BOXING / CHRIS DUFRESNE : Cold Warrior Now an IBF Capitalist

Roll over, Leonid Brezhnev.

The most talked-about fighter in boxing was born into a cold world, during a Cold War, in a smoke-stacked Russian factory town in the Ural Mountains.

Twenty-five years later, lured by the promise of a microwave oven and double bed, he now sports a braided ponytail and the title of International Boxing Federation junior-welterweight champion.

In only his 14th professional fight, Konstantin Tszyu ended the reign of Jake Rodriguez on Jan. 28 in a most convincing manner, knocking Rodriguez down four times in the sixth round before the fight was stopped.

The irony was dripping. Tszyu, a former Red Army soldier, claimed the championship in Las Vegas, that capitalist playground.

It was a rubles-to-riches story for Tszyu, who earned $30,000--an almost obscene amount of money back home.

But even bigger paydays await.

Tszyu, pronounced zoo , has captured the attention of boxing enthusiasts with a flair that is anything but the robotic, Eastern-European style displayed in Olympic three-rounders and “Rocky” sequels.

Tszyu loves to play the crowd and often drops his gloves dangerously low. He also baits his opponents, backing it all up with cocksureness and a sledgehammer and sickle right hand.

“This is a bad boy,” Mike McCallum, World Boxing Council light-heavyweight champion, said last week from his training camp in Palm Springs. “He doesn’t fight like a Russian. He fights like over here.”

Of course, every Elvis needs his Col. Tom Parker. For Tszyu, the pitch-man is Bill Mordey, an Australian boxing promoter.

Tszyu was already an acclaimed fighter in Russia, amassing a 269-3 amateur record. In 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Tszyu won the world championships in Sydney.

Seeing no reason to go home, Tszyu signed with Mordey and stayed in Australia. He skipped the 1992 Olympics and turned pro.

Next month, Tszyu expects to be granted Australian citizenship.

“I’m proud I’m Russian, but I decided to leave,” Tszyu said before the Rodriguez fight. “Australia is my second home. I’ll stay there forever.”

What Tszyu does next is one of boxing’s most intriguing questions. Might he be, at last, a worthy opponent for Pernell Whitaker, reigning WBC welterweight champion, who is quickly running out of challengers and challenges?

“Yeah, he’s pretty good,” Whitaker said of the Russian. “But I’m not looking at a yearlong distance.”

In other words, Whitaker might not be willing to wait until Tszyu fills out into a welterweight. As it is, Whitaker is moving up to 154 pounds to challenge Julio Cesar Vasquez for his World Boxing Assn. junior-middleweight title next month.

Promoter Bob Arum is working on an equally interesting proposition. He has begun negotiations with Mordey for a possible fight pitting Tszyu and the winner of a proposed May 6 bout between Oscar De La Hoya and Rafael Ruelas.

De La Hoya can’t afford to look ahead. To get to Ruelas, De La Hoya must first defeat John John Molina in a high-risk fight at the MGM Grand on Saturday.

Arum makes money looking ahead. So what if De La Hoya survives Molina and Ruelas?

“I think Oscar knocks the Russian kid out,” Arum said. “The Russian is a tremendous puncher, has very good balance, but he’s slow. . . . A fast guy who can punch will hurt him and knock him out.”

Tszyu, who speaks broken English with an Australian accent, has long been a fan of Los Angeles’ “Golden Boy.”

“I know Oscar from the Goodwill Games and World Championships,” Tszyu said. “At the time I couldn’t speak any English, so I couldn’t talk to him.”

Maybe it’s time they chat.

*

The race is on: As Mike Tyson counts down the days until his expected release from prison in May, George Foreman and Riddick Bowe are busy on the outside jockeying for position to fight him.

All three men have dollar signs in their eyes.

Foreman’s strategy is a waiting game. Publicly stating he wants no part of Bowe, Foreman has risked being stripped of his WBA title by ignoring No. 1 contender Tony Tucker.

Instead, Foreman intends to follow through with his April 22 fight against Germany’s Axel Schulz in Las Vegas. A victory could set him up for a mega-payday with Tyson.

Bowe, the former heavyweight champion, is convinced he is being shut out of the heavyweight picture by politics. He will fight Herbie Hide for the lightly regarded World Boxing Organization title March 11.

If Bowe wins, Evander Holyfield may beckon. If Bowe wins again, the theory goes, Tyson will recognize him as the true heavyweight champion.

“Foreman is marketable, but he doesn’t have credibility as a champion,” Rock Newman, Bowe’s manager, said recently.

Arum, who promotes Foreman, sees it differently.

“Tyson’s dream is to fight George Foreman,” Arum said. “Can that fight be put together? There’s no question he (Tyson) is being talked to. But I don’t think Bowe is in this equation.”

Holding the all-important card is none other than Don King, Tyson’s manager, which makes the whole situation, well, hairy.

Boxing Notes

Forum Boxing’s four-title card at The Pond on March 31 is down to a three-title card. The World Boxing Assn. has refused to sanction junior-lightweight champion Genaro Hernandez’s title fight against Jorge Paez because Paez is not ranked in the organization’s top 12. Hernandez will fight Paez in a 10-round, nontitle bout.

Because of an injury, Glendale’s Hector Lopez has pulled out of his Feb. 20 fight at the Forum for the vacant World Boxing Organization junior-welterweight title. Lopez twisted his ankle Wednesday while sparring with Genaro Hernandez. Instead, Sammy Fuentes will fight Fidel Avendano for the vacant title on the Feb. 20 card, with Lopez to fight the winner within 60-90 days. Julio Cesar Chavez will make his 1995 debut on Don King’s April 8 card, which features heavyweights Oliver McCall and Larry Holmes fighting for McCall’s World Boxing Council title. Chavez, the WBC’s reigning 140-pound champion, will face Italy’s Giovanni Parisi, the 1988 Olympic gold medalist.

In its latest newsletter, the WBC reported it was deferring its boycott against California boxing until the legality of Proposition 187 is resolved. The measure, passed by California voters last November, would cut off education, welfare and non-emergency health care to the state’s estimated 1.7 million illegal immigrants.

Following passage of Prop. 187, the WBC announced it would sanction and/or suspend Mexican nationals who fought in the state through March. Prop. 187, however, is in legal limbo and has yet to be enacted.

Calendar

Thursday: Luis Ramon (Yory Boy) Campas vs. Cassius Clay Horne, junior-middleweights; Hector Monjardin vs. Isagani Pumar, junior-lightweights; Jaime Garza vs. Paris Alexander, super-bantamweights; Grand Olympic Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.