Amid the Boos, Lackluster Reid Has Arm Raised in Victory

The voice cut through the crowd Saturday night in the showroom named “The Joint” at the Hard Rock Hotel.

“We really need you to win this fight,” yelled Fernando Vargas.

Vargas was imploring David Reid, the World Boxing Assn. super-welterweight champion to beat Keith Mullings.

Vargas got his wish. Reid won a unanimous decision.

But he didn’t win many new fans other than Vargas, the International Boxing Federation junior-middleweight champ, who sees a big payday if Reid (14-0, seven knockouts) can remain unbeaten.

What others saw, including those who showered Reid with boos as he left the ring, was a fighter who did just enough to win, which is becoming a pattern with Reid.

This was his fourth consecutive fight, and sixth in his last eight, which ended in a decision.

Reid is clearly quicker and slicker than Mullings (16-6-1, 11 knockouts) and he was content to use those strengths to stay away from Mullings. He taunted him, frustrated him and landed an occasional combination.

That was good enough give Reid a 117-111 victory on all three judges’ scorecards.

And it left Mullings so frustrated that he threw Reid to the canvas on one occasion, tried to kick him on another, bumped shoulders with him, yelled at him and did everything else he could think of to lure Reid into a slugfest.

“I tried to fight him, but he wouldn’t fight me,” Mullings said. “I came to fight and all he did was run. I tried to make it a fight.”

Al Mitchell, Reid’s trainer, gave his fighter a grade of 7 1/2 out of 10. But he didn’t give Mullings much of a grade when it came to class.

“He didn’t come to fight,” Mitchell said. “He came to head butt. But we trained for the head butts. We expected it to happen.”

Reid may have taunted Mullings during the fight, but he was humble when it was over.

“I belong at this level, but it was very tough,” Reid said. “There were a few things I wanted to do I couldn’t do. He was an awkward opponent.

“It’s clear these opponents are watching my tapes and they know I am too fast to cope with me. They are all tough, but I beat them all.”

But more and more, it’s by the bare minimum.

“I’m not satisfied,” Mullings said. “That belt should be around my waist.”

HBO Vice President Lou DiBella wasn’t satisfied either.

Of Reid, DiBella said: “He fought a real stinkeroo of a fight.”

The winner of the semi-main event, matching World Boxing Council Continental Americas heavyweight champion Monte Barrett against Lance Whitaker, was hoping to get a shot at Mike Tyson.

Whitaker (19-1, 16 knockouts) of Los Angeles won a split decision over Barrett (21-1, 13 knockouts) to win the title. But the 6-foot-8, 249-pound Whitaker didn’t do much to show that he belongs in the ring with Tyson, struggling to squeak out a victory despite being five inches taller and 31 pounds heavier than his opponent.

In a battle of unbeaten heavyweights, Lawrence Clay-Bey ((10-0, eight knockouts) won a unanimous decision over Dale Crowe (15-1, nine knockouts).

The biggest question after watching the two flail away on each other for 10 rounds is: How bad were the fighters they beat?

Clay-Bey at least had an excuse. A broken left hand had kept him out of the ring since April of last year.