Chavez Apparently Spurns Arum Contract to Extend With King

Julio Cesar Chavez apparently has fired his American manager and attorney and may have signed a new contract with New York promoter Don King, it was learned Saturday.

The world light-welterweight boxing champion from Culiacan, Mexico, Chavez--73-0 or 72-1, depending on your record-keeper--last month signed a six-fight, $15-million contract with Las Vegas promoter Bob Arum.

But King met with Chavez in Toluca, Mexico, this week, and Chavez apparently signed with King, extending a 1987 contract. Chavez also may have fired Alberto Gonzales, his San Diego-based manager, and Leon Pizante, his Los Angeles lawyer.

“I had told Julio that if he ever again signed with King, I would not work for him,” Gonzales said Saturday. “When we talked (Friday), we had words. We argued. I think he signed something (with King) that puts me out anyway.”

Chavez’s contract obligations to King had expired last month. Yet shortly after signing with Arum and taking a $300,000 signing bonus, Chavez signed to fight Lonnie Smith on King’s March 18 Mike Tyson-Razor Ruddock fight in Las Vegas. Arum’s contract wasn’t to take effect until May 1.

“I hear King put a lot of pressure on Chavez, but I don’t know why,” Arum said Saturday. “My contract with Chavez is solid. If it winds up in litigation, someone’s going to wind up paying me millions.”