Yes, Folks, Boxing Really Not All Bad

Stories about greed and corruption in boxing are plentiful, but this isn’t one of them.

Randy Gordon, head of the New York State Athletic Commission, is working as a commentator on Monday night’s Sugar Ray Leonard-Donny Lalonde pay-per-view telecast.

Aware of possible conflict-of-interest charges, Gordon will donate his $5,000 fee to the family of New York sports publicist Mike Cohen, who died recently of a heart attack at 44.

Add boxing: From Wallace Matthews of Newsday: “Have you noticed how quickly Mike Tyson has come to look like a typical Don King heavyweight? According to a Tyson friend, he weighs 255, some 35 pounds above his fighting weight.”

Said Kevin Rooney, rumored to be on his way out as Tyson’s trainer: “He’s starting to look like a fat doughboy, like a Tim Witherspoon or a Tony Tubbs or a Greg Page.”

Add heavyweights: George Foreman, 40 years old and 250 pounds, told the Washington Post after his 13th consecutive knockout since coming out of retirement in March 1987: “I’m a better fighter now than I have ever been. . . . I could have lost weight, but I started thinking, ‘Why would a lion lose weight to fight a house cat?’ If you’re a bigger guy, you hit harder.”

Trivia Time: Which coach in the National Basketball Assn.’s Atlantic Division has the most seniority?

The Rams won’t play against Eric Dickerson this season, unless both the Rams and the Indianapolis Colts somehow make it to the Super Bowl.

But Philadelphia guard Ron Solt, a former Colt, thinks the Eagles, whom the Rams play Sunday, have someone similar.

“Randall Cunningham is the same type of player as Eric Dickerson,” Solt said. “Every time he touches the ball, you hear people in the crowd take a big breath and gasp because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Hmm. Do you suppose Dickerson would agree with that comparison? He is, after all, by his own reckoning, the best player in the National Football League.

Saintmania: The New Orleans Saints have announced that their final 2 home games are sold out, marking the first time in their 22-year history that the entire home schedule has been sold out. And to think that just a few years ago, fans were wearing paper bags over their heads and calling their team the Ain’ts.

Former Washington State player Chuck Morrell paid a visit to the team’s hotel the night before last Saturday’s UCLA game and reminded the coaches that the last time the Cougars beat UCLA in Los Angeles was 30 years ago, when Morrell ran a kickoff back 86 yards for a touchdown in a 38-20 victory at the Coliseum. Morrell said it was about time for Washington State to do it again.

Morrell, a movie producer who is the twin brother of former hockey announcer Gary Morrell, has been invited to Washington State’s game at Stanford Saturday.

“The coaches now say Chuck is their good-luck charm,” Gary Morrell said.

Trivia Answer: Rick Pitino, who is starting his second season with the New York Knicks. The rest of the coaches in the division have all been hired since the beginning of last season.

Quotebook

Jerry Burns, coach of the Minnesota Vikings, when asked about Mike Ditka’s heart attack and the stress of coaching: “Coaching is no more stressful than being in management at a place like Honeywell or 3M. Mike is just more excitable.”