Who IBF champ fights next still undecided

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Feb. 29, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The decision announced Saturday by the International Boxing Federation seemed fair in every respect. Heavyweight champion Frans Botha would keep his title and accept a $50,000 fine for a steroid violation, plus he would grant Axel Schulz a rematch, plus No. 1 ranked contender Michael Moorer would fight the Botha-Schulz winner.

Everyone should have been happy.

Botha's manager, Las Vegas resident Sterling McPherson, was elated, taking time to call from the airplane on his return flight from the IBF hearing in Newark, N.J. Thanks in part to the assistance of high-powered local attorney Oscar Goodman, the Botha camp got what it wanted and, just as importantly, Schulz and Moorer had reason to be satisfied.

Within 24 hours, however, everything was unraveling. Even Wednesday, five days after the IBF supposedly had stated its position, the only certainty was that Botha was still the IBF champion.

Who he would fight next and when was back up in the air.

"I don't know what we're going to do," McPherson said. "I'm going to wait because there's no telling what else might change. Stop and think: What else can we do but wait? Someone put a gun to (IBF chairman) Bob Lee's head and now everything's messed up."

Lee backed off the ruling he made last weekend when it was pointed out to him -- belatedly, for some reason -- that Moorer had a federal court ruling in his favor that stipulated he would fight the winner of the Botha-Schulz fight Dec. 9 in Stuttgart, Germany. When Moorer's promotional firm, Main Events, threatened further legal action if that stipulation wasn't adhered to, the IBF changed courses.

So Schulz winds up being slighted in the sense that while he lost to Botha Dec. 9, Botha did test positive for steroids. A rematch would have been logical.

But the German Boxing Board of Control didn't do its man any favors when it made its own ruling last Friday, independent of the IBF hearing, that Botha would be banned from fighting in that country for two years. In essence, that was a power play of sorts by not only the Germans but by Schulz's promoter, Cedric Kushner, each attempting to intimidate the IBF into stripping Botha of the title.

When the IBF didn't strip Botha and Moorer's federal ruling caused the IBF to move him to the head of the line, Schulz was pushed at least temporarily out of the picture.

"This is crazy, insane," McPherson said. "My argument is that once the IBF made its decision, why couldn't everybody live with it?"

He added that in terms of money, a rematch with Schulz was a better fight for Botha than one with Moorer. But, as it presently stands, Botha and Moorer must agree to fight by June 9.

"I'm not too sure of anything," McPherson said. "The situation could change again for all I know. The way this is going, tomorrow could be another story."

Around the ring

A federal ruling on the WBC's sanctioning of the March 16 fight at the MGM Grand Garden between its champion, Frank Bruno, and challenger Mike Tyson has been delayed until Monday. The WBC wants to sanction the fight but another challenger, Lennox Lewis, has filed suit, claiming he and not Tyson is the rightful No. 1 contender. ... Another prominent heavyweight, Riddick Bowe, has a March 11 court date as he attempts to break his contract with the HBO cable network. Bowe's deal with HBO was contingent upon him winning each of his HBO-televised fights, which he has done, with the exception of a no-contest against Buster Mathis last year. That fight ended in the fourth round and was called a no-contest when Bowe hit Mathis after he was already down. Amazingly, Bowe and his manager, Rock Newman, will argue in court that the fight should have been ruled a disqualification loss for Bowe. If they prevail and get out of the contract with HBO, they'll pursue lucrative fights with Lewis and Tyson, neither of whom will fight for HBO.

Las Vegas welterweight Ray Collins has a difficult assignment on his hands Monday in Los Angeles, as he'll meet veteran slugger Yory Boy Campas in a televised fight at the Forum. Campas is 63-1 with 56 knockouts, while Collins is 16-7-1 with only four KOs. They were to have fought Feb. 12, but Campas was ill. That delay probably helped Collins, too, as he originally took the fight on short notice. ... Televised Saturday on the Showtime cable network: Nigel Benn, 42-2-1, vs. Thulane Malinga, 40-9, for Benn's WBC super middleweight title; plus Tom Johnson, 41-2-1, vs. Ever Beleno, 32-1, for Johnson's IBF featherweight belt. ... College boxing? There is such a thing, at least at the club level and the national tournament will be held April 12-13 at the Silver Legacy casino in Reno. There are 30 teams in the National Collegiate Boxing Association, including one representing Nevada-Reno.