Big Bear Quickly Becoming Favorite Site of Champions

The road to pugilistic glory is long, uphill, winding, and goes through . . . Running Springs?

Lennox Lewis is here, Thomas Hearns just left, Terry Norris arrived this week, Johnny Tapia and Oscar De La Hoya are almost always here and Shane Mosley is thinking about it.

These days, in a blend of quirky circumstance, 7,000-foot altitude and unquestioned solitude, if you have a big fight anywhere on the West Coast, you run the mountain paths, set up your own gym, brave the twisting highway to get here, breathe in the pine-scented air and train in Big Bear.

Veteran trainer Emanuel Steward has even transformed an abandoned quick-lube shop into a miniature, temporary version of his famous Kronk Gym in Detroit on Big Bear Boulevard, across the street from the Sizzler, around the bend from De La Hoya’s compound, and a couple of miles from Tapia’s garage gym.

“I’m supposed to go around to De La Hoya’s and teach him how to play basketball,” said Lewis, the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion who trains with Steward--also De La Hoya’s trainer--at Kronk West. “I hear he’s a good shooter, so I’m going to test my talents against his.”

The locals are relatively used to it, since fighters-- especially brothers Gabriel and Rafael Ruelas at the height of their careers a few years ago--have been making the trek up the mountain for years.

But it has never been this busy. “I’ve been winning, and everybody knows I train in Big Bear,” said De La Hoya, who used to train at Larry Goossen’s lakeside gym before building his own cabin and adjacent gym a few years ago. “Everybody has started to come up to Big Bear.

“People in Big Bear know that I’m always here, that I practically live here. They consider me a resident. When they see those other fighters, it’s like, ‘Hey, there goes another champion.’ ”

Has any tiny piece of sparsely populated mountain ever been so full of headline fighters?

“It is amazing all of these guys are coming up here,” Steward said. “One thing, there’s not too much to do, which is good for fighters, to keep them out of trouble.”

Steve Perez, a local boxing figure here for several years, says Steward’s arrival-- triggered when he was hired by De La Hoya last month--has been the most immediate draw for fighters.

“I guess when fighters hear the Kronk name, they just start coming,” Perez said.

Lewis, who defends his title July 12 in Lake Tahoe against Henry Akinwande, lives in England but has trained several times in Big Bear for West Coast fights.

“I think it’s a good atmosphere for any kind of training, whether it’s boxing or track,” Lewis said. “I find even running around the lake, it makes you feel good because you listen to the birds and you feel the serenity of the lake.

“There’s no distractions, there’s no nightclubs you can go out and party at. There’s bars and stuff, and if you’re caught in one of them, you know, it’s a small town, so people are going to say you haven’t been taking your boxing seriously.

“People are very nice up here, so you can really concentrate on what you need to concentrate on. I play chess, pool, go fishing . . . mostly chill out.”

Tapia, who has had his share of brushes with the law and is on probation, found a little trouble in May, when he was arrested and released on a gun-possession charge. But the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s office has signaled that it is unlikely to pursue the matter.

On July 18, Tapia, the World Boxing Organization flyweight champion, is scheduled for a unification bout against his bitter rival, International Boxing Federation champion Danny Romero.

KNOCKOUT PLANS

De La Hoya, who weighed about 152 pounds last week, a comfortable five pounds more than the super-welterweight limit, hasn’t had a knockout since pounding Julio Cesar Chavez last June, and he promises to end that streak June 14 against the very hittable--but never stopped--David Kamau.

“I’m going to go out and knock this guy out,” De La Hoya said. “I’m going to get a clean, good knockout.”

In his first camp with Steward, De La Hoya has reduced the sparring sessions--he plans on about 50 rounds for this fight, compared to the 150 or so he sparred before fighting Pernell Whitaker under Jesus Rivero’s tutelage--and is back to working intensely with hand mitts and the speed bag, both banned under Rivero.

The other day, De La Hoya ripped through several rounds on the mitts with Robert Alcazar, his first professional trainer who was at odds with Rivero but is now assisting Steward.

“Oscar’s come out and said he’s going to get a knockout,” Steward said with a slight smile. “That puts a lot of pressure on him and on me to get one.”

QUICK JABS

Mosley, L.A.’s least-publicized potential star, gets his much-delayed title shot Aug. 2 against International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Phillip Holiday. The site is undetermined, but the fight is scheduled to be shown by HBO. . . . The discussed bout between IBF junior-lightweight champion Arturo Gatti and Gabriel Ruelas is all but set, probably as a pay-per-view fight from an East Coast site.

All the doubts about Kostya Tszyu’s defensive lapses came to the forefront Saturday, when veteran Vince Phillips shook off Tszyu’s power and battered the IBF junior-welterweight champion with repeated overhand rights to the head, finally stopping Tszyu in the 10th round. . . . What’s Whitaker up to? Waiting to see how the welterweight division picture develops, and listening to approaches by De La Hoya’s handlers about an early-1998 rematch. IBF champion Felix Trinidad probably isn’t available, and, although Bob Arum, Norris’ new promoter, has interest in Norris-Whitaker, Whitaker’s camp isn’t biting. . . . Oxnard welterweight Fernando Vargas, impressive in his first two professional bouts, is expected to make his live TV debut on the Lewis-Akinwande card on HBO July 12. Vargas posted victory No. 3 Saturday night in Sacramento, defeating Bill Burden on the non-televised portion of an HBO card on which Nigerian Ike Ibeabuchi took the WBC Intercontinental heavyweight title from Dave Tua of New Zealand.

Even though Evander Holyfield was in the best shape of his life for his titanic knockout of Mike Tyson last November, Holyfield’s lead trainer, Don Turner, said Holyfield is ahead of the physical pace he set last time. Forecasting that the rematch, scheduled for June 28 after a six-week postponement because of a Tyson cut, should probably “be easier” for Holyfield than the first fight, Turner said, “He’s probably stronger this time because he spent the same amount of time with [conditioning coach Tim] Hallmark before the postponement, and after the postponement, we just kept working.”