Are Some in Vegas Ready to Throw in Towel?

Bites, lobby fights, raging chaos that spills out from the casino floor into the night . . .

Has big-time boxing become uncontrollable? Is it too controversial, too unseemly, too big a gamble now, even for this high-stakes city?

The MGM Grand has made a cash splash as the site of five of Mike Tyson’s six fights

since he was released from prison, and has one fight left on the original contract.

But MGM officials have been silent since Tyson’s disqualification for biting Evander Holyfield’s ears at the MGM on June 28, which provoked an unruly scene in and around the giant hotel and prompted a two-hour gambling shutdown and the evacuation of visitors by police.

Even Tyson’s indefinite banishment from boxing failed to loosen tongues at the MGM, which issued a short statement supporting the ruling.

And, in an action apparently in response to the Tyson debacle, earlier this week the Las Vegas Hilton, which had taken a couple of dips into big-time boxing, stunningly canceled its role as host of the junior-bantamweight unification bout between Danny Romero and Johnny Tapia next Friday.

Hilton management said that promoter Bob Arum had failed to produce a proper insurance certificate for the fight. But Arum says he agreed to increase the insurance from the standard $2 million to $5 million, adding that the hotel was only looking for an out.

The sold-out bout--which has stirred passions among the fans of Albuquerque, home to both fighters--was quickly moved to the Thomas & Mack Arena, and Caesars Palace moved in as an official sponsor.

But as Arum heads for court, where he will ask for damages and that the Hilton release the ticket money it has collected, the questions about Las Vegas’ stake in boxing remain: What venue besides Caesars will support the sport?

“This is the most critical time in the state’s history in the sport, and I’m trying to be as positive as I can,” said Marc Ratner, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. “We’ve got to try to get past the bumps in the road and go forward.

“It’s certainly a concern of ours--that the hotels will draw back from the sport. It’s a wonderful sport when everything goes right. But we’re not going to deny that everything doesn’t always go right.”

Arum blames a new regime at the Hilton. Casino president Dean Harrold came over in June, and was not part of the team that recently began buying major fights.

Is the Hilton withdrawing from boxing?

“I don’t think that that is the message at this time,” said Art Manteris, the vice president-sports director of the Hilton. “There may be some ramifications, but we are an awfully big company. And I would think the boxing promoters, they’re businessmen and they’re going to have to look at events on case-by-case basis, just as the Hilton looks at events on a case-by-case basis.”

Manteris referred questions about the reasoning behind the pullout to higher-level executives, but a spokesman said there would be no comment.

Arum points out that Caesars Palace quickly offered to take on a sponsorship role for Romero-Tapia once the Hilton backed away.

“The Hilton had a binding legal contract with us, but they wimped out because they were freaked out by the Tyson situation,” Arum said. “Certainly the experienced places like Caesars are not going to be freaked, they understand the business. . . . I don’t think Caesars is going to be freaked out. I hope the MGM is not going to be freaked out.

“The inexperienced guy is going to panic. He sees what happened at the MGM, he sees play is interrupted for hours, he says, ‘Who needs it?’ And he tries to find a loophole. But they had a contract! If they had concerns, all they had to do is call me and we could’ve shared the cost of additional security.”

But there’s no question, Las Vegas boxing has been treading a rocky road recently. Oliver McCall undergoes what appears to be a mental breakdown at the Hilton during a heavyweight title fight against Lennox Lewis in February. . . . Rapper Tupac Shakur is fatally shot about a mile away from the MGM last year after attending a Tyson fight. . . . In that bout, Bruce Seldon performs so feebly that the crowd angrily chants, “Fix! Fix! Fix!” after his flash knockout.

And of course, there was the infamous fly-in by the “Fan Man” during a Riddick Bowe-Holyfield fight at Caesars in 1993.

Rich Rose, who shepherds Caesars’ boxing involvement, made it clear that Caesars has no intention of abandoning the sport.

What matters, Rose said, is making the right preparations and acting in the calmest way possible even in the midst of craziness.

“What happened on the 28th, it was unfortunate, it was deplorable, but it was one man acting alone,” Rose said. “If that one guy disgraced himself, then so be it. That does not mean that the whole sport is tarnished.”

Dino Duva, who co-promoted the Lewis-McCall fight, said that the Hilton’s actions are an aberration and that things will soon calm down. Boxing makes money for casinos, Duva said, and the casinos won’t forget that.

“If I have all the facts correctly, I think what the Hilton did is despicable,” he added. “If they did what I think they did, canceling for no reason, that’s bad for the boxing business in Las Vegas. But boxing will survive what the Hilton did.

“I’m in constant contact with most of the casino players in the U.S. in the boxing business, and although I haven’t spoken to anyone from MGM, all the major players that I know, it’s ridiculous to think they’re going to get out of the boxing business. The fact is that boxing is a great sport for casinos.

“One bad thing is not going to make smart businessmen throw away something good.”

DOUBTING THE BAN’S TEETH

The Nevada State Athletic Commission insisted that its decision to revoke Tyson’s license could keep him out of the sport forever but many remain skeptical.

Tyson’s situation will be up for review in a year, and several sources, on the record and off, are sure he will be fighting again soon.

“They didn’t do anything,” said Teddy Atlas, who trained a teenage Tyson. “Tyson had the cut, so he wasn’t going to even think about fighting for at least six months, and he wasn’t going to fight in at least nine. So he misses three months for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear.

“So what? They’ll let him back in a year. . . . I can see it, they did what looks good--everybody thinks it’s tough and hard--and he’s back in a year.

“Not only isn’t it going to hurt him, it’ll revitalize his career. If the fight had taken it’s natural course, and Holyfield had been allowed to do what he was going to do--knock him out--that’s the end of Tyson.

“It’ll be like him going to jail. If anyone else went to jail, nobody else would’ve wanted to watch him. But instead, for Tyson, it makes him bigger than ever. Why? Because it fits into what people like. They don’t want him living next to them, but want what he brings--something dark could happen here.

“By the time a year goes by, it’s going to serve him. That’ll give them enough time to generate the imagination and excuses, and make a scenario they find appetizing: ‘We’ve got Mike the maniac coming back.’ ”

A BETTER DIVISION BY SUBTRACTION?

First up to try to restart the Tyson-less heavyweight division is a fight between Lewis and Henry Akinwande today at Caesars Tahoe, on HBO. It’s not expected to be a barn burner, but both men promised not to bite, and neither is expected to begin weeping in the ring.

You take what you can get.

“This fight is the first heavyweight title fight of a new era in the heavyweight division,” said Duva, the bout’s promoter, adding that the big men will flourish in Tyson’s absence.

“I think what’s needed [is] that he does step aside for awhile to clean up the heavyweight division. Is the punishment enough? Only Mike Tyson can answer that question over time. If he gets rehabilitated and gets his life in order and is back in a year, it was enough.

“He’s out for at least a year, and a year is all we need to unify the titles.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Calendar

Monday: Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Catalino Becerra, featherweights; Ricky Hesia vs. Giorbis Barthelemy, welterweights; Forum, 7:15 p.m.