Boxing / Earl Gustkey : When in Doubt, the Eyes Have It in California

The theme is a hundred years old: Aging boxer announces comeback, takes some beatings in tank towns, catches a headline, and tells everyone thanks, but he’s pefectly capable of looking after his own affairs.

Marvin Camel’s case, however, has another element. Turns out the onetime cruiserweight champion had detached retina surgery under an assumed name a dozen years ago in Los Angeles, and has fought 16 times since then.

The California ophthalmologist who originally discovered Camel’s detached retina admits today he submitted a false report on the injury, calling it a corneal abrasion. Camel had his retina repaired and promised never again to attempt to box in California.

The California Athletic Commission has a hard policy on boxers who have had detached retinas. They can’t get licenses here. Period. Nevada and other states employ case-by-case policies.

It’s a sensitive issue in boxing. No one wants another Sugar Ray Seales, a 1972 Olympic gold medalist who today finds his way around Seattle with a red and white cane, blinded by eye injuries that went undetected for years because he memorized eye charts.

Many opthalmologists point out that a boxer who’s had successful retina surgery is at no greater risk for another retina injury than anyone else. After all, they say, Sugar Ray Leonard, Pinklon Thomas, Bob Foster and Earnie Shavers had retinas repaired and all continued to box without further injury, so far as is known.

Today, ophthalmologists appear to be interested in having more states adopt thumbless gloves than banning boxers with retina surgery histories. Most boxing-related retina injuries, they say, are caused by the thumbs on gloves.

Chuck Minker, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, said he would be more concerned about Camel’s gray matter than his eyes, should he apply for a Nevada license.

“I’d have a problem with him,” Minker said. “To me, more of a question in his case is, ‘Where is this guy going?’ At what point does someone say to this guy, ‘OK, that’s it. No more.’ ”

Camel, 37, recently applied for an Oregon boxing license, not knowing he would have to deal with blunt-talking Bruce Anderson, executive director of the Oregon Boxing Commission.

Not long ago, Anderson was asked if he would approve a George Foreman fight in Oregon. Anderson said he didn’t like two things about Foreman: His age, which is 40, and his physiognomy, which is obese.

“I told (Foreman’s advisers) to go perpetuate the George Foreman myth elsewhere,” Anderson said.

Camel is a slightly different case, he said.

“Camel is over 36, which in our state means his application gets special attention,” Anderson said. Then Anderson learned of a Times story about Camel’s detached retina. “He has passed some eye exams in recent years and he is having one in Montana this week,” he said. “I want to see those reports before I make a decision. And he has a fight this week in Great Falls. I want to see a tape of that.

“I’ll tell you one thing, if Camel thinks he’s going to come into this state and waltz through some medical formalities, he’s mistaken. He’ll think he’s been through the Mayo Clinic before we get through with him.”

Camel himself said he has had 16 fights since the surgery. Dick Mastro, Southern California boxing statistician, has him losing his last four fights, since 1984. Virgil Hill, now the World Boxing Assn. light-heavyweight champion, knocked Camel out in one round in North Dakota in 1987.

The point is clear. Marvin Camel is going nowhere as a professional boxer and he knows it.

So do the people around him.

And so do the promoters who sign his checks.

Boxing Notes

The Sammy Fuentes-Rodolfo Aguilar super-lightweight bout at the Forum Monday is a rematch of the draw the two had May 15 in the Forum’s tournament championship bout. The winner will earn $75,000, the loser $10,000. The World Boxing Assn. ranks Aguilar No. 1 and the World Boxing Council ranks Fuentes No. 7. . . . Roberto Duran, after he picks up his $7.5-million check for his appointment with Sugar Ray Leonard Dec. 7, has made an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service. Within three days, he will deliver a $1.5-million check to the IRS, settling his tax debt. The agreement also calls for Duran, who now lives in Miami, not to leave the country without notice.

Longtime Southland trainer Jackie McCoy says he has a young bantamweight prospect who bears watching, Martin Garcia. . . . Former heavyweight contender Earnie Shavers is moving to Lancaster, where he will be a field representative at the Inner Cities Youth Ministries Academy for homeless young men. . . . Art Aragon, the 1950s Golden Boy of Southern California boxing, is on the mend after falling off his roof recently and breaking his heel.

It’s featherweights Georgie Garcia and Luis Hernandez at the Irvine Marriott Aug. 28. . . . Lightweights Pernell Whitaker and Jose Luis Ramirez meet Aug. 20 on ABC, in a rematch of their disputed match in Paris last year, when Ramirez was given a hotly disputed decision. Ramon Felix, Ramirez’s manager-trainer throughout his career, recently drowned in a swimming accident near the fighter’s training camp at Casablanca, Morocco. . . . HBO executive Seth Abraham is applying pressure on promoter Don King to free up Julio Cesar Chavez so that the long awaited Chavez-Meldrick Taylor bout can be made.