BOXING NOTES : Tyson-Ruddock Bout Appears Headed From Canada to Japan

It looks as if the Great White North is going to be left out in the cold. Frantic negotiations to try to salvage the Jan. 20 date for the Mike Tyson-Razor Ruddock bout failed Wednesday night, and now it appears the site of the bout will be shifted from Edmonton’s Northlands Coliseum to the Tokyo Dome on Feb. 12.

The effort to hold the Canadian deal together verged on the comical, what with 11 people -- some in Edmonton, some in Las Vegas and a few in New York -- on a conference call that lasted 90 minutes and ended inconclusively about 6 p.m. On the call were HBO’s Seth Abraham; promoter Don King and his attorney, Charles Lomax; Canadian promoter Garry Stephenson; Ruddock’s promoter, Murad Muhammad and his trainer, Janks Morton; lawyers representing the Northlands Coliseum and the two Canadian financial backers, who now stand to lose a bundle.

“There will be no Tyson fight in January,” Abraham said. “I believe now that the fight will wind up in Japan.”

The stumbling block apparently was the inability of the Canadians to guarantee financing for the Jan. 20 date. Previously, $2.5 million had been guaranteed to King and Tyson in the form of letters-of-credit that apparently expire in December. Additionally, King and Tyson were paid $600,000 in cash and ran up $800,000 in expenses that were charged to the promoters -- money they now will be hard-pressed to recover.

The hectic negotiations turned out to have been dictated by the deadline for the January issue of the monthly HBO program guide, which had to be sent out to the printers Wednesday night in order to be ready for delivery to HBO subscribers by Dec. 31. The way things work in cable-TV boxing, if a deal cannot be completed in time to get the bout listed in the program guide for the month in which the promoters and fighters would like to have the fight, then the fight gets moved to the following month. If it sounds like the tail wagging the dog, it is.

And according to Abraham, King has a commitment to Japanese promoter Akihiko Honda for a Tyson fight on Feb. 12 in Tokyo, so if Tyson-Ruddock goes in February, it goes in Tokyo. And a few people in Edmonton take a nice cold bath.

And as its substitute for Tyson-Ruddock on Saturday night -- the heavyweights’ original date -- HBO proudly presents Julio Cesar Chavez-Sammy Fuentes. What? That’s right, Don King’s favorite benefactor showcases a fight between Chavez, the formidable WBC junior welterweight champ, and a man who was starched by Freddie Pendleton in 15 seconds last year. To flesh out the show, HBO will have IBF champion Meldrick Taylor on a satellite hookup from Philadelphia to comment before and after the fight. Taylor is slated to face Chavez on March 17. HBO also says King has “promised to deliver Tyson for an interview.”

The men guiding the career of Bronx middleweight Dennis Milton are so sure they have hooked up to a winner they are paying Michael Olajide $100,000 to step into the ring with their tiger on Dec. 1 in Albany. Milton, suddenly hot with a win over Robbie Sims in August, will get $25,000. Lenny Menudo, Milton’s well-heeled manager, stands to lose a bundle since he has no TV money to cover the purses. “I’m willing to live with the loss because I’m looking toward the future,” Menudo said. “I want the world to see that Dennis Milton is the world’s best middleweight.”

The friends of Hector Camacho are starting to worry about the flighty junior welterweight, who has not been seen or heard from in a couple of days. Most disturbing is this past weekend Camacho stood up a young lady who had bid $2,100 for a date with the Macho Man at an auction to benefit the Heart Fund in Fort Myers, Fla. Camacho’s sudden disappearance has raised rumors that perhaps he is looking to pull out of his Feb. 3 date against Vinny Pazienza. Camacho’s longtime friend, Patrick Flannery, was especially worried about Camacho, who was unreachable at his usual haunts. “This kid would never go four days without calling me,” he said. “There is something traumatic in the wind.”

Ray Mercer’s poor showing against Jerry Jones Tuesday night has killed plans for a proposed fight with Carl Williams in February. Mercer, the Olympic heavyweight champion, is not ready to face The Truth.

Madison Square Garden pays a not-so-fond farewell to the Beacon Theatre Thursday night, which will be retired after hosting two shows that were displaced from the Felt Forum. Thursday night’s show features lightweight Tunde Foster vs. William Rojas and unbeaten middleweight prospect Merqui Sosa facing slippery veteran Sanderline Williams. In December, MSG boxing has a show in Atlantic City and one in Missouri -- and no shows in New York.

Joey Maxim is getting the Rocky Marciano Award and Eddie Futch the “Salute to Boxing Greats” Award at the Downtown Athletic Club’s 14th annual dinner.

Brooklyn’s heavyweight hopeful, Riddick Bowe (10-0, 9 KOs), fights Bobby Jones (13-2) in Washington Saturday night, in an off TV date.

L.A. spies report Marty Cohen, the 92-year-old manager of Michael Dokes, was furious with an overweight Dokes’ lethargic performance against Lionel Washington Monday night. Dokes, who weighed 253 1/2, stopped Washington in the eighth, but was cut badly in two places and dropped in the seventh. According to earwitnesses, Cohen, whom Dokes calls “Popsy,” told Dokes, “I won’t let you fight again if you ever get this out of shape.” Luckily for Dokes, his poor effort was seen only on L.A.’s Prime Ticket cable network. Otherwise he may have lost all hope for a shot at Tyson.

It was lights, camera, distraction for Tommy Morrison Tuesday night in West Orange, N.J. Morrison, the 20-0 heavyweight who is John Wayne’s grandnephew, agreed to allow Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young and Co. to invade his dressing room and corner before and after his bout with Lorenzo Canady at the South Mountain Arena to film scenes to be used in “Rocky V,” Stallone’s next excursion into phony pugilism in which Morrison will co-star as Stallone’s protege.

The whole thing turned into a giant pain for Morrison when 25 Hollywood types crowded his dressing room before the bout, disrupting his prefight concentration. As a result, Morrison turned in a subpar performance against Canady, suffering a cut under his right eye and getting nailed repeatedly by a fighter who was stopped in less than a minute by Tyson in 1985.

John Brown, Morrison’s trainer and co-manager, was said to be equally perturbed about the intrusion and regretted allowing it to take place. But still, Cayton and Brown will allow the 20-year-old Morrison, following a fight against washed-up Quick Tillis on Dec. 7, to put his career on hold for three months to complete the film. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will in no way detract from Tommy’s boxing development,” Cayton said. “It will pay him more money than he has made in all his fights put together and give him more worldwide recognition than has been enjoyed by any fighter with the exception of Ali and Tyson.”

Funny P.S.: The last time celluloid boxing expert Burt Young was at the South Mountain Arena, he was collecting the limp form of Dave Sears, a Howard Beach light-heavyweight he managed who had just been KOd in 66 seconds by champion Bobby Czyz. “I don’t understand this kid,” Young said of Sears. “In the gym, he’s the greatest fighter I ever seen. But in a fight, he just falls apart.”