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Columnist Dean Juipe on Boxing: Coley Promises He'll 'Take It To' De La Hoya

Like many people exposed to Oscar De La Hoya, Derrell Coley has come to learn the Golden Boy doesn't always live up to his promises. While De La Hoya is forever insisting he's "new and improved," come fight time he hauls out the usual artillery.

"He does the same thing before every fight," Coley said during a conference call, referring to De La Hoya's penchant for saying one thing but doing another. "I don't see him changing. Everything he says he's going to do, he doesn't do. He never does any of it.

"You only need to watch him fight one time, because he never changes."

Coley will get a firsthand look at the 2000 version of De La Hoya when the two welterweights tangle Saturday in New York City's Madison Square Garden. While the World Boxing Council championship won't officially be at stake the night of the fight, it is, in essence, the prize here, as titleholder Felix Trinidad is expected to relinquish the crown within the next two weeks.

Saturday's winner will then be anointed champion.

"I've changed my way of thinking," De La Hoya said, not unexpectedly, during his own conference call promoting his bout with Coley. "I'm working harder and my style this year is to go for the knockout. I'm training for the knockout.

"I want to have four fights this year and win them all by knockout."

De La Hoya, 27, is 31-1 with 25 knockouts, but is coming off a decision loss to Trinidad.

Coley, 29, is 34-1-2 with 24 KOs and has been the WBC's top-ranked welterweight for almost three years. Others have sidestepped him, but now he gets his chance.

"I've been waiting a long time," he said. "Of course I was frustrated. When they bring up the best fighters in the world, you never see my name even though I've beaten 34 welterweights."

Coley will attempt to become a household name in this HBO-televised fight.

"De La Hoya is the best fighter in the world but I'll test him in every area he can be tested," Coley said. "I'm not worried about what style he's going to use. I'm going to dictate the fight."

He said he didn't think much of either man's effort in the De La Hoya vs. Trinidad fight.

"Both of them looked terrible," Coley said. "Oscar was scared of Trinidad and both guys disgraced the division. Neither one should be a champion."

De La Hoya isn't the champion because he let the last few rounds of the fight with Trinidad get away from him.

"It was totally my fault," De La Hoya said. "I'm taking the final responsibility on letting the fight get away. I can't go on using excuses that the judges scored the fight wrong.

"The bottom line is that Trinidad got the decision and there's nothing I can do about it."

Nothing, that is, except be more aggressive this time around.

Nonetheless, Coley comes across as unconcerned.

"Oscar says he wants to duke it out," Coley said. "But I very seriously doubt he'll make a rumble of it.

"If it takes me to take it to him in order to make it a fight, that's what I'm going to do."

* TWO NEW CARDS: The Flamingo Hilton has picked up a card scheduled for Tuesday that will feature heavyweight Larry Donald, 36-1-1, against Mark Bradley, 12-2, in its main event. Also scheduled: Antonio Tarver, 14-0, vs. Ernest Mateen, 10 rounds, light heavyweights; Radford Beasley, 18-0, vs. Claure Rojas, 16-10, 12 rounds, featherweights; DeMarcus Corley, 20-1-1, vs. Troy Browning, 17-0-1, 10 rounds, junior welterweights; Chantel Stanciel, 14-1-1, vs. Damone Wright, 13-14-1, six rounds, junior middleweights; and Sergei Lyakhovich, 7-0, vs. Tracy Wilson, 3-3, four rounds, junior middleweights. All tickets are $25 for the Don King Productions card.

Also just added is a March 5 card at the New Frontier, with America Presents promoting. Robbie Peden, 15-0, will be in the main event against an opponent yet to be determined in a 10-round bout at 130 pounds. Peden, of Australia, was to have met NABF champ David Santos this Sunday in New Orleans, but Santos pulled out with an injury. Also on the March 5 show is Samoan junior middleweight Maselino Masoe, 14-0, against an opponent yet to be determined.

* MISSING INKS: A Las Vegas man, Craig Maraldo, has been charged with selling boxing contracts that include signatures of fighters such as Felix Trinidad, Ray Mancini, Mike Weaver and Michael Spinks. Maraldo is charged with four felony counts of possession of stolen property and is scheduled to be arranged March 16.

It appears as if the contracts were lifted from the files of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and that they were replaced by copies.

"We do allow people to peruse the files," commission executive director Marc Ratner said of the thefts from the NSAC offices on East Washington St. "We rarely go into those files and I'm as perplexed as anybody as to how and why some things were stolen."

Ratner said the signatures are on bout agreements and that the matter came to public attention when an ad for them appeared in a memorabilia magazine.

* QUICK HITS: It appears as if Julio Cesar Chavez's scheduled fight on the March 3 David Reid vs. Felix Trinidad undercard at Caesars Palace may be off. While a prospective opponent for Chavez was found in the past week in the 28-8 Bobby Elkins, it has since been learned that Chavez has an injured hand that may force him off the card. ... Being added to that card if he passes his medical exams is veteran heavyweight contender Ray Mercer. A Mercer vs. Anthony Willis fight will take place if Mercer has completely recovered from hepatitis. ... Las Vegas heavyweight Jimmy Thunder meets Monte Barrett tonight in New York. Thunder is 34-9 and Barrett is 22-1. ... Another local heavyweight, Charles Shufford, suffered his first pro loss last Friday in Atlantic City when he dropped a 10-round decision to Robert Davis. Shufford, 13-1, lost by 11 points on each of the judges' cards. Davis is 20-0.

Local lightweight Steve Forbes, 14-0, gets his first real test March 11 in Indio, Calif., when he takes on former world champion Alejandro Gonzalez, who is 41-4 with 30 knockouts. ... Heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi's trial on sexual-assault charges in Las Vegas had been scheduled to begin this past Tuesday, but was pushed back to March 8. ... UNLV's club boxing team went 6-2 in last Saturday's tournament at the Sporting House. Winning for the Rebels were Manny Libatique (125 pounds), Jose Gonzales (139), Mike Kobrin (147), Todd Kessler (156), Tony Canepa (175) and female Kylie O'Dwyer (108). Alex Mont-Ros (147) and Wesley Kyles (heavyweight) suffered losses. ... Two cards have been scheduled for Laughlin: April 1 at Harrah's, with heavyweight Hasim Rahman pencilled in for the main event; and April 22 at the Avi.

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