BOXING : State Commission Is About to Get an Uppercut

Judging from remarks by Assemblyman Richard Floyd (D-Carson) this week, it will be a demanding time for the California Athletic Commission and its staff during April hearings on pending boxing legislation in Sacramento.

Floyd and Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles) have submitted a three-bill package of legislation that would eliminate or overhaul commission functions and programs, including the state’s much-criticized neurological examinations, required yearly of pro boxers in California.

Other targeted topics include how commission members are selected and the state’s boxer pension plan.

“The neuro package borders on the obscene,” Floyd said Friday.

“We have a situation where a world-class fighter can sign to fight in California, then he flunks his neuro the day before the fight, and the promoter is told he can’t fight.

“A month later, the guy is fighting in Nevada.

“The neuros keep costing more and more, and other medical people keep telling us they don’t work. The intent of the neuros is good--we really should screen these kids--but this test doesn’t work. Let’s get the commission out of it.

“Let’s require that the boxer go to a neurologist of his own choosing and be examined.”

The present commission, Floyd said, is adrift and bereft of leadership. Its members are Chairman Charles Westlund, Jerry Nathanson, Raoul Silva, Ara Hairabedian, Bill Malkasian, Dr. T.B. Montemayor, Dr. Thomas Thaxter and Robert Wilson.

Currently, the governor appoints six of the commission’s eight members. The other two appointments are made by the Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Rules Committee.

The outspoken Floyd doesn’t think much of the commission.

“Most governors don’t give a damn about the Athletic Commission,” he said. “So we wind up with guys who are friends of friends, that kind of thing. I want to find a way to get the kind of people we need on the commission. I’d also like to see a (former) boxer on the commission, a manager, maybe a promoter.”

Floyd characterized the commission’s staff as “an overloaded bureaucracy with no one in charge--a ‘Who’s on first?’ situation.”

He added: “A year ago, we relieved the commission of the responsibility of overseeing pro wrestling, but there was no corresponding cutback in the size of their staff. They needed staff to inspect boxing gyms, they told us. Well, now I’m told they don’t do that, either.”

Another Floyd sore point: California’s boxer pension plan. It has been learned that, when information booklets are mailed to boxers, most envelopes come back marked “addressee unknown.”

“Let’s make the pension plan optional and let’s let the State Controller’s office run it,” Floyd said. “A dear friend of mine, the late Assemblyman Vincent Thomas, came up with the boxer pension idea. It was one of those things that sounded great at the time . . . but it’s just never worked.

“Let’s face it, most fighters never fight for million-dollar purses. So you’ve got this big pension program, no one can find the fighters, a whole bureaucracy is kept busy on it . . . all so some six-round fighter can collect his 39 cents a month 35 years from now.”

For Bill Cayton, estranged manager of Mike Tyson, the dream continues. He hopes his get-even time with Tyson will come in the summer of 1992.

His new heavyweight, Tommy Morrison, keeps beating carefully chosen opponents, most recently a badly cut Pinklon Thomas, who quit on his stool Tuesday after one round.

Cayton, dumped by Tyson three years ago when the then-champion embraced Promoter Don King, has Morrison scheduled for two more ordinary opponents, on April 6 and again on the April 19 Holyfield-Foreman undercard.

But after that, the undefeated Morrison finally gets someone who can fight--Ray Mercer. The Morrison-Mercer bout is tentatively scheduled for July 8.

Cayton said: “By the end of the year, with everything breaking right, Tommy will be the No. 1-, 2- or 3-ranked heavyweight in the world. Then we’d be looking at Mike Tyson, who by then I believe will have regained his championship. Tyson-Morrison would be the biggest sports event in history, even bigger than a Super Bowl.”

Sacramento-based promoter Don Chargin says his March 15 Tony Lopez-Brian Mitchell junior-lightweight unification bout has an outside chance of breaking the $601,000 state live gate record set last Sept. 22 by the Lopez-Jorge Paez fight at Arco Arena.

“We’ll do a half-million for sure, but I’ll be surprised if we go over $600,000,” Chargin said. “We sold $50,000 worth of tickets the first two days, so that was a good sign.”

Oddly, the fight will not be televised in the United States, although Chargin sold foreign rights to Europe, South Africa and Asia. Chargin said the over-the-air networks and the cable networks all passed on the show because Mitchell is a South African.

Boxing Notes

Unbeaten Arleta featherweight Rafael Ruelas will step up in class on March 31, when he fights veteran Steve Cruz in Las Vegas. Cruz fell on hard times after he upset Barry McGuigan in 1986 and won a featherweight title. Now 26, Cruz is 35-5-0. Ruelas, 19, is 23-0.

Ruelas’ manager, Ten Goose Boxing president Dan Goossen, has added Michigan amateur sensation Kevin Childrey to his stable. Childrey, a lightweight, will make his pro debut Tuesday night at the Country Club in Reseda.

Southland amateur standouts Oscar de la Hoya and Pepe Reilly are in Colorado Springs for the Feb. 25-March 2 National Amateur Championships, but defending U.S. champion Shane Mosely of Pomona will box instead at the March 9-10 World Championships Challenge in Bangkok.