BOXING / EARL GUSTKEY : Geese Have Been Heading South

Dan Goossen sat slumped at his desk Wednesday, bearing no cuts over his eyes nor any bruises. But he still looked like one of his fighters after a bad defeat.

“I feel like a guy came in here with a sledgehammer, tied my hands down on the desk, and pounded on them for about 10 minutes,� he said.

“But remember this: The Geese will be back. The Geese are still smiling today.�

Maybe so. But right now it looks like open season on the Geese.

Ten Goose Boxing, the Van Nuys boxing management-promotion firm that Goossen heads, has had a rough couple of weeks:

--Sept. 26: Goossen is about to leave his Caesars Palace hotel room for the Caesars Pavilion to watch the junior middleweight champion he promotes, Terry Norris, fight Simon Brown.

But a phone call informs him that Brown has been in the hospital most of the afternoon, being checked for chest pains and vertigo. The fight is canceled.

--Oct. 6: At home, Goossen is informed that his lightweight, Rafael Ruelas, has just lost a major Forum fight scheduled Oct. 19. Jorge Paez, Ruelas’ opponent, was injured in a motorcycle accident. Fight postponed.

--Oct. 7: Gabe Ruelas, Rafael’s brother, has a $125,000 payday coming Nov. 7 at Lake Tahoe, against Azumah Nelson. Another phone call. Goossen learns of a letter Nelson has faxed from his home in Ghana to his promoter, Don King. Nelson has informed King that he wants $2 million instead of the previously agreed-to $500,000 to fight Ruelas. No way, he is told. No fight.

Since that run of bad luck, the Norris-Brown match has been rescheduled for Dec. 5, and the Rafael Ruelas-Paez bout is back on the calendar for Nov. 6.

The Goossens have a track record for bouncing back from troublesome times. In 1990, they had a world champion middleweight, Michael Nunn. They had taken him from a $500 preliminaries fighter to a million-dollar-a-fight champion.

Yet weeks before his title fight with Marlon Starling, Nunn walked out on the Goossens, later accusing them of mishandling his money.

Then, on the day of the Starling fight, Nunn all but begged Joe Goossen, his trainer and Dan Goossen’s brother, to work his corner.

Joe Goossen probably wanted to tell Nunn to take a hike, but instead he worked Nunn’s corner, and Nunn won. When it was over, Goossen walked out of the ring and didn’t look back.

And it was difficult, but life went on without Nunn.

Since then, the Ruelas brothers have become hot properties, the Goossens have become Terry Norris’ promoters and next spring they will promote fight shows at a renovated Olympic Auditorium.

Also, the Goossens are hoping for a 1993 Terry Norris-Julio Cesar Chavez match, outdoors in San Diego--a fight projected as possibly the richest non-heavyweight fight ever.

*

HBO has to be kidding.

The cable network that has brought us Sugar Ray Leonard, Julio Cesar Chavez, Mike Tyson, Pernell Whitaker, Evander Holyfield and practically every other major fighter over the last decade is now thinking about bringing back. . . . Vinnie Pazienza?

It’s true, folks. Here comes “the Paz.�

Not only that, but they’re calling the proposed Dec. 5 Pazienza match with Julio Cesar Vasquez a co-feature with a James Toney bout.

Pazienza is a Providence, R.I., boxer with a large, vocal New England following--for reasons no one outside the region has ever fully understood.

In December of 1990, Pazienza was easily defeated by Loreto Garza in Sacramento, the usual result whenever Pazienza has a big fight.

Garza, who will never make anyone’s hall of fame, had a huge lead on all scorecards in the 11th round. Moreover, referee Larry Rozadilla had deducted two points from Pazienza for fouls.

That didn’t sit well with Pazienza’s father, Angelo, who sat at ringside and cursed Rozadilla throughout the match.

During the 11th, a frustrated Pazienza picked Garza up and body-slammed him to the mat. Rozadilla disqualified Pazienza.

At that point, “the Paz� had lost four of his previous 10 fights and two of his previous three.

So when he indicated later that night that he would probably retire, most took him at his word. Some even cheered.

