ARUM IS READY TO MOVE UP IN CLASS.

Byline: ROBERT MORALES Boxing

It had been 10 years since promoter Bob Arum was involved in a heavyweight title fight. Last week, he decided to throw his hat back in the ring with the big boys.

Arum, of Top Rank Inc., won the purse bid for the right to promote the World Boxing Council championship fight between champion Vitali Klitschko and Hasim Rahman, the mandatory challenger.

The last heavyweight title fight Arum was involved in was the April 1995 International Boxing Federation match between George Foreman and Axel Schulz, won by Foreman via majority decision.

Arum, however, is no stranger to what used to be boxing's bread- and-butter division. The first fight he promoted, in March 1966, was a world title fight between Muhammad Ali and George Chuvalo.

Arum eventually promoted 25 of Ali's fights, more than anyone.

``I know that this is going to be a moneymaker from the get-go,'' Arum said of his last-minute decision to enter the purse-bid war; he edged out rival Don King with a bid of $12.1 million.

``There is literally no risk here. It is the only fight that makes sense in the heavyweight division because most people consider Klitschko the true heavyweight champion, and because Rahman makes a good match because people know Rahman is capable of knocking out a big man.''

Rahman knocked out Lennox Lewis in the fifth round in April 2001, but was knocked out by Lewis in the fourth round seven months later.

Although he had a history of promoting heavyweight title fights, Arum got away from that, he said, because ``the heavyweights demanded so much money that they didn't leave room for a profit. The only thing you could do was to lose or struggle to break even.''

Also, Arum began promoting Oscar De La Hoya in 1993. He said he saw that the trend of Hispanic fighters - most of whom are in the middle to lower weight classes - and their supporters dominating the sport had taken hold.

The tentative date for Klitschko-Rahman is Nov. 12. The site is to be determined, but it could be held at either MGM Grand or Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

The rights to the telecast are not set, either. Top Rank publicist Bill Caplan said Sunday that besides HBO and Showtime, there is a possibility the four major television networks also could bid for the right to show the event on free TV.

Klitschko, 34, is 35-2 with 34 knockouts. Rahman, 32, is 41-5-1 with 33 knockouts.

--Vargas needs to improve: Fernando Vargas did not look horrible Saturday night in his 10-round decision victory over Javier Castillejo. But he was not terrific and he took too many punches from a 37-year-old opponent who was never fast.

Vargas (26-2), the former two-time junior middleweight champion from Oxnard, said afterward that he felt sluggish. An Associated Press story said Vargas' weight had climbed to 175 pounds after he fought Raymond Joval last March at middleweight (160 pounds) following a 15-month layoff because of a bulging disc.

If that's true, Vargas had to lose 21 pounds to make the 154-pound limit. This could explain his sluggishness. Interestingly, Vargas did not allude to a huge weight loss during a conference call last Tuesday. He did say he was in great shape and that he couldn't wait to show the fans in Rosemont, Ill., what he was going to do to Castillejo.

Vargas decked Castillejo in the third round, and he did land some other solid punches. But Castillejo, past his prime, remained competitive and left Vargas with a puffy face.

Vargas said that he may have suffered a broken jaw. His co-manager, Rolando Arellano, could not be reached Sunday for comment.

It's the feeling here that Vargas' mediocre performance was more the result of Vargas trying to become a defensive fighter at this stage in his career. At 27, he is not a kid anymore and vicious knockout losses to Felix Trinidad and De La Hoya may have advanced his age even more.

In between rounds, Vargas' new trainer, Danny Smith, told Vargas to ``jab and move.'' That is not Vargas' forte. He is going to end up taking too much punishment by making that drastic a change after being an attacker his entire career.

One does not have to stick and move to fight well defensively. Some of the greatest fighters in history - Roberto Duran and James Toney, for example - were fine defensive fighters in their respective primes. They didn't do it by running - they did it by rolling with the punches, head and upper body movement.

That way, they could still sit down on their punches and utilize their God-given power to its ultimate degree. Mike Tyson was another. He could bob and weave with the best while moving in for the kill.

Toney, of course, is still active and, at 36 (he'll be 37 Wednesday), continues to fight well defensively.

CAPTION(S):

box

Box:

FIGHT SCHEDULE