Tuesday, February 24, 1998
Salud still has
lots of fight in him
His bout tonight might lead to
By Paul Arnett
a shot at another title
Star-BulletinJesus Salud swears he'll know when to say when. Despite 68 professional bouts and countless rounds of sparring, the 34-year-old will keep climbing through the ropes as long as he is able, which could be several more years by his count.
"Why stop doing something you love to do?" Salud said yesterday as he prepared for tonight's World Boxing Organization Asia-Pacific title fight with Indonesia's Kris Wuritimur at Blaisdell Arena.
"I've been doing this for so long, I can't imagine stopping now," he said. "I still have the fire in my belly and the desire to be a champion. I'm like a fine wine that keeps getting better with age."
Salud's manager, Bobby DePhilippis, certainly hopes so. He has been working on a possible title fight with World Boxing Council champion Erik Morales of Mexico.
He first thought the two would fight last December on the undercard of an Oscar De La Hoya card, but that fell through.
"Now, we have a chance to fight him in Tijuana, which would be a big draw because Morales is from Mexico," DePhilippis said. "We're currently ranked in the top 10 in the WBC. And if we win the fight (tonight), we'll move into the top 10 in the WBO.
"We have a lot of irons in the fire, but the main thing Jesus has to do is win this fight and we'll be in a position to maybe make some big money for Jesus."
Despite a 57-9-2 record, a major payday has eluded Salud's grasp. The former World Boxing Association champion has been involved in several major title fights. He hasn't been able to parlay any of those because he lost two International Boxing Federation title bouts to Welcome Ncita and Kennedy McKinney, and a WBA title fight to Antonio Cermeno in his home country of Argentina.
Tonight's fight is not for a major title, but it could prove to promoters that Salud still has it.
"I know HBO is interested in Salud fighting Morales on their Boxing After Dark series," DePhilippis said. "All we can do is keeping winning impressively and maybe something could happen.
"I don't want to go to any more foreign countries for title fights. Jesus doesn't seem to do well when he fights far from home. Fighting in Tijuana would be perfect for us. We'd also like to keep fighting him here in Hawaii as much as possible."
You can't really blame DePhilippis for that. Salud is 32-0 in Hawaii, and there's no reason to think he won't win again tonight against Wuritimur in the scheduled 12-round fight.
Wuritimur brings a 17-4 record with nine KOs into the junior-featherweight (122 pounds) fight. This will be Salud's second consecutive bout in Hawaii. He scored a second-round technical knockout of Thailand's Sairoong Suwannaslip last November.
"I caught him right on the sweet spot," Salud said of that TKO. "I don't predict what will happen in my fights. I don't talk a lot. I let my fists do my talking for me."
The five-fight card also features a co-main event between former World Boxing Federation welterweight champion Jamie Lerma (23-6, 15 knockouts) and Augustine Renteria (16-10-5 with seven KOs).
There will be three preliminary bouts of four rounds each as well. They are Dustin Kim (5-0, 3 KOs) vs. Martin Robles (3-3, 1 KO) in a 127-pound fight, Leokava Latu (4-1 3 KOs) against Gabriel Palafox (2-2, 1 KO) in a 154-pound affair, and Saul Holguin (1-0, 1 KO) against John Lopez (3-2, 2 KOs) in a 139-pound matchup.
General admission tickets are $22.50 for adults and $10 for children 15 and under. For more information, contact the Blaisdell Box Office at 591-2211 or purchase tickets by telephone at 545-4000.
