BOXING / EARL GUSTKEY : Uncertainty of Tyson’s Case Dulls Future

Have you noticed? There aren’t any big fights out there.

Once, we looked ahead to Leonard-Hagler, to Tyson-Spinks, to Tyson-Holyfield. Now, the calendar is almost blank.

The uncertainty caused by Mike Tyson’s rape trial, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 27, has the heavyweight division tied in knots. The champion, Evander Holyfield, was reduced to planning a rematch with George Foreman. But even that one--at least for the present--has apparently fallen victim to boxing politics.

Seems that the Don King-Jose Sulaiman axis has informed Holyfield’s people that if they proceed with Holyfield-Foreman II, Holyfield will be stripped of the World Boxing Council portion of his title.

Who cares?

Well, it turns out that any Holyfield-Tyson fight is contingent on Holyfield bringing the undisputed championship to the table.

So, everyone will have to be happy with Ray Mercer-Larry Holmes, on Feb. 7. Yawn.

Actually, the best fight on the calendar is the March 1 rematch of Jeff Fenech and Azumah Nelson, in Melbourne, Australia. Those two staged one of the best fights in recent years on the undercard of Tyson-Ruddock II. We had Fenech a clear winner, but the judges called it a draw.

It’s said that Melbourne’s 41,000-seat Princes Park Stadium is a cinch sellout for the rematch. Fist magazine, an Australian boxing publication, recently called Fenech Australia’s greatest fighter ever.

The Forum’s match between Humberto Gonzalez and Domingo Sosa on Jan. 27 for the WBC’s light-flyweight title is a good one, matching Gonzalez, a 5-foot-1 Mexico City dynamo, against Sosa, the 5-7 No. 1 contender, unbeaten at 22-0.

Gonzalez, 31-1 with 24 knockouts, is one of the sport’s most exciting fighters. He hopes to get a unification fight with IBF champion Michael Carbajal later this year, a match expected to be the richest ever for 108-pounders.

As Muhammad Ali turned 50 this week, we remembered the great victories and the style of the man. And we remembered a lot of outrageous poetry, most notably this one, delivered at top volume shortly before his stunning victory over Sonny Liston in 1964:

Now Clay swings with a right, what a beautiful swing.

And the punch raises the Bear clear of the ring.

Liston is still rising, and the ref wears a frown.

For he can’t start counting, till Sonny comes down.

Now Liston disappears from view.

The crowd is getting frantic.

But our radar stations have picked him up.

He’s somewhere over the Atlantic.

Who would have thought when they came to the fight

That they’d witness the launching of a human satellite.

Yes, the crowd did not dream when they lay down their money.

That they would see a total eclipse of the Sonny.

William E. Eastman, the police chief of Pleasanton, Calif., was voted chairman of the California Athletic Commission Friday at its Sacramento meeting. He succeeds Ara Hairabedian of Fresno, whose term expired.

It was confirmed at the meeting that the commission staff’s budget troubles are so severe that Dale Ashley, assistant chief inspector for the Los Angeles office, will be laid off next month.

Ashley’s departure will mean that, at least temporarily, the nation’s largest boxing district--Southern California had at least twice as many boxing shows as any other state in 1991--will be policed by one administrator, Steve English, and a secretary, Rosa Maldonado.

Also at Friday’s meeting, a $500 fine levied against Forum matchmaker Tony Curtis was confirmed. Curtis was fined for failing to submit main-event contracts to the commission staff 72 hours before weigh-ins.

For a change, the commission had perfect attendance Friday. Even Robert Wilson showed up. Since being appointed in 1987, Wilson has attended 21 of 41 meetings.

Boxing Notes

WBC chief Jose Sulaiman, who not long ago announced at a news conference: “No one can ignore the World Boxing Council,” sent out a faxed tribute to Muhammad Ali on his birthday. Jack Dempsey is referred to as the “Manassa Assassin” (it was “Manassa Mauler”), Rocky Marciano as the “Brockton Brawler” (he was the “Brockton Blockbuster”) and it identifies Ali’s first championship opponent as “Sony” (Sonny) Liston.

Then it states that only two years after Ali--then Cassius Clay--had won a 1960 Olympic gold medal, in 1962, he beat Liston for the title. Sorry Jose, Ali beat Liston on Feb. 25, 1964.

This, mind you, from one of boxing’s “world governing bodies. . . .”

Next ESPN date for Rudy Zavala is Feb. 15 in Phoenix, where the 15-0 Costa Mesa 122-pound fighter will fight Johnny Vasquez (16-2) of Phoenix. . . . The California Border Assn. of USA Boxing (formerly USA Amateur Boxing Federation) will hold its regional championship bouts Feb. 8-9 at the Scottish Rite Temple in Mission Valley, San Diego. . . . Junior-lightweights Francisco Segura vs. Adam Garcia Feb. 5 at Strongbow Stadium in Bakersfield.

Razor Ruddock will make his first appearance since losing twice to Mike Tyson when he boxes Greg Page Feb. 15 at the Mirage. Undercard: WBC middleweight champion Julian Jackson against Ismael Negron. . . . Barcelona is closer than you think: The East and West U.S. Olympic team boxing trials are only four months away. . . . Brian Mitchell, the South African who took captured Tony Lopez’s junior-lightweight championship in Sacramento last September, has retired.