Newman, Lack of Security Blamed for Riot

Humble words and police activity followed boxing’s most recent journey into hell.

Friday was a day of reckoning, of sorting out sins, of sifting through the blood and fury to find out what exactly went wrong Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, who was at fault, and what could be done to ensure that such nationally televised mayhem never occurs again.

Luckily, amazingly, no major injuries were reported from the chair-tossing mini-riot that erupted after Andrew Golota was disqualified with 27 seconds left in the seventh round of his heavyweight fight with Riddick Bowe.

Luckily, thankfully, Golota’s 74-year-old trainer, Lou Duva, who collapsed in the ring when he was struck in the head and his heart defibrillator activated during the brawl, was released from the hospital Friday afternoon, and his family said he was feeling fine.

Luckily, properly, New York police moved swiftly--once they were called to the scene--and have made 16 arrests, including three members of Bowe’s camp. One credentialed Bowe follower, Jason Harris, has been identified as throwing the fracas’ first serious blow, with a walkie-talkie to the back of Golota’s head.

And with luck, after harsh penalties are doled out and the sport’s lazy, dangerous approach to monitoring ringside access is terminated, boxing will move on from this incident.

First, the wounds must be healed.

“Certainly, we wholeheartedly regret everything that happened,” said Rock Newman, Bowe’s manager and promoter, who has, not without cause, been blamed for inciting his team members to violence. “I did not anticipate what happened, and I certainly did not incite it.”

On Friday, blame was pointed squarely at Garden officials for providing an inadequate security staff--and for waiting at least five minutes after the melee began before calling in the police.

Also, the New York State Athletic Commission, run by former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson, by some reports, appeared to be more interested in gaining prime seat locations (sources say the commission requested 67 credentials) than in controlling the ring area.

But--as the commission and other governing bodies met to discuss potential punishment--it was Newman and the rest of the Bowe camp, which has been involved in a series of ugly skirmishes over the years, before, during and after fights, who received the brunt of the blame and sounded the most conciliatory.

“Rock Newman is the boss of the Riddick Bowe camp,” Dino Duva, Golota’s promoter and Lou’s son, told ESPN on Friday. “He was the first one in the ring.”

As Bowe lay on the canvas after receiving the fourth and final illegal low blow, Newman rushed toward Golota with a stream of obscenities picked up by the HBO microphones.

Behind Newman, who then turned back to his fighter, several men who received tickets or credentials from the Bowe camp stormed into the ring, past the Garden’s bare-bones security force, and began assaulting Golota.

Once the first brawling began, security lost all control, people poured in and out of the ring, and fights erupted throughout the floor of the arena.

“My intention going into the ring was to tend to Riddick,” Newman said, denying that his aggressive actions could be taken as a sign to his camp members that they should attack Golota. “I certainly did yell at Golota. With that said, I had no expectation whatsoever that anybody else would do any of the things that came after that.”

Already, the commission has withheld Bowe’s $5-million purse, MSG President Dave Checketts intimated that Newman and Bowe may be banned from that building, and there is speculation that a suspension of Newman--which could prevent him from participating in any fights across the nation--is being contemplated.

New York Police Commissioner Howard Safir on Friday did not dismiss the possibility that Newman could be charged with a crime.

Despite Bowe’s poor performance against Golota--the former champion was trailing on the scorecards when the fight was stopped despite three penalty points charged to Golota for low blows--he remains one of the elite fighters in the heavyweight division. Newman, who recently signed Bowe to a long-term contract with Time Warner Sports, parent company of HBO, is the only manager he has had in his pro career.

“Rock Newman should be banned from boxing,” rival promoter Bob Arum said. “This whole thing was caused by Rock Newman and his gang of thugs, and the police know it.

“Rock Newman is not a professional promoter. This would never happen on a [Don] King show, on one of my shows, a Duva show. We’d take precautions to prevent it. But you can’t have the promoter as the instigator of a goddamn riot.”

Both Arum and Mike Boorman, an official of Duva’s company, Main Events Inc., called on Time Warner to disassociate itself from Bowe and Newman.

“Rock Newman absolutely incited a riot,” Boorman said. “Now is the time for Time Warner to step up and realize certain things have to be changed.”

Lou DiBella, an HBO executive, expressed outrage but stopped short of saying that his company would no longer deal with Bowe.

“The appropriate authorities are reviewing the incident,” DiBella said. “The incident is on videotape. And action is going to be taken and we await to see what action is taken.

“I just want to say that Riddick Bowe had nothing to do with the incident and it wasn’t Riddick Bowe’s fault.”

Dino Duva said he welcomed the opportunity to put together a Bowe-Golota rematch, knowing that his fighter, though a huge underdog, beat Bowe to the punch all night and nearly had him knocked out a handful of times.

Golota, appearing Friday on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” said he thought Bowe was looking for a way out by constantly complaining about the low blows.

Some Main Events officials said they would prefer that, if a rematch takes place, it happen in Las Vegas or Atlantic City, N.J., where the commissions have a stronger hand in determining who is allowed ringside.

Meanwhile, Newman compared the experience to a long nightmare.

“I hardly saw any of what went on in the ring,” Newman said. “I have seen some quick footage. I need to look at it on case by case, just see what we need to do. We want to do everything we can to make sure it won’t happen again.”

Calendar

Monday: Hector Quiroz vs. Marlon Thomas, junior-welterweights; Arnulfo “Chico” Castillo vs. TBA, featherweights; Forum, 7:15 p.m.

Friday: Anthony Johnson vs. Carlos Marquez, junior-welterweights; Grand Olympic Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.