BOXING NOTEBOOK : WBC Recognizes Buster Douglas as Champion

Jose Sulaiman, president of the World Boxing Council, told the Associated Press late Monday night that the WBC’s executive committee “unanimously demanded for our group to officially announce that we declare, officially, Buster Douglas as the champion of the world of the heavyweight division.”

“The WBC presented Buster Douglas with the championship belt after the fight, and I believe that’s the belt he’s been wearing,” Sulaiman said. “The WBC never stated that we would not recognize Buster Douglas as champion of the world.”

As for the appeal, Sulaiman said, “The Tyson camp is not expressing to us a reversal of the decision. They are claiming they knocked out Douglas in the eighth round.”

Promoter Don King echoed Sulaiman’s sentiments, saying he recognizes Douglas as the undisputed champion.

“I never asked anybody to change the decision,” King said. “We just want a first shot at a rematch.

“They (the media) misunderstood my motivation. Tyson doesn’t want the belt unless he wins it in the ring.”

Douglas rallied from the knockdown and knocked out the previously unbeaten Tyson in the 10th round Saturday night (Sunday in Tokyo).

Six hours after the fight, referee Octavio Meyran said he had mistakenly taken up the timekeeper’s count three seconds too late on Tyson’s knockdown of Douglas, who got up at the count of nine. That reportedly caused both the WBC and the World Boxing Assn. to schedule a review of the fight.

The International Boxing Federation made Douglas their champion.

“I have not asked for modification of the rule,” King said. “It was the referee’s error.

“I would do the same for Buster Douglas. Am I and Mike Tyson to be punished because the referee made an error? The fact is, an error was made.”

King said he was upset at the perception he was trying to take Douglas’ title away.

“If anyone tried to take Buster Douglas’ title it would be unacceptable to Mike Tyson,” he said. “These things happen.”

King, commenting on a New York Times report in which Donald Trump said he has an agreement with the promoter to stage a Tyson-Douglas rematch, said: “That’s premature. We haven’t made a deal with Mr. Douglas.”

Trump said Tyson and Douglas would meet June 18 in Atlantic City, N.J.

Gary Selesner, an executive at Trump Plaza, said: “We are the site of the bout. The only snag is King has to sign Douglas and (Evander) Holyfield.

Holyfield, the top-ranked heavyweight contender, was originally scheduled to fight Tyson in Atlantic City on June 18.

According to some of Mexico’s leading boxing experts, referee Meyran was pressured to admit that he miscounted when Tyson knocked down Douglas in the eighth.

And Mexican critics added that the mistake--if it was one--was a human error that others committed before.

It was the day after the fight that Meyran said he mistakenly took up the timekeeper’s count too late on Tyson’s knockdown of Douglas. “I’d like to recognize my mistake because the rules are the rules,” the referee said.

But Mexican journalists, in particular, suggested that if Meyran had not taken the blame, he would have been blacklisted by WBC President Jose Sulaiman, who is Mexican, and by Don King.

Antonio Andere, writing in the sports newspaper Esto, called Meyran a victim of “the big interests vested in the world heavyweight title, particularly of keeping the Mike Tyson myth alive.”

Luis E. Velasco wrote in the sports paper La Aficion: “The smell of carrion and rot that permeates the underworld of boxing is now emanating full force with the decision taken by Sulaiman, whose aim is to protect his personal economic interests and those of his friend and some say partner, Don King.”

Nevada referee Mills Lane, on the long-count controversy: “The way it is supposed to occur is, once a fighter is down, the ref’s first concern is getting the other fighter to a neutral corner. If he goes without delay, the ref turns and picks up the timekeeper’s count, generally at two or three. If he doesn’t go without delay, you can penalize the failure by picking up the count at less than where the timekeeper had it.”

There was no indication of any delay by Tyson or any penalty imposed by Meyran. To Lane, however, when Meyran began counting, that had to be the only thing with which Douglas needed to be concerned.

“Once the ref picks up the count, that’s the official count,” Lane said. “What he should have done, if Tyson went without delay, was pick up the count where the timekeeper had it. If he erred, you can’t penalize Douglas. He looks at the ref. He has no way of knowing anything else. He depends on the ref for the call. The bottom line is Douglas has to rely on the referee. If the ref was off, how can you penalize the fighter?”

Dr. Elias Ghanem, a WBC vice president, said that the presidents of both the WBC and WBA were told between the eighth and ninth rounds that the referee had made a mistake in the count, but took no action.

“Nobody did anything,” Ghanem said. “The fight went on.”

Douglas returned home to Columbus, Ohio, and was given a hero’s welcome at Port Columbus International Airport.

His grandmother, Sarah Jones, stepped to the microphone, held the WBC belt high in the air and said: “We did it, Columbus. We got it. And now we’re going to keep it.”

The crowd cheered, and then cheered again when Douglas was introduced by his manager, John Johnson.

Douglas wants to take on Holyfield.

“Evander Holyfield’s the No. 1 contender, and he would be the next opponent,” Johnson told reporters.

Johnson said he discussed with Columbus Mayor Dana Rinehart the possibility of having the fight at Ohio Stadium, home of the Ohio State football team in Columbus.

Tyson, flashing a thumbs-up sign, returned home to New York’s JFK Airport.

“I had a pretty bad performance but I’m not going to make excuses,” Tyson said. “I’m just going to go on and make better results.”

Tyson said he wanted to get back in the ring soon and hoped for a rematch in the wake of a long-count dispute.

“I’ve lost before,” he said, referring to fights during his amateur career. “It’s no big deal. I’ve always come back from a loss. I feel great. I have a slight swelling in my eye and as soon as it goes down, I’m ready to go back to training.”

Lou Duva, Evander Holyfield’s manager, was in the crowd that met Tyson at the airport.

“When Tyson walked into the ring, I could see something was wrong,” Duva said. “He had no life. He didn’t have that drive. He’s not the fighter he was with Kevin Rooney.”

Tyson dismissed Rooney as his trainer a year ago.

Bill Cayton, Tyson’s estranged manager, said: “This is an unmitigated Don King disaster. He took from Mike Tyson the people who knew him best and poisoned his mind.

“I hope he realizes what a disaster King’s machinations have been over the past year. Mike’s bright. He just permits himself to be manipulated.

“I hope he has enough strength of character to admit his mistakes, to leave King, to go back to Catskill (N.Y.) where he began, go back to Kevin Rooney and get himself in shape.”

Bill Douglas, father of Buster Douglas and a former boxer himself, said that tapes of his son’s fight with Mike Tyson can’t erase “the greatest upset in history.”

Bill Douglas said the fight is being reviewed because promoters would not make as much money with Douglas as the heavyweight champion. Boxing’s governing bodies could order a rematch.

“That’s just the money people,” Douglas said. “You know, Don King. They’re doing it because they’re losing money.”

Bill Douglas, 49, was a world middleweight contender in the 1960s and 1970s. He retired in 1980 to help his son start his boxing career.

But their professional relationship ended after Tony Tucker stopped Douglas in the 10th round of an IBF title fight May 30, 1987. His father helped train him, but said his son’s managers wouldn’t listen to his advice.

“I wanted him to be a little more aggressive,” his father said. “His managers, I couldn’t talk to them because they weren’t boxers. It was a mental conflict.”

Bill Douglas indicated he bears no grudge. “We talk and call each other. We’re still father and son,” he said.