Denkin Says Accusers Conspired to Oust Him : Boxing: Fired official calls them ‘the lowest people we have to deal with in boxing.’

Fired state boxing official Marty Denkin, testifying for the first time in his appeal hearing, lashed out at his accusers Thursday.

Denkin called a promoter, three managers and two matchmakers, all of whom testified that he accepted cash and jewelry for boxing favors, “the lowest people we have to deal with in boxing.”

Denkin was fired by the state Department of Consumer Affairs from his job as assistant executive officer for the California Athletic Commission in June 1989 after an investigation.

He also disputed commission staff member Carlos Lopez’s version of a weigh-in, which Lopez accused him of rigging. Denkin implied that Lopez lied Tuesday when he testified that Denkin was not present for a 1988 weigh-in at the commission’s downtown Los Angeles office.

Also Thursday, the commission’s chief executive officer, Ken Gray, appeared to contradict himself after he testified that Denkin “did a good job” and that the state’s investigation into charges against Denkin “looked fishy . . . like someone had ulterior motives.”

But when state attorney Christopher Foley reminded Gray that he had said in a deposition that he believed Denkin had accepted a $1,300 gold necklace from manager Alberto Carranza, Gray said: “Yes, I correct my answer. . . . My belief is that the necklace was given. That (his deposition) refreshes my memory.”

In calling his accusers “the lowest people,” Denkin was referring to Azteca Promotions President Rogelio Robles, matchmakers Obdulio Munoz and Ernesto Fuentes and managers Ricardo Maldonado, Miguel Jara and Carranza.

Under questioning by his attorney, Jerome Mandel, Thursday, Denkin said: “It’s all a pyramid, with Robles at the top, with Munoz, Fuentes, Maldonado, Jara and Carranza all together. I fined Robles several times, twice for $750.

“I suspended Maldonado’s license and fined him, too--for $1,000. During my tenure, no promoter was fined more than Robles . . . No matchmaker was fined more than Munoz.”

When asked if he had accepted cash (Robles has testified that he gave Denkin $2,000) or jewelry from boxing licensees, Denkin said: “Absolutely not.”

On Tuesday, Lopez said he was ordered by Denkin in a phone call to register a boxer as having made a 122-pound limit for a 1988 Forum fight. The boxer, Lopez said, missed by more than two pounds.

Also testifying Tuesday was Forum matchmaker Tony Curtis, who partially refuted a charge by matchmaker Fuentes and manager Jara that Denkin accepted a $300 bribe for gaining entrance to a Forum tournament.

“Marty had nothing to do with who fought in our tournament. We selected the fighters, not Marty,” Curtis said. Jara had said the alleged bribe was for “help with judges and referees.”

Denkin called the $300 bribe charge “ludicrous.”