BOXING : Gullible Public Getting What It Deserves

In one of the middle rounds Thursday night at the Mirage Hotel, after Sugar Ray Leonard had landed a straight right hand that a prelim fighter might have blocked, Leonard stepped back from Roberto Duran and summed up the whole fight with one gesture.

It was palms-up with the hands, and the facial expression, half-quizzical and half-smile, said: “Roberto . . . it’s going to be this easy?”

Leonard went over $100 million for his career with his decision victory, and that last $15 million--it may be more, when they add all the pay-per-view numbers--was the easiest of all.

The public bought this one, and the public deserved it.

The public bought a 38-year-old Panamanian who weighed 190 pounds at a news conference last August, when they announced it. And don’t blame Bob Arum, the promoter. Arum knew a Leonard-Michael Nunn fight would be more competitive, although possibly not a Pier 6 brawl, either.

But he also knew Nunn isn’t a marquee name yet, that Duran is, and that the public would buy Roberto Duran one more time.

On Friday morning, Dan Goossen, Nunn’s manager, quickly moved into the breech, now that Duran has been bumped off center-stage.

Goossen said he has it from “a high source close to (Marvin) Hagler” that the Marvelous One will come back for one more fight, as long as it’s with Leonard.

“I don’t think Leonard will ever fight Nunn,” Goossen said, “I think he’ll fight Hagler next, and that’ll be it.”

For Nunn, that leaves him with only two marquee middleweights--Thomas Hearns and, gulp, Duran.

Nunn-Hearns has been talked about for months. But Nunn-Duran? Would anyone buy a ticket to see that?

“OK, so he didn’t look good against Leonard,” Goossen said. “But look at it this way. Leonard couldn’t put Duran away. What if Michael knocks Duran out in five rounds?”

Meanwhile, Goossen has signed Nunn to a multi-fight--insiders say it’s for three bouts--agreement with the Mirage Hotel, the first being Jan. 27 against Marlon Starling. After that, boxing fans might hope, Nunn would get Hearns in an intriguing matchup of two long-armed middleweights, one of whom got a draw against Leonard last summer.

Both Arum and Mike Trainer, Sugar Ray Leonard’s attorney, said Nunn needs to pay some dues.

Nunn fought Iran Barkley on cable television in Reno last summer and won a decision, but he wasn’t impressive.

“Nunn and his people need to understand what these marquee guys did to get there--Leonard, Hagler, Duran and Hearns,” Arum said. “They all came up on network television, established their names, then stepped up to pay-per-view shows.

“What Nunn needs to do is go on network TV against, say, Iran Barkley, beat the hell out of him, and then he brings something to the table when he sits down to talk about meeting a big-name guy. “

A historical analogy to what happened Thursday night might be the failed comeback of Jim Jeffries against hated heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in Reno on July 4, 1910. Jeffries, the heavyweight champion from 1899 to 1905, retired and ate his way to 320 pounds before launching a comeback.

The public bought that one big, too. The public, beyond all reason, made Jeffries a 4-1 favorite.

Johnson couldn’t believe promoter Tex Rickard was paying him $65,000, a king’s ransom in 1910. There were tougher opponents out there, but the public wanted Johnson-Jeffries. America in those days almost demanded its heavyweight champion be white, and Johnson wasn’t.

It was a slaughter. Johnson nearly killed Jeffries.

In 1910, the money came from different directions--the live gate and film revenues. Now, the live gate money--$9 million Thursday night--is a pittance. The serious money, tens of millions of it, rolls in from pay-per-view TV.

The point is, next time a promoter tries to sell a “great” fight, read between the lines. If one of the combatants is 33 and the other 38, save the $40. Catch the delayed telecast. The formula you’re looking for, instead, is simple--two outstanding fighters, both in or close to their prime.

There aren’t many of those bouts, but one is on the docket at the Las Vegas Hilton on March 17, matching Meldrick Taylor against Julio Cesar Chavez for Taylor’s junior middleweight championship.

No one can say if it will even be a memorable fight, let alone a great one. But one thing is certain: It has a far better chance than the one they put together Thursday night.

In a week when Leonard and Duran divvied up somewhere between $20 million and $25 million, it’s interesting to reflect upon the case of Kennedy McKinney.

Two summers ago, McKinney had “can’t miss” written all over him. He was a bantamweight, a Seoul Olympic Games champion. He turned pro in Las Vegas, put together a string of knockouts . . . and then his world began falling out from under him.

Six months ago, McKinney was on his way. Huge paydays were down the road. Then he discovered cocaine. Now, McKinney’s road has at least temporarily dead-ended in Memphis, Tenn., where he’s in a rehab clinic.

Even more sadly, he needed contributions from his U.S. Olympic teammates to come up with the $10,000 needed to get into rehab. What happened to his $65,000 signing bonus?

“He spent it, it’s gone,” said Ken Adams, coach of the 1988 U.S. Olympic boxing team and now McKinney’s trainer. “He bought a car, then he bought a lot of furniture . . . “

Does anyone who invests in the future of young pro boxers take the time to explain to them how to manage money?

Adams: “We brought in one investment counselor after another to talk to these guys (the young Olympians who turned pro), made them sit down and listen to them, but McKinney went out and spent it all.”

Several days before Leonard-Duran III, promoter Bob Arum received a call from the U.S. Treasury Dept. Arum had previously sold live TV rights to the fight to the government-owned station in Panama City.

“The Treasury guy told me I could be indicted for sending U.S. dollars to an agent of the Panamanian government if they showed that fight,” Arum said. “So I had it switched to Panama’s private station, Channel 13, and they reimbursed the government station.”