McNeeley Again Has Shot at the Big Time

It is the fight that has the town talking, the bettors wagering and the interest level peaking.

Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad?

No, that match won’t happen until Sept. 18.

Tonight’s main event at the Mandalay Bay Hotel between World Boxing Assn. bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia and challenger Paulie Ayala?

Wrong again.

The fight with the biggest buzz on tonight’s card is that much-anticipated, much-debated battle of the behemoths between Eric Esch, better known as Butterbean, and Peter McNeeley, better known as the first stiff placed in Mike Tyson’s path after he was released from prison four years ago.

Up until now, Butterbean has been a novelty act, his opponents more likely to be found on a list of carnival performers or bar bouncers than in the rankings of the boxing organizations.

But McNeeley (45-4, 34 knockouts) at least brings a modicum of credibility, and an opportunity to find out if Butterbean (42-1-1, 33 knockouts) can actually fight.

McNeeley sees tonight’s four-round match--that’s as far as Butterbean can go without oxygen--as more than a sideshow. McNeeley sees it as a chance to get back into the big show, a chance to finally be more to the boxing public than the guy who caved in against Tyson only 89 seconds into their fight.

“I’ve been to the biggest show of all when I fought Tyson,” said the 30-year-old McNeeley, who began fighting professionally in 1991. “I got drunk with the publicity. This time, I think I’ll be able to handle it better.

“People fight the fight of their lives against me because they know I carry the publicity with me.”

McNeeley will fight at a huge weight disadvantage. He weighed in at 212 pounds to Butterbean’s 311.

“I think I’m going to be taken seriously [with a win],” McNeeley said. “Butterbean is pretty cute, and I don’t mean looks-wise, but as a fighter. He is a lot better boxer than people give him credit for, a better boxer than people suspect.”

McNeeley looks on tonight’s match, which is for the lightly regarded International Boxing Assn. super-heavyweight championship, as a pivotal fight in his career.

“I’m at the crossroads,” he said. “This is make or break for me. If I win, I’ll move on in the fight game. If I lose, I’ll have to rethink my career. I don’t want to get a day job just yet.”

Said Butterbean, “I’m coming to fight, so Peter better start looking for that day job.”

It hasn’t been all witty barbs. McNeeley has also used the spotlight of this fight to talk about the substance-abuse problems that ravaged him for so long.

“Boxing has helped me to fight off the demons of drugs and alcohol,” he said. “Boxing is a natural high. There is no better high. But in the past, I would relapse after fights. I would celebrate the win or mourn the loss. I would drown myself either way. I was an example of what not to do.”

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While there is no guarantee about the quality of the Butterbean-McNeeley match, there should be no doubt about the level of competition in the main event. Tapia enters the ring 46-0-2 with 25 knockouts, Ayala 27-1 with 12 knockouts. That’s one loss between them in 76 fights.

A former International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization junior-bantamweight champ, Tapia will make the first defense tonight of the WBA crown he won in December via a unanimous 12-round decision over Nana Yaw Konadu.

Tapia’s last appearance in the ring was in April when he knocked out Alberto Martinez in the first round of a nontitle bout.

This will be Ayala’s second shot at a title. The first, against World Boxing Council bantamweight champion Joichiro Tatsuyoshi in Yokohama, Japan, in August 1998, ended in the sixth round when the fighters butted heads. With a gash over Tatsuyoshi’s right eye, the ringside physician advised that the bout be stopped. Tatsuyoshi was ahead on all three scorecards.

Tapia and Ayala weighed in at 118 pounds Friday.

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There will be a second title fight on tonight’s card--actually a third if you count Butterbean-McNeeley--featuring WBC lightweight champion Stevie Johnston (26-1, 14 knockouts) defending his crown against unbeaten Aldo Rios (20-0, four knockouts) of Argentina.

There will also be a match between former junior-middleweight champions. Former IBF titleholder Yory Boy Campas (72-3, 62 knockouts) of Mexico will face Ron Weaver (23-4, 18 knockouts), who held the IBA crown, in a 10-round match.

And finally, with Butterbean elevated to near-credible status, Mia St. John will have the role of featured sideshow performer when she puts her unbeaten record (11-0, seven knockouts) up against Mary Ann Haik (5-5, two knockouts) in a four-round bout.

Haik goes by the nickname Scary Mary.

Enough said.

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Tonight

* Where: Mandalay Bay Hotel, Las Vegas

* Time: 6 p.m.

* TV: Pay-per-view

* Who: Johnny Tapia vs. Paulie Ayalah; Stevie Johnston vs. Aldo Rios; Yory Boy Campas vs. Ron Weaver; Eric Esch vs. Peter McNeeley; Mia St. John vs. Mary Ann Haik.