Boxing : Nevada Commission Quits World Boxing Assn.

An important ruling was handed down in Nevada last month, but its news value was overshadowed by the impending Marvelous Marvin Hagler-Sugar Ray Leonard fight. Now, though, the impact of that decision is starting to be felt.

The Nevada Athletic Commission decided to withdraw from the World Boxing Assn., citing the WBA’s continued involvement in South Africa and the WBA’s insistence on bringing its own judges to title fights.

The latter is the more compelling reason, of course. Nevada, as does any state, likes to staff its title fights with local officials. The WBA, as does any sanctioning body, likes to bring in its own neutral judges. The governing body decides, of course, who is neutral and who is not.

This is sometimes hilarious, as in the Frankie Duarte-Bernardo Pinango fight held in Los Angeles. The WBA brought in a Panamanian judge, even though Pinango trains in Panama. When Duarte’s camp beefed, the WBA appeared surprised and said, in effect, “Hey, Duarte caught a break with a Puerto Rican judge, didn’t he? Isn’t that a U.S. territory?”

Nevada had had similar problems and simply decided that enough was enough. If there is to be a WBA title fight in Nevada, the commission will supervise it. WBA officials won’t even be allowed to sit at ringside.

The upshot of all this is that there probably won’t be any WBA title fights in Nevada, which happens to be the busiest fight city in this country.

And, further, any WBA champions who fight there are likely to lose their titles. The WBA, which had earlier stripped Hagler of his middleweight belt, is already threatening to strip Evander Holyfield of his cruiserweight title and Mike Tyson of his heavyweight title if they go ahead with Las Vegas defenses this month.

“The WBA is obviously a Latin and South American organization,” Nevada Commissioner Duane Ford said. “We wish them well there.”

“I wuz sued:” The next time a fighter says he “wuz robbed,” he had better have his attorney standing beside him. Increasingly, the traditional postfight tirade is leading to litigation.

Frank Brunette, one of two judges who scored the Larry Holmes fight in Michael Spinks’ favor, contends that Holmes’ postfight comments went into a slanderous area and he therefore is suing the former heavyweight champion.

Brunette claims that Holmes’ remarks have cost him other opportunities to judge fights.

And now JoJo Guerra, the judge who scored the Hagler fight well in favor of Sugar Ray Leonard, is promising to weigh in with a suit against Pat Petronelli, who suggested that Guerra “belongs in jail.”

Boxing Notes

Former Olympic champion Paul Gonzales, who apparently has lost his network luster, will fight at the Forum, May 18, against Mauro Diaz, another L.A. boxer. Gonzales, who was once beloved by CBS, has become an unpredictable property, inclined to bizarre injuries. Most recently, he hurt his foot jumping into a Corvette. He hasn’t fought since last July. . . . Same night, another local legend will come back. Former super bantamweight champion Jaime Garza, who lost to Darryl Thigpen in his last fight, will meet Baby Joe Ruelaz in the quarterfinals of the featherweight tournament there. That fight could be notable more for the men in the corners than in the ring. Longtime friends Bennie Georgino, Garza’s manager, and Jackie McCoy, Ruelaz’s, will be cross corners for the first time in their careers.

Rocky Garcia will fight Maruio L’Esperance, May 28, at the Irvine Marriott. Also that night, Garcia’s manager, McCoy, will be honored. McCoy has developed five former champions, the most recent, Carlos Palomino. Returning there in June is John Montes, who will fight Eric Martin. . . . Young Dick Tiger, who recently won at the Forum, will return home to Lagos, Nigeria, to defend his African welterweight title, May 15. Of the fighter, manager Nmadi Moweta says, gratefully, “He’s young and he’s hungry.” Presumably the fighter could just as easily have been promoted as Hungry Tiger. . . . It will be old-timers’ night at the Country Club in Reseda, June 27. Frankie Duarte and Albert Davila will fight again, nearly 10 years to the day after they first met in the Olympic Auditorium. Davila, who eventually won the bantamweight title, stopped Duarte that time. This one is a CBS fight.