Quiles Tries to Complete Ensemble With WBF Belt

Ricky Quiles, a fighter short on activity but long on pizazz, will claim the spotlight tonight at the Reseda Country Club when he fights Francisco Mendez in a 12-round main event for the vacant World Boxing Federation welterweight championship.

Quiles, 27-2-1 with 18 knockouts, made the most of his first appearance last month at the Country Club, with a fourth-round knockout of Margarito Navarro.

Quiles, 28, of Lorain, Ohio, made an ostentatious entry a la Hector “Macho” Camacho, complete with cape and flashy head dress. He was met with roaring approval by the Country Club crowd.

If only Quiles would appear more often. His fight tonight will be Quiles’ second of 1998 and only his fifth in the past four years. Quiles did not fight in 1997. Mendez (12-13) has seven knockouts.

The undercard is scheduled to include former Canadian Olympic boxer Chris Johnson in a 10-round light-heavyweight bout against Reggie Miller of Lake Charles, La.

Johnson (22-1-1) won a bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics. Miller, whose record includes a loss to Roy Jones Jr., is 27-15 with 18 knockouts.

Juan Lazcano, who engaged in two exciting title fights at the Country Club against Danny Lujan in 1997, will fight Olegario DeLeon in a six-round junior-lightweight nontitle fight.

Lazcano, WBF lightweight champion, is 14-2-1 with nine knockouts. DeLeon is 6-21-2.

Crowd favorite Victor Ortiz of Simi Valley, 4-0 with two knockouts, will face his toughest challenge against journeyman Joaquin Felix, 19-15 with seven knockouts.

A women’s bout is tentatively scheduled.

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Fight Night

Thursday night’s boxing at Reseda Country Club

* Ricky Quiles (27-2-1, 18 knockouts) vs. Francisco Mendez (12-13, 7 KOs), 12 rounds, World Boxing Federation welterweight championship.

* Chris Johnson (22-1-1, 12 KOs) vs. Reggie Miller (27-15, 18 KOs), 10 rounds, light-heavyweights.

* Juan Lazcano (14-2-1, 9 KOs) vs. Olegario DeLeon (6-21-2), 6 rounds, lightweights.

* Victor Ortiz (4-0, 2 KOs) vs. Joaquin Felix (19-15, 7 KOs), 4 rounds, light-heavyweights.

* Jamal Harris (5-3-2, 3 KOs) vs. Heriberto Ramos (6-2), 4 rounds, middleweights.

* Sal Garcia (1-0-2) vs. Santana Baez (1-8-1), 4 rounds, super-bantamweights.

* First bell: 7:30 p.m. * Tickets: $20-$75.

* Information: (818) 757-0780.