Lewis Is Held, So Nevada Holds Purse

Less than two weeks after Mike Tyson was disqualified for biting in his rematch with WBA heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, the Nevada state legislature, recognizing the importance of the boxing industry to the state, passed a bill allowing the state athletic commission to take a fighter’s entire purse for a poor performance instead of 10 percent.

Gov. Bob Miller signed the law at 9 a.m. Friday and it was put to the test 32 hours later. Shortly after referee Mills Lane disqualified Henry Akinwande for excessive holding at 2:34 of Round 5 against WBC champion Lennox Lewis, the Nevada State Athletic Commission swung into action.

Dr. Elias Ghanem, the commission chairman, announced that Akinwande was temporarily suspended and his $1-million purse would be withheld, pending a disciplinary hearing. All five commissioners were ringside at Caesars Tahoe resort and made their decision within minutes of the disqualification.

To the disappointment of many in boxing, the new Nevada law said nothing about fining promoters or boxing’s governing bodies.

The disqualification was the third consecutive for a Don King-promoted fighter in a heavyweight title fight and the second consecutive in a WBC title bout.

King entered the ring with Akinwande but quickly left the scene without a word to the media. HBO senior vice president Lou DiBella took dead aim King in his post-fight remarks.

Referring to King’s maneuvering on behalf of Akinwande and Oliver McCall, who was in drug rehab before fighting Lewis in February when he broke down crying in the ring, DiBella said: “When guys who shouldn’t be fighting for world titles are put in mandatory fights, this is what happens. You can blame the organizations. We had to put Lennox Lewis in these fights. We were dictated to it twice in a row. How do you expect to fix the sport when the people entrusted to fix it are the problem? . . . The sport can’t get well with people like Jose Sulaiman [WBC president] and [IBF president] Bob Lee entrusted with its health.

“This fight should not have happened. We pride ourselves at HBO on bringing the best fights. We do that when we don’t pay any attention to the alphabet organizations. These titles mean nothing. These belts mean nothing.”

Going into the bout, former WBO champion Akinwande (32-1-1, 19 KOs) was only a 3-2 underdog to Lewis (31-1, 26 KOs). But the 6-foot-6 Nigeria native looked nervous, and his mouth obviously was dry. The 6-5 Lewis came out aggressively at the opening bell, banging rights to the body. Akinwande abandoned his trademark jab in favor of holding tactics.

Lane took a point from Akinwande in the second round, trying to establish the ground rules early. But later in the round, Lane called a timeout and had a talk with Don Turner, Akinwande’s trainer. In the third, Lane issued another warning to Akinwande. Lane later said he should have credited Akinwande with a knockdown in the round. Lewis claimed he slipped ducking a punch.

Even if it was a knockdown, it was an accident by Akinwande. He was cringing from the uppercuts and right hands thrown by Lewis, who kept pounding the body in clinches and landed a crushing right to the ribs at the bell ending the fourth round.

In the fifth round, Lane interrupted again to give Akinwande’s corner one more warning. Turner told Akinwande, “He’s going to disqualify you. Man, all you’ve got to do is fight him.”

Akinwande resumed holding, and Lane stopped the bout.

The Nevada state district judge, who also disqualified Tyson, expressed regret at the outcome. “It’s too bad when that occurs,” Lane said. “I did the best I could.”

“I don’t think it’s my fault,” Akinwande said, adding he wanted to step back when Lane called for a break but was unable to because Lewis kept coming forward.