KARMAZIN HAS CONFIDENCE.

Byline: ROBERT MORALES BOXING

Roman Karmazin admits it. He enjoyed his one-sided victory over Kassim Ouma last July 14 -- that won him the International Boxing Federation junior middleweight belt -- a little more than he should have.

Sitting at ringside at that Las Vegas fight was Oscar De La Hoya, Ouma's promoter and president of Golden Boy Promotions.

Karmazin was supposed to fight De La Hoya in 2001, but De La Hoya pulled out with a hand injury.

``If you watched the fight closely, you will see on at least two occasions when I was on the ropes, I was winking at De La Hoya, who was sitting there with Shane Mosley,'' said Karmazin, who tonight will make his first title defense against former welterweight champion Cory Spinks at Savvis Center in St. Louis, Spinks' hometown. Showtime will televise.

``It definitely brought me pleasure to see the shock in his eyes when he saw me dismantling his investments,'' Karmazin said.

In another breath, Karmazin said he has no hard feelings about De La Hoya pulling out of their fight and never rescheduling. Although both are champions in the junior middleweight division -- De La Hoya is the World Boxing Council champ -- he doesn't expect De La Hoya to fight him now, either.

``What happened in the past is in the past,'' Karmazin said. ``He is making future decisions and he made it pretty clear after the (Ouma) fight when we saw each other that I am too big a risk for him and he will probably not be getting in the ring with me anytime soon.

``The fact that Mosley and DeLa Hoya were both sitting ringside during that fight did definitely give me more motivation, because these are guys in my weight class and these are guys that I consider myself in the same category with.''

Karmazin, a St. Petersburg, Russia, native living in Los Angeles, is trained by Boris Zykanov out of Freddie Roach's Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. Roach worked Karmazin's corner as his cut man for the Ouma fight.

Roach, who trains Manny Pacquiao, won't be in Karmazin's corner tonight because he just returned from the Philippines after guiding Pacquiao to victory over Oscar Larios last Saturday.

But he said Wednesday that he likes what he sees in Karmazin. He, too, believes Karmazin ranks up there with De La Hoya and the other top junior middleweights.

``He is a very good fighter, well-rounded, real solid counterpuncher,'' said Roach, a Hall of Famer. ``I pick him to win that fight with Spinks.''

And what, Roach was asked, would happen if Karmazin and De La Hoya were to square off in a title unification fight?

``It would be a very competitive fight,'' Roach said. ``Two classic boxers. It wouldn't be an easy fight for either one. I would probably have to give the edge to De La Hoya because of experience; he has been in with better opponents.

``But Karmazin, the way he beat Ouma, he would be a live underdog.''

Karmazin beat Ouma by six, eight and 10 points on the respective scorecards to win the championship.

Karmazin, 34-1-1 with 21 knockouts, is 33. Next month, he will have been a professional for 10 years. In his mind, however, he is just getting started. There is a certain stamp he wants to leave on this sport. It began with Ouma, and it should continue with Spinks, who is not an easy mark.

Spinks is moving up in weight, but he is a slick southpaw.

Spinks also will be fighting in front of a hometown crowd that figures to approach the 22,000-plus that saw him lose to Zab Judah in February 2005.

``That is something that fuels me and burns the fire and allows me to perform at the highest level,'' Karmazin said of fighting in Spinks' back yard. ``My entire life, my entire career I have been trying to prove to everybody that I am better than everybody else and nobody believed me.''

Mosley's father back in his corner

Sugar Shane Mosley and his father, Jack, never seemed to agree on why Shane fired Jack as his manager/trainer in March 2004 after Shane's first of two losses to Winky Wright.

Shane said then it was because his father had become distracted because he was paying too much attention to his job as a part-time record producer. Jack said it was because there were people who were jealous of his and Shane's success, and that they were getting in his ear about making a change. Jack said it had nothing to do with him wanting to be the next James Prince.

Some of the finger-pointing was directed at Shane's wife, Jin, but Jack never was the one pointing the finger.

Although Shane continues to manage his career with help from Jin, Jack has been brought back as Shane's trainer.

He will be in Shane's corner next Saturday when Shane takes on Fernando Vargas in the junior middleweight main event at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It is a rematch of their fight last February, won by Mosley via 10th-round technical knockout because the area surrounding Vargas' left eye swelled to enormous proportions.

Interestingly, Shane and Jack, during separate conference calls in the past week, didn't really agree on how the reunion transpired.

``He wanted me to train him, so I said, `OK,' '' Jack Mosley said. ``So here I am, doing what I do best.''

Jack was asked if he and Shane discussed the problems that led to their split.

``That stuff, we didn't even talk about,'' he said.

Shane described the events a bit differently.

``He had already asked me about coming back, about things he can improve on,'' Shane Mosley said. ``Just to get me back to square one, where I was at in the old days. I see the fire in his eyes, that he really wanted to make an impact.''

Shane said he also talked to Jin about bringing Jack back to his corner.

``She thought it would be a great idea,'' Shane said. ``I was motivated to bring him back. And I knew he would be the best trainer."

Particularly during the first of two losses to Vernon Forrest in January 2002, Jack Mosley did seem to lack focus at times. When Shane was hurt early, Jack held his tongue, rarely offering Shane sound advice between rounds. The same can be said for the lack of direction Shane received from Jack during that first loss to Wright. Joe Goossen trained Shane for a rematch with Wright, which Shane again lost by decision. Shane then went 3-0 with John David Jackson as his trainer, with wins over David Estrada, Jose Luis Cruz and Vargas.

Mosley, 34, of Pomona, is 42-4 with 36 knockouts. Vargas, 28, of Oxnard, is 26-3 with 22 knockouts. Their fight will be available on HBO pay-per-view.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1) Roman Karmazin, right, poses with promoter Don King, center, and Cory Spinks before tonight's IBF junior middleweight title fight.

James A. Finley/Associated Press

(2) no caption (Sugar Shane Mosley)

Box:

(1) Mosley's father back in his corner (see text)

(2) Etc.