Mexico's Paez Is Part Boxer, Part Sideshow Treat

MEXICO CITY - In a seedy backstreet gym, where young fighters pound worn Everlast bags and old-timers stand idly by, remembering the past, Mexico's newest boxing hero has come to train.

Only this fighter is no throwback to the gritty, glory days of Mexican boxing. No, this one is pure 1990s, strutting around the seasoned Arena Coliseo to boom-box rap music in a multi-colored stretch suit, silver sleeves and a mohawk haircut.

Meet Jorge ``Maromero'' Paez, the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization featherweight champ, a boxer better known for back flips than right hooks. Born and raised in his grandmother's traveling circus, Paez is, above all, a showman.

In spite of - or perhaps because of - his outlandishness, Paez, 24, is on the brink of world stardom. His popularity in the United States, where he has a four-fight $1.2 million contract with NBC-TV, is booming.

``I like to do what I do,'' Paez said with a shy, almost sheepish smile. ``I like to be different.''

You want different? How about the time Paez held a press conference standing on one hand. Or the time when, in the heat of a bout, he turned to the television camera and grinned. Or the time when he knocked out his challenger and celebrated with a headstand on the ring ropes, followed by two somersaults and a fiery breakdance.

``Jorge follows his instincts,'' said trainer-manager Ignacio Huizar. ``He does what he feels.''

At fight time, Paez usually feels like donning exotic, sequined, skirt-like shorts and shaving initials, emblems or sayings onto his scalp. Once he sported the Batman insignia, a personal favorite. Another time his head advertised a social message: No Drugs.

Today Paez feels like boogying to the thumping base of rappers Technotronic singing ``Pump up the jam, pump it up.'' A youngster with a copy of his hero's hair-do watches in wonder. Two perfumed 20-year-olds in heavy makeup and slinky dresses appear at the gym door seeking autographs.

Such funk does not go over well with the gruff old-timers at Arena Coliseo. Most of them think Paez is a half-rate fighter whose ring antics have disgraced Mexican boxing. They watch grudgingly as the champ gets down.

``He's killing the beauty of the sport,'' grumbled Raul Martinez Mora, a trainer and former boxer.

Paez is showy - but he's good. He's fast and powerful, reminding some of a half-size Muhammed Ali. Since turning pro at 19, Paez is 35-2-2. He's knocked out 25 opponents.

``He's an exciting fighter,'' said Bert Sugar, publisher of Boxing Illustrated, a monthly magazine. ``He looks to me like he took a Four-Way cold tablet and is running three ways to catch up.''

While boxing experts say Paez lacks concentration, they marvel at his ability to deliver punches while moving backward. And he absorbs punches well, they say. But experts say Paez's theatrics obscure his boxing talent.

Still, theatrics are Paez's thing. That may be because Paez is still very much a kid. His greatest influence would seem not to be Ali or Mexico's famed 1950s brawler Raul ``Mouse'' Macias, but grandmother Herminia. And his greatest love is her Circo Olvera, a traveling show based in the bordertown of Mexicali.

Paez spent most of his first 20 years in the family circus. He earned his nickname ``Maromero'' (tumbler) under the big top, playing everything from clown to ticket taker to trapeze artist.

Meanwhile, the aging Herminia Olvera excited crowds with her ``Hercules'' act, in which she challenges a member of the audience to break with a sledgehammer a 200-pound stone mounted on her back. Olvera, 76, is still doing the act with gusto.

And, thanks to grandson's success in boxing, Grandma Olvera has two new circus tents, two new trailer trucks and new costumes for her cast of performers.

Indeed, Paez has not forgotten his roots. He put on a free circus for 4,000 Mexicali youngsters in the bull ring on Children's Day and he donated some $7,000 to Fray Tormenta, a wrestling priest who runs an orphanage near Mexico City.

``He's still a good kid,'' Huizar said. ``He's still the same. But, for how long, I don't know.''

Paez may have resisted money's ugly effects so far, but seems poised to make a killing in the United States. Last year, he was seen by more TV fans than Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran combined. His first NBC fight supposedly attracted 13 million viewers.