Pazienza at that point had lost to Greg Haugen--he later beat him twice--Roger Mayweather, Hector Camacho and Garza.

Then he decided not to retire. Having to make the junior-welterweight limit, 140 pounds, had been too tough, Pazienza said.

So he moved up two weight classes to junior-middleweight, 154 pounds. He won a piece of the junior-middleweight title, beating Gilbert Dele of France.

Then, nearly a year ago, Pazienza suffered a broken neck in an auto accident. He recovered, and doctors cleared him to fight on. HBO says it will build its show Dec. 5--that’s the same night as Don King’s triple-title fight pay-per-view show--around a 30-minute “life and times of Vinnie Pazienza� theme.

Please. We’ve already seen the life and times of “the Paz.�

Boxing Notes

What with its new Nov. 6 date for Rafael Ruelas-Jorge Paez, the Forum will have two boxing shows in three days. The previously scheduled Carlos Gonzalez-Lorenzo Smith match for Nov. 9 still stands. The Forum boxing staff notes that Ruelas-Paez tickets sold for old Oct. 19 date will be honored on Nov. 6. The rest of the Oct. 19 card has been canceled.

Gabe Ruelas, whose Lake Tahoe match with Azumah Nelson Nov. 7 was canceled, might fight IBF junior-lightweight champion John-John Molina instead. And promoter Dan Goossen wants to match his junior-welterweight, Hector Lopez, with either Pernell Whitaker or Hector Camacho after Lopez’s recent victory over Donald Stokes. It’s expected that Nelson’s opponent at Caesars Tahoe will be Calvin Grove. . . . The Los Angeles tribute to 1930s and ‘40s boxer Billy Conn might not be held Nov. 6 after all. Conn, who turned 75 Wednesday, recently underwent tests because of frequent dizzy spells.

Jeremy Williams of Long Beach, beaten twice by Montell Griffin of Studio City at the U.S. Olympic boxing team trials last summer, has signed a one-year contract with Mike Tyson’s former manager, Bill Cayton. Williams, an amateur light-heavyweight, will turn pro at 195 pounds (cruiserweight) Wednesday in Atlantic City. . . . An amateur show is scheduled for 1 p.m., Oct. 18, at the Wilmington Longshoreman’s Hall, where 10 bouts are scheduled, matching boxers from the San Pedro Boxing Academy and Boxers Against Drugs and Alcohol (BAD). Proceeds will benefit Hawaii hurricane victims.

Ever wonder how boxing people make the distinction between middleweight champion Julian Jackson (44-1) and junior-middleweight John David Jackson (26-0)? John David Jackson is known as “Jackson the Lesser.� . . . Here’s how much box office clout Tyson took with him to that Indiana prison: The first seven fights in HBO’s top 10 in the ratings were all Tyson fights. The first non-Tyson show is the 1987 replay of Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Marvin Hagler. . . . The disappearance of that old knockout power in Thomas Hearns’ right hand in recent years may make some sense now. Hearns had right hand surgery recently, after a specialist found an old break that had never healed. Hearns said he’d been troubled by the right hand since Marvin Hagler knocked him out in 1985.

Heavyweight Ray Mercer, weighing 237 pounds after taking eight months off since losing to Larry Holmes, stopped Mike Dixon in seven at Augusta, Ga., Wednesday.

Loreto Garza update: He’s in line for a WBA junior-welterweight title shot against Morris East of the Philippines for Sacramento promoter Don Chargin. Garza recently completed police academy training for a $40,000-a-year job as a prison correctional officer. . . . Does this make sense? Heavyweight Lennox Lewis, who lives in London, is training at Caesars Pocono Resorts in Pennsylvania for his biggie Oct. 31 with Razor Ruddock--in London. . . . Buddy McGirt, the WBC welterweight champion, meets Mexican Genaro Leon on the Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe showdown Nov. 13 at Las Vegas. Bowe’s people, incidentally, have announced that the challenger will train at Sunriver Resort on the Deschutes River in Oregon, beginning Monday. . . . Two members of the 1988 U.S. Olympic team will meet on an ESPN show in Missoula, Mont., Oct. 28 when Todd Foster (25-2) boxes Kelcie Banks (20-3-1).