PAGE ON OSCAR

WBA welterweight champion James Page made Oscar De la Hoya sound like a cheap trick while appearing on Ring Talk this past Saturday. "Pedro, I knocked Oscar down with a left hook and he made this weird noise as he was going down. If he was a little girl, I would have thought he was crying."

EVEN FIGHT SAYS HERBIE

Las Vegas Oddsmaker Herb Lambeck says the December 5, matchup on SHOWTIME between Page, 22-2, (18 KO's), and #1 ranked Jose Luis Lopez of Mexico, 42-3-2, (33 KO's) is a Pick 'em affair.

"I like Lopez. But a lot of people whose opinion I hold in high regards, they like Page. By fightime I think Lopez will be slightly favored."

LAMBECK ON VARGAS-YORY BOY

EVEN ODDS ALSO!

"I know Fernando has only 14 fights. But I think he stops Yory Boy in the middle rounds. He's just too fast, too strong, and he's got the age factor going with him too. Campas didn't beat Raul Marquez, Marquez beat himself by coming into the fight damaged goods."

FIGHTER OF YEAR

My top five nominees would be Shane Mosley, Ricardo Lopez, Floyd Mayweather, Angel Manfredy, and Ivan Robinson.

BWA LIST OUT

The Boxing Writers of America, of which I AM NOT a member has nominated Mosley, Lopez, Manfredy, Mayweather, and Roy Jones, who I chose not to include in this select group.

FOREMAN-HOLMES UPDATE

The January 23, battle between former champs George Foreman and Larry Holmes was a hit with the media in both New York and Chicago last week. After Thanksgiving, the tireless duo of Foreman and Holmes hit L.A. and Vegas next week.

MC KINNEY INTERVIEW WEDS AT FIGHTERS.COM

Because of the fact I am celebrating my birthday today, the interview with Kennedy McKinney has been pushed ahead to Wednesday or Thursday.

ODD ON MAC-LUISITO

The odds on this Saturday's WBC featherweight title fight lists the champion Espinosa a slight 2-1 favorite. Expect that to change as the wise guys are going to pounce on Mac before the fight goes off.

TRINIDAD-KING VERDICT, TICK, TICK, TICK!

The ticks you hear are from the clock that is Felix Trinidad. As his prime slips away, the world waits on Judge Lawrence McKenna to rule as to whether the Puerto Rican phenom is a free agent and can sign with the Duva company Main Events. Or, that he has what a lot of people say in a lifetime service agreement with Don King.

HBO WANTED FELIX TO BURY PERNELL

HBO wants to make Trinidad with Pernell Whitaker. The fight was first proposed for November, thinking McKenna would rule by mid to late October. Then the Federal Judge says he will need additional time and will not make his ruling until October 30. This is November 24, and still no word from my source in the Federal Court building.

KING, IN NO HURRY

"As long as he rules in my favor, I don't care how much time he takes. It's a shame because the young man should be applying his trade, not waiting on a Judge's decision."

ON PAGE

"I think he is the bomb. And come December 5, Page will show the people who didn't believe he was for real when he knocked out the Russian., that he is ready for Oscar, Felix, or any other welterweight."

KOSTYA TSYZU

The reason I didn't have Kostya Tsyzu on Ring talk this past weekend is that his manager Vlad Wharton gave me a bad time. So instead of kissing his ass, I instead went with Fernando Vargas, who I was planning on having as a guest on December 5.

I hope that answers ALL the Australian e mail that I received on Tsyzu and Ring Talk.

ODDS?

Right now Tsyzu is a slight favorite in the Las Vegas betting parlors. It's right around 2-1, Kostya.

HEIGHT WITH HURTADO

In this battle of once beatens for the vacant WBC 140 lb. crown, Diobelys Hurtado has a five to six inch height advantage. This sets up the hunter vs. the hunted, as Tsyzu will have to cut off the ring or Hurtado will jab and run all night long.

NORRIS' ONE LAST CRACK

Terry Norris, once the best fighter pound for pound in the world, will attempt to resurrect his career this week in France when he takes on French hobo Laurent Bouduani, current holder of the WBA 154 lb. trinket.

HERBIE SAYS "30-1"

Wow, even as shot as he is, I never thought Terry Norris would be a 30-1, underdog with anyone. You may remember, a couple of months ago, Norris got thrashed on ESPN 2 by Jewish hope Dana Rosenblatt.

BACK AT JUNIOR MIDDLE

The fight with Dana, that was at 160 lbs. This fight with the French faker is set for 154 lbs.

WON'T MATTER

I always thought that when Terry Norris appeared on my show, that it was post fight and he was always either very relaxed or he had a beer in his hand. I interviewed him for Ring Talk in August at the William Joppy-Roberto Duran fight and he sounded extremely punchy.

What I mean by that is Terry was slurring his words like he had been snorting Heroin and was about to nod out. I sure hope Terry's got some money, cause his faculties are no longer sound.

SUIT STILL HANGING OVER HEAD

Remember, it was Norris who took a large amount of cash and a Mercedes Benz as an advance on fighting Felix Trinidad, a fight he had signed a contract for. Norris skipped out on King with the promise of rival promoter Bob Arum that he would get De la Hoya in early 1998.

KING, SHOWTIME BOTH FEEL CONFIDANT

Both Don King and SHOWTIME or their Pay Per View arm Showtime Event Television, are both of the opinion Norris failed to honor a signed contract of which he took quite an advance.

DEPOS ALREADY DONE

The depositions in the case were taken in September as the case is expected to go forward in 1998.

ENTER "CLUB FIGHTER" MULLINGS

With a paltry 14-4, record, and having gotten the short end of the stick in his previous fight with Raul Marquez, Mullings was chosen by Norris himself. Terry opened up strong, but then faded in the mid rounds.

KEITH FOUND THE PORCELAIN CHIN

Sensing he could take the advantage, Mullings caught Terry on his ever so fragile jaw and that was the beginning of the end when it came to having any shot at Oscar.

SPEAKING OF KEITH

Top Rank is going to do their best to keep Mr. Average unbeaten until he can face Oscar in May of 1999. Little do they know, Oscar is going to have his head handed to him on February 13, when he meets Ike Quartey.

PROMOTION SHIFTS HOTELS

Caesars Palace was going to co-promote the De la Hoya-Quartey fight on it's original date of November 21. But they can't do it in February. "All of our rooms are sold out for that weekend already. We just don't have the space," said Debbie Munch of Caesars' PR department.

HILTON TAKES OVER

Hilton bossman Art Manteris and the Las Vegas Hilton will now be the hotel fronting the De La Hoya-Quartey promotion.

ODDS ON IKE-OSCAR?

It'll reopen at 3 1/2 to 1, favoring De La Hoya. When I told Herb Lambeck on Ring Talk Saturday night that I thought getting 4-1, on Ike Quartey over Oscar was like stealing money, he didn't agree.

THE GENIUS RESPONDS

"He hasn't fought in almost 17 months. You wouldn't want a Brain Surgeon working on you that has been off that long, would you?" Probably not. But Quartey has had a number of postponements and cancellations, only one of which can be blamed on Bazooka Ike himself.


Pedro Fernandez

The writer has his own site at www.fighters.com and can be reached at flash@inow.com

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