BOXING / EARL GUSTKEY : Terry Norris Hits Manager Below the Belt

Terry Norris, the junior-middleweight champion who fights Carl Daniels here today, leveled a surprising blast at his manager, Joe Sayatovich.

“Right now,” Norris told Times reporter Dave McKibben recently, “there’s some slow people behind me that are not exactly pushing in my direction. It’s taken a little longer than I expected to get big-money fights.”

Of his manager earning 33 1/3% of his purses, Norris said: “By the time I’m 30, I want to be retired with millions and millions in the bank. Giving up the 33 1/3%, that’s got to stop.”

Of the $150,000 purse he will earn today, Norris said: “I’m really tired of just sitting back and making small money.”

A few comments:

--Sayatovich’s 33 1/3% manager’s share is standard throughout boxing.

--Terry Norris has had 33 fights. He is 24 and has had seven championship fights, a big number for a young fighter. His manager had something to do with this. Norris should pick up a Ring Record Book, turn to the middleweight section and inspect the record of one “HAGLER, Marvin.”

Norris will note, no doubt with some amazement, that Hagler didn’t get a championship fight until 1980, his seventh year as a pro, in his 50th fight. Along the way, Hagler, fighting largely in Brockton and New Bedford, Mass., and Providence, R.I., fought many a night for $500.

He also will see Hagler got a draw in that first championship opportunity and didn’t win his middleweight title until his 54th fight.

Also worth noting is that Hagler, through all those lean years, stuck with his managers, Goody and Pat Petronelli. And his faith was rewarded, because eventually, they brought Hagler to million-dollar fights. Sayatovich has brought Norris to championship fights a lot quicker than the Petronellis got Hagler there.

--If Norris is ashamed to be making only $150,000 this afternoon, he shouldn’t be. No one outside the heavyweight division is making million-dollar purses these days. The recession has affected television boxing budgets too.

--Since mid-1990, 660,000 Californians have lost their jobs. Terry Norris still has his.

--Norris’ manager didn’t deserve this cheap shot. Joe Sayatovich is a drywall contractor--one who has had to lay off 250 employees the past two years--and not a full-time fight manager. Six years ago, Norris came to Sayatovich, not vice versa. For Norris to claim after seven championship fights that he has been poorly managed is astounding.

A year ago, Sayatovich maneuvered the considerably talented Norris into a Madison Square Garden fight--and an $800,000 purse--with a fading Sugar Ray Leonard.

Norris easily beat Leonard and hasn’t looked back. Due in large measure to his manager’s expertise, Terry Norris today--with the possible exception of Julian Jackson--is as well known and as marketable as any middleweight or junior-middleweight in the world.

And one more thing. Guess what Sayatovich offered to do with his share of the Leonard purse. He offered to go in 50-50 with Norris on a piece of land in eastern San Diego County, to show his fighter how to build and sell a custom-made house.

In other words, 20 years from now, when Norris’ “small-money” $150,000 fights are behind him, Sayatovich wanted to make sure this would be one ex-pug with a professional life beyond boxing.

Larry Holmes might be announced soon as heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield’s next opponent.

HBO’s pay-per-view chief, Seth Abraham, called Riddick Bowe’s manager, Rock Newman, Friday morning and gave him the bad news. Seems Newman believed he had a deal with Dan Duva, Holyfield’s promoter.

“It’s outrageous,” Newman said. “The Duvas ran from a pick ‘em fight with Riddick to a 15-to-1 fight with Holmes, and for less money. Holyfield and his people are disgracing the heavyweight championship. Evander has not fought anyone close to being a legitimate heavyweight since he’s been champion.

“The white collar thugs who run boxing--I’m talking about all the TV people, the promoters and the world governing bodies--know perfectly well Bowe is the No. 1 challenger with Mike Tyson gone, and yet this is allowed to happen.”

Newman said he had a deal weeks ago with the Duvas for a Holyfield-Bowe fight that would have earned Holyfield $21 million and Bowe $7.5 million. But when Holmes beat Ray Mercer, Newman said, the Duvas stopped returning his calls.

“They’re running to a Holmes fight for less money because it’s substantially less risk to their guy,” Newman said. “They’re protecting him. There’s absolutely no way Holyfield makes as much fighting Holmes as he does Bowe.”

Boxing Notes

In the 36 hours Mike Tyson spent in Indianapolis last July 18-19, court records show that Tyson’s expenses were $7,160. Tyson and his bodyguard, Dale Edwards, ran up the following bills: Solid Gold Limousine Service, $3,850; Canterbury Hotel (two suites), $1,320; Seville’s (nightclub), $400; dinner with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, $425; first-class airfare for four from Indianapolis to Cleveland, $865, and limousine phone charges, $300. It also came out in trial testimony Tyson left a $2 tip for his housekeeper at the Canterbury.

The Washington Post, citing legal documents, recently reported Tyson estimated his net worth at $15 million last year, but that was before he took on an estimated $5 million in legal costs for his rape trial and assorted shopping sprees, such as giving friends $80,000 cars. And of a missing $10-million check out of his $21-million purse for his 1988 Michael Spinks fight, Tyson said: “I don’t understand the money game . . . money coming in, millions, I can’t count that high.”

The national amateur boxing championships begin Monday in Colorado Springs. Finals are Friday. Van Nuys heavyweight John Bray is going for his second consecutive U.S. title. All finalists qualify for the U.S. Olympic team trials June 10-14 at Worcester, Mass. Oscar de la Hoya of East Los Angeles, a defending champion, has chosen to box instead at the World Championships Challenge at Tampa March 13-14. . . . The Southern California Assn. of USA Boxing, the sport’s national governing body, is looking for volunteers, male or female, to work as timekeepers, judges and referees. Contacts: Melanie Ley, (714) 786-8816, or Don DeVerges, (213) 759-5204. . . . Danny (Little Red) Lopez, 39, after an 11-year layoff, comes back Thursday night, at the Irvine Marriott to meet journeyman Jorge Rodriguez.