez makes the first defense of his World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation titles since winning them from Carbajal last February. Gonzalez fights Juan Domingo Cordoba at Lake Tahoe. The fight is being televised by Channel 9. One of the good young fighters in the area, junior-lightweight Carlos Hernandez, has been added to the Gonzalez undercard. Hernandez (17-0-1 with 9 KOs) is scheduled to meet Juan Carlos Barreto (16-5, 5 KOs).

Police have told friends of former lightweight champion Ike Williams that they have dropped the investigation into his death after a coroner ruled that he died of arterial sclerosis, commonly known as hardening of the arteries. Williams, 71, was found dead last Sunday in his Wilshire district apartment, and witnesses told police that his television was missing and a window had been left open.

Richard Parker, the former promoter of Oliver McCall, who is scheduled to fight in two weeks for Lennox Lewis’ WBC heavyweight title in London, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, trying to stop the bout, claiming McCall was stolen by Don King Productions. A lawyer for Don King Productions said the lawsuit was without merit and that most of the claims had been previously dismissed by U.S. District Judge Nicholas Politan in Newark, with the judge ruling they could not be brought again.

Oscar De La Hoya has two defenses of his World Boxing Organization lightweight championship firmly scheduled: Oct. 8, at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, against John Avila, and on the Roy Jones-James Toney undercard Nov. 18 against an undetermined opponent, possibly Carl Griffith.

Calendar

Monday: Montell Griffin vs. Ray Lathon, light-heavyweights; Wilfredo Rivera vs. Ismael Diaz, welterweights; Forum, 7:30 p.m.