WHITAKER HAS `TURNED A CORNER'.

Byline: MICHAEL ROSENTHAL Boxing

LAS VEGAS - Don't get too excited about Lance Whitaker, at least not yet.

The San Fernando High graduate, who knocked out Oleg Maskaev on the Shane Mosley-Shannan Taylor undercard Saturday in Las Vegas, remains a work in progress and might never develop into a truly fine heavyweight.

However, it's time to give him some credit: He's come a long way since he turned pro at the relatively advanced age of 24 five years ago.

He suffered his only loss to Lou Savarese when he ran out of energy midway through the bout but has won four in a row since and has improved each time.

Against Maskaev, his toughest opponent to date, Whitaker didn't have much opportunity to show off his developing skills. He ended it at 1:03 of the second round with two right hands, one that hurt Maskaev badly and another that knocked him down and out.

The response of those present? Wow!

It would be an absurd stretch to say a star was born at that moment. At the same time, Whitaker must now be taken seriously.

``He definitely turned a corner,'' said Joe Goossen, his trainer. ``I just feel he's more comfortable in the ring, more comfortable with his abilities. Things are falling into place for him.

``That's from being in the gym six days a week. I was always told that if you have a heavyweight who trains like a lightweight, you're in business. Well, we're in business.''

Goossen and his brother, promoter Dan Goossen, are particularly excited about Whitaker's power.

The 6-foot-8, 256-pounder finally seems to be getting his weight behind his punches and the results, as Maskaev would have to admit, can be devastating.

The punch that knocked out the 6-5 fighter from Uzbekistan seemed to reverberate in the 2,800-seat ballroom and possibly across the boxing world.

Joe Goossen said Whitaker's sparring partners are utterly unable to stand up to his punches. The former San Fernando High basketball player must hold back on his power so he can get in the work he needs before he fights.

``I think he has the strongest punch in the world today,'' a beaming Dan Goossen said immediately after the fight.

Such talk would have seemed ridiculous a few years ago.

Few fighters who take up the sport in their mid-20s ever fully develop. Whitaker seemed to prove it. For years, he had little idea how to move his big body, how to throw straight, quick punches, how to adequately defend himself.

Again, he has much more to learn but he and Joe Goossen have worked hard together to create a legitimate heavyweight and they appear to have succeeded.

``(The promotional firm) America Presents has signed a lot of good heavyweights,'' Joe Goossen said, referring to such fighters as David Tua and Lawrence Clay-Bey.

``I think you have to say Lance is on top right now. It takes this kind of performance (Saturday) to make people believe.''

--Lewis-Whitaker? Lennox Lewis said on national television he doesn't expect to meet Whitaker soon because he's only one of many possible opponents.

Whitaker, initiating efforts to lure the WBC/IBF champ into the ring, said Lewis is afraid of him.

Joe Goossen wouldn't go that far but suggested Whitaker's performance had to open Lewis' eyes.

``Lennox Lewis can be coy all he wants,'' Goossen said. ``He knows what he saw. Anyone who's ever been in a gym knows what they saw.

``That was as real as it gets. It was George Foremanesque.''

--Masterful Mosley: Mosley, who stopped Taylor in five rounds, continues to dazzle the boxing world.

His display of what father/trainer Jack Mosley calls ``power boxing'' has left another good opponent befuddled and bruised. Mosley hurt Taylor in every conceivable way to every legal target on his body and somehow avoided taking any meaningful punches at the same time.

It's no wonder an expert like legendary trainer Eddie Futch told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Mosley could compete with the greatest fighters of all time.

Now, we can only hope he can find a way to demonstrate it again on a big stage.

Mosley, who will be 30 in September, has had exactly one megafight - Oscar De La Hoya - and another one is nowhere on the horizon.

Felix Trinidad is too big. De La Hoya doesn't seem to be interested right now. Fernando Vargas is coming off a loss and is probably too heavy. Floyd Mayweather is too light. And the list could go on.

Let's hope Mosley's handlers get creative or it might be difficult for him to prove how great he is.

--Ouch: Taylor felt the full effects of the big right that put him down at the end of the first round and set the tone for the fight.

The Australian said he didn't even know he'd been down until he was told at the postfight press conference. He also said that when the fight was stopped after the fifth round, he thought it was the second or third round.

One thing he remembered was that he had let his guard down a split second before Mosley nailed him because he believed the 10-second warning - the clacking of wood - signaled the end of the round.

``It was really loud,'' he said.

--Lewis-Tyson: Lewis and Mike Tyson issued a joint statement last week pledging to make the most interesting heavyweight bout possible, the strongest sign yet that they're serious.

Lewis is scheduled to fight Hasim Rahman on April 21 in South Africa while Tyson is expected to meet David Izon on May 19.

The Lewis-Tyson bout could take place this summer if the fighters win their coming bouts and are able to reach an agreement.

--Ruiz's future: Don King apparently wants a third fight between clients John Ruiz and Evander Holyfield, and the new WBA heavyweight champ is OK with the concept.

``My next fight could probably be Holyfield,'' Ruiz said last week. ``If Don King thinks it's a good idea, we'll go ahead with it.''

At the same time, Ruiz would rather fight Lennox Lewis in a title-unification bout. A victory over the WBC and IBF champ would give him the credibility he doesn't have after beating the aging Holyfield.

He believes Holyfield should retire.

``For some reason, Holyfield still wants to come out and fight,'' Ruiz said. ``I don't see why. He has already done so many things in his career. He should basically ride into the sunset and retire.

--Is he or isn't he? The segment on whether John Ruiz is the first Latino heavyweight champion in last week's column sparked some debate.

I originally wrote that Italians Primo Carnera and Rocky Marciano were the first Latino champs. However, my dutiful editors questioned that use of the word Latino and looked it up in the dictionary, which defined the word as such: ``A native or resident of Latin America.'' Thus, the editors changed the wording.

Now, as we know, Carnera and Marciano are of Latin descent. As was another heavyweight champ, French Canadian Tommy Burns, as one reader pointed out.

So let's just say Ruiz is the first Hispanic heavyweight champ, not the first Latin champ, and leave the word Latino out of it.

And we won't even discuss Daniel Mendoza, an Englishman of Spanish descent who once was the equivalent of heavyweight titleholder in the 18th century.

--Coming up: Former champion Johnny Tapia faces Famosito Gomez in a 10-round junior featherweight bout on Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M., on Showtime. ...

Lamar Murphy takes on Efen Hinojosa in a 12-round lightweight bout on Friday in New York on ESPN2.

--Rabbit punches: Former multi-time champion Pernell Whitaker, now 37, has said he wants to come out of retirement and fight Mosley. ...

Christy Martin and Mia St. John, two of the best-known female boxers, have been e-mailing each other about a possible matchup at 135 pounds and could reach an agreement soon.

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Photo: (color) Lance Whitaker of Granada Hills hugs fellow heavyweight David Tua after knocking out Oleg Maskaev on Saturday.

Lori Cain/Associated Press