Boxing / Earl Gustkey : Mandatory Title Defense Won’t Upset Tyson’s Timetable

A few things were left unsaid during Don King’s monologue Thursday night at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where he filled in the names on Mike Tyson’s boxing calendar and lauded a Japanese automaker for signing the heavyweight champion to make commercials.

King, Tyson’s promoter, said Tyson’s next five opponents, in probable order, would be Michael Dokes, Buster Douglas, Razor Ruddock, George Foreman and Evander Holyfield. He also said Tyson would be paid in “seven figures” by the automaker.

What he didn’t say was that the arrangement was set up by Tyson’s now-estranged manager, Bill Cayton.

Also left unsaid was that Tyson has a mandatory defense of his World Boxing Assn. championship coming up, a defense that must be signed for by Nov. 25.

The WBA “requires” its champions to fight the top-ranked contenders within one year. The WBA’s No. 1 challenger is Holyfield. So what happens if Tyson fights Dokes, No. 10, and Buster Douglas, No. 8, instead?

Hey, no sweat. Remember, this is pro boxing, folks. Because nearly everyone in the business considers the ratings a joke anyway--for example, the World Boxing Council does not rank Michael Nunn, the International Boxing Federation champion, among the world’s top 30 middleweights.

All King has to do is make one phone call and, presto! Mandatory defense postponed. Indefinitely. When you control the heavyweight champion, hearts and minds follow.

Also left unsaid: King wants to promote Tyson-Holyfield by himself, not with Dan Duva, who is Holyfield’s promoter. He is hoping that Holyfield and his manager, Ken Sanders, will tire of waiting for the big fight and leave Duva for King.

All this is yet another argument for the creation of a strong boxing commission, one that would yank this kind of manipulative power from the hands of promoters.

In a perfect world, a champion fights the No. 1 guy or he’s stripped of his championship, period.

Actually, both King and Duva eventually might regret not putting this one together as quickly as possible. Jim Jacobs, Tyson’s late co-manager, once talked about timing in moving a fighter into big-money fights.

“In pro boxing, the idea is to maximize your opportunities,” he said.

“When you know your fighter is ready for that career-making fight that you’ve been moving him toward, then you get him that fight as soon as you can get it. Remember, strange things happen. Someone could get run over by a bus.”

Dick Mastro, longtime Southland boxing statistician, has accused promoter Don Chargin and the Forum of promoting main events with fighters bearing phony records.

The fighters in question, Santos Moreno and Sergio Perez, both are from Mexico. They lost to Los Angeles area boxers Hector Lopez and Paul Gonzales on the same day, July 31.

“I’ll offer $500 to anyone who can produce evidence that Santos Moreno had a 47-17 record when he fought Lopez and I’ll offer $500 to anyone who presents proof that Sergio Perez was 19-9-1 when he fought Gonzales,” Mastro said.

“In fact, I can’t find a Sergio Perez anywhere in my records. It hurts me, to see phony records issued by promoters and to see the press use them,” he said.

Mastro for years has kept records of Southland boxers. So does Dean Lohuis, who charts the careers of about 2,500 pro boxers. He disputes Mastro’s claims.

“It is true that with some Mexican fighters, it’s hard to verify records, but just because Dick Mastro misses some results is no reason to throw the word phony around.

“I’ve got results for 56 Moreno fights, and 19 of them were held in the U.S. This one is not difficult. He’s a legitimate, 10-round main-event fighter. There are two Santos Morenos in my records, and Dick might be confusing him with the Santos Moreno who did lose a lot of fights.”

Rob Lynch of the California Athletic Commission said Mexican boxers are required to present a Mexican boxing license with a certified record of recent bouts attached to it when signing for a California fight.

“Both those guys seemed to have their paper work in order, both had their pictures on their licenses, and we had no reason to question their backgrounds,” he said.

No one in Reno seems worried about the Texas judge who granted a temporary restraining order to halt the Michael Nunn-Iran Barkley middleweight fight Aug. 14.

Al Boulden, a former trainer for Barkely, is seeking $47,000 he says Barkley owes him, plus $50,000 he would earn for the Nunn fight. State District judge Jack O’Neill granted the order Thursday.

“These kinds of things happen in boxing all the time,” said Dan Goossen, Nunn’s manager. “The worst thing that happens is that the fight goes on and Barkley’s purse is frozen, until he solves his problem with this guy.”

Boxing Notes

How is it possible that Frankie Duarte qualifies for a WBC super-bantamweight title fight against Daniel Zaragoza at the Forum Aug. 31? Duarte has as much business in a championship fight as Richard Simmons. Duarte is ranked 16th among WBC bantamweights, which is a gift. He’s also 35. In his most recent fights, he has struggled to beat three club fighters, whose records are 25-21-1, 18-13-3 and 9-10-1. For shame, Jerry Buss!

Remember the dreaded Dutchman, Rogelio Tuur? He’s the featherweight who iced America’s Kelcie Banks with one right hand at the Seoul Olympics. He made his pro debut at Madison Square Garden recently and scored a first-round knockout.