Title fights to resume next week

      Las Vegas jumps right back in the boxing spotlight next weekend with two nationally televised cards at the Las Vegas Hilton.
      Junior Jones will defend his World Boxing Organization junior featherweight championship against Marco Antonio Barrera on Friday night in the headliner of an HBO televised card.
      On Saturday afternoon, undefeated heavyweight Michael Grant will meet Lionel Butler in a scheduled 10-rounder on ABC's "Wide World of Sports."
      The Jones-Barrera fight is a rematch of their Nov. 22 meeting in Tampa, Fla., on HBO when Barrera was champion.
      Jones, of Brooklyn, scored a fifth-round disqualification victory when he dropped Barrera, of Mexico, with a powerful right hand to the jaw. Barrera, got up, but he was out on his feet and Barrera's cornermen jumped in the ring to tend to their fighter, resulting in a disqualification.
      It was the second title for Jones, who was an International Boxing Federation bantamweight champion before moving up in weight.
      Barrera defended the WBO 122-pound title eight times before his loss to Jones.
      In the co-feature on Friday's card, Ike Quartey will defend his World Boxing Association welterweight championship against Ralph Jones in a scheduled 12-rounder.
      Quartey, a native of Ghana, won the WBA welterweight title by stopping Christano Espana in the 11th round in 1994.
      Quartey, 27, is 33-0 and has made five defenses of his 147-pound title.
      Jones, also 27, of Pittsburgh, is 29-1.
      -- ABC CARD -- Grant is a former UNLV student who was a Nevada Golden Gloves champion before turning professional.
      Grant, 24, is 24-0 as a pro and is managed by Bill Cayton of New York, the former manager of Mike Tyson. Grant is trained by Don Turner, the trainer for WBA heavyweight champion Evander Holfyfield.
      Butler is 26-12-1. He lost a WBC elimination fight to Lennox Lewis in Sacramento, Calif., in 1995.
      ABC will televise women's boxing for the first time on the card with a bout between Yvonne Trevino and Brenda Rouse.
      Trevino is the Women's International Boxing Federation super flyweight champion.
      -- HOLYFIELD IN TOWN -- Evander Holyfield was at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday night for the Pernell Whitaker-Oscar De La Hoya fight to root for Whitaker, his friend and 1984 Olympic Games teammate.
      Holyfield said he would return to Houston on Monday to train. However, his promoter Dino Duva said Holyfield is "skeptical" about his rematch with Mike Tyson.
      The Holyfield-Tyson fight was postponed last week from May 3 at the MGM Grand Garden to June 28 because Tyson aggravated a cut over his left eye.
      Duva expressed skepticism the rematch would happen, although he remained hopeful and said he thought Tyson's promoter, Don King, wanted the rematch.
      -- SUGAR RAY BACK -- Promoter Mike Acri said former five-time champion Sugar Ray Leonard would fight again June 1 on a CBS-televised card, probably at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn.
      Leonard was stopped in the fifth round by Hector Camacho on March 1 in Atlantic City, N.J. It was Leonard's first fight in six years.
      Acri, of Erie, Pa., said Leonard, of Bel Air, Calif., would meet Danny Phippen, of Whitman, Mass., in a scheduled 10-rounder. Phippen is 21-0 and is co-managed and trained by Vinny Vecchione.
      -- CAESARS CARD -- Colorful Jorge Paez will meet Gerald Gray of New York in the main event on an April 26 card at Caesars Palace promoted by Forum Boxing Inc.
      The six-bout card will be in the convention area at Caesars Palace.
      Paez, a former IBF featherweight champion, is 58-11-4, while Gray is 16-3-1.
      Paez, of Mexico, and Gray will be fighting for Paez's minor World Boxing Council Continental Americas title.
     
      Royce Feour's boxing notes are published Sunday. He may be reached a 383-0354 or by fax at 383-4676.