BY MIKE HOUSER
Training in Las Vegas, 1999 University of Nevada graduate "Diamond" Joey Gilbert gets his share of ribbing when he wears his Wolf Pack hat, but he will be back in more hospitable surroundings tonight.
The 27-year-old Gilbert will be on the undercard of the second edition of the Everlast "Heavyweight Heroes: The Search for the Next Great Heavyweight," presented by Cedric Kushner Promotions. The six-fight card will be held in the Circus Maximus Showroom of Caesars Tahoe beginning at 8 p.m.
There will be two 10-round co-main events, headlined by Anthony "Tony the Tiger" Thompson and "Wreckless" Willie Chapman. The other co-main event will pit Clifford "The Black Rhino" Etienne against Gilbert Martinez.
Gilbert, 5-0, with five knockouts, graduated from Thomas Jefferson School of Law last year and is awaiting the results of the bar exam he took Feb. 24-26. He is making his first ring appearance since destroying Anthony Sanza in one round at Caesars on Nov. 22, and will face Thomas "The Hurricane" Haines, of Vallejo, Calif., in a four- or six-round super middleweight bout.
"There's a difference in my conditioning (for this fight)," Gilbert said of his four-week preparation in Las Vegas under the tutelage of trainer Kenny Rayford. "(Against Sanza) I was coming out of law school. The hardest part of that fight was coming down from 189 pounds to 166. It was brutal."
Gilbert said he had been lifting weights prior to the Sanza fight and had to shed muscle to make the weight, but has kept near his natural weight of 160 for this fight.
"I'm ready," Gilbert said. "I run up Mount Charleston two, three times a week with a 25-pound weight vest and run gassers. I'm ready to rock and roll."
At 2-0, with two knockouts, Haines should supply the stiffest test yet for Gilbert, who won three National Collegiate Boxing Association (NCBA) national championships for Nevada, going 27-1 before trying out the open amateur ranks, where he went 3-0 and picked up a Nevada State Golden Gloves championship at light middleweight.
"I look on it like it's my most important fight," Gilbert said. "We've never fought anyone detrimental before. It's time to take it a step up. I need to fight better opponents to get better and up my confidence. I fight everyone like it's a championship fight. I don't look at their record. Whether they are 12-0 or 22-0, they've never fought Joey Gilbert or got in with someone who is as conditioned as me, no matter who he's fought. I'm going to win decisively, if not by knockout."
Gilbert said Rayford has helped him evolve as a professional boxer.
"(Rayford's) brought out more of my skills," Gilbert said. "It's called the Sweet Science. It's a chess game. I've been sparring with some top guys in Vegas. I've made a lot of changes in my footwork and hitting and not getting hit. (Rayford's) upped my pro style. He's changed me from a bullish amateur. I have a lot of natural talent and I want to work with it. My critics have said, 'When are you going to fight a real fighter?' I'm excited to step it up a notch."
Although Gilbert said he is more of a boxer than in his college days, when he fought with a bloody, life-and-death intensity, he said he isn't above going to war.
"I'm not Pernell Whitaker or Roy Jones Jr.," Gilbert said. "I'm an Italian middleweight with a great chin. I'm ready to fight 12 rounds if need be. It (the warrior instinct) is still there. If someone wants to start a war, I'm ready to finish it. It's on."
There are four heavyweight fights on the card, including Thompson-Chapman. The 32-year-old Thompson, originally from Washington, D.C, but now fighting out of Silver Spring, Md., is 21-1 (13), and has won his last 17 fights and stopped his last five opponents. Standing 6-foot-5, the southpaw figures to provide Chapman with a tall order.
But the colorful 5-foot-11 Chapman, 18-18-3 (5), of Las Vegas via Odgen, Utah, is not the type to back down. The 35-year-old Chapman, who dyes his long, braided hair blue, shocked 6-foot-7 southpaw T.J. Wilson last April, knocking out the 9-0 prospect with a single overhand right. He has won his last two fights and is coming off a four-round split-decision victory over then 8-0 Malcolm Tann.
In the other co-main event, Etienne, 26-2-1 (19), of Baton Rouge, La., is looking to win his third consecutive fight since being stretched in one round by Mike Tyson in February 2003. In the 37-year-old Martinez, he will face a fighter on a roll.
Martinez, 18-6-1 (7), of Sacramento, defeated Sione Asipeli last month at City Center Pavilion, in Reno, and has won his last three fights since Thompson stopped him in Reno last August, also knocking off Charles "Buddy" Hatcher and Charles Shufford in the streak.
The other two heavyweight bouts will pit Shufford, 20-5 (9), of Las Vegas, against Michael Simms, 12-1-1 (10), of Sacramento, in a six-rounder, and Marcelino Novaes, 2-1, Las Vegas via Brazil, against Todd Diggs, 4-9-3, of Las Vegas.
There will also be a four-round exhibition women's bout featuring International Female Boxing Association and Women's International Boxing Association minimumweight champion "Vicious" Vaia Zaganas, 15-3 (6), of Las Vegas via Burnaby, British Columbia, and super flyweight Elena "Baby Doll" Reid, 14-1-4 (4), of Las Vegas.
For a further breakdown of the card, log on to www.fightnews.com.
WHAT: Everlast "Heavyweight Heroes" boxing series.
WHERE: Circus Maximus Showroom in Caesars Tahoe.
WHEN: Tonight. Doors open at 7 p.m. First bout at 8.
TICKETS: $25, $35, $50 and $75. Available at The Gateway or at Guest Services in Caesars Tahoe from 7:30 a.m. till fight time, or by calling 775-586-2044 or (800) 648-3353 anytime.
TV: Will be shown on IN DEMAND pay-per-view throughout April, beginning April 6, and on Cedric Kushner Sports Network.