Jirov Doesn’t Cruise, He Pounds

To hear Vassiliy Jirov’s people tell it, the International Boxing Federation cruiserweight champion is only biding time at 188 pounds until he fills out and becomes a legitimate heavyweight.

He does, after all, have a reputation of being one of the deadliest body punchers around. And he proved it against Dale Brown on Saturday night on the undercard of the Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad welterweight unification bout at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Jirov retained his title by knocking Brown out with a devastating left hook to the lower ribs at 2:52 of the 10th round.

“I got him with a real good shot to the liver. He was paralyzed,” said Jirov, who improved his record to 22-0 with 20 knockouts. “He was a very good, slick fighter. He had real good movement and a lot of heart.”

“He got me in the ribs,” said Brown, who lost his first fight in dropping to 18-1-1. “My instinct was to get up, but I couldn’t. I had no more wind.”

Jirov, who was a gold medalist at the 1996 Olympics for his native Kazakhstan as well as being named the most outstanding boxer at the Atlanta Games, worked the fight methodically from the start.

Jirov and Brown, of Calgary, Canada, felt each other out through the first few rounds, rarely mixing it up.

But Jirov, a southpaw, began to establish the body in the fourth round.

In the fifth, Jirov caught Brown on the ropes and started peppering him before hitting Brown with repeated body blows. That set up a left cross that dropped Brown to his knees with a second remaining in the round.

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Trying to show that she’s more than a novelty, Playboy cover girl Mia St. John of Canoga Park put her featherweight title on the line against Kelly Downey of Merriam, Kan.

St. John used a brawling, if not flailing, style to stop Downey with 1:40 remaining in the fourth round of a scheduled four-rounder.

“I am so happy now that I can go to ‘Good Morning America.’ They told me I could be their guest only if I won,” said St. John, who improved to 13-0 with eight knockouts. “I think the referee should have stopped the fight sooner. The girl was hurt in the second round, but I had no choice. I had to keep punching her and punching her hard. I can hardly wait for my next fight, whenever it is.”

Playboy fans know exactly when they can see a different side of St. John, however. She’s in the November issue.

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Also on the card, Tony Marshall, of Albany, N.Y., won a unanimous decision over Verdell Smith, of Bartlesville, Okla., in an eight-round super-welterweight bout. Marshall improved to 33-7-6 while Smith fell to 36-30. . . . Johnny Nelson of England retained his World Boxing Organization cruiserweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Sione Vaati Asipeli of Tonga, knocking Asipeli down in the 10th round. . . . Super-flyweight Eric Morel of Madison, Wis., overcame a pair of hand injuries to stay undefeated with a 12-round unanimous decision over Miguel Angel Granados of Mexico City. “I couldn’t throw combinations,” said Morel, whose record stands at 23-0. “I couldn’t get in a real zone.” Morel, a 1996 U.S. Olympian, injured the second knuckle on his right hand in the second round when he knocked Granados down with a straight right after peppering him with left jabs. Morel then sprained his left hand in the fourth round before hanging on to get the win and drop Granados to 19-9-1. . . . 320-pound Butterbean stopped Ken Craven in the second round. “I’m just throwing punches until that coward [Mike] Tyson fight me,” said Butterbean, who improved to 46-2-2 with 36 knockouts. . . . HBO will show a replay of the main event next Saturday at 6:45 p.m.