Boxing’s dance card of controversy is full

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Oct. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Litigation, threats, controversy, arrests. Boxing habitually has a smattering of them all, although right now its plate is full.

The man who was to have fought Tommy Morrison Saturday in Tokyo -- Anthony Cooks -- had a warrant issued for his arrest Tuesday in Okmulgee, Okla., in connection with the alleged Oct. 19 rape of a 15-year-old girl.

If a replacement for Cooks can be found, a fight featuring the HIV-positive Morrison will be held despite the best efforts of a member of the Nevada State Athletic Commission to prevent Morrison from entering the ring anywhere in the world.

Elsewhere, the NSAC is accumulating information in preparation for a Friday meeting in which it may ask a satellite dish service to drop its guarantee that the Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield fight Nov. 9 at the MGM Grand Garden will go at least three rounds.

And in Philadelphia today, an attorney from a prominent Las Vegas law firm will present arguments on behalf of boxer Frans Botha, who was stripped of his IBF heavyweight title after testing positive for steroids.

From the top:

* Cooks, 31, is the target not only of the rape complaint that surfaced Tuesday, but he also had a warrant out for his arrest for failing to appear in court Monday in Tulsa to defend himself against charges of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana. An ex-con with an 11-5 boxing record, Cooks almost certainly will not be allowed out of the country to fight Morrison or anyone else. (Cooks served 18 months in prison in 1994-95 for receiving stolen property.)

* Whether it's Cooks as the opponent or Joe Blow, Morrison wants to fight again and that bothers Dr. Elias Ghanem of the NSAC. Morrison, who tested HIV positive in February and was immediately placed on medical suspension by the Nevada commission, is looking to restart his career in a foreign country with a weak commission and has talked about fighting George Foreman next year in the United States.

"This bothers me," Ghanem said. "It's a serious issue and I'd like to see if we as a commission can intervene to stop this fight from happening. I think we at least have to try."

But NSAC executive director Marc Ratner said the commission's hands are tied.

"There's nobody we can put pressure on," he said. "We feel he shouldn't be allowed to fight, but he's in a foreign country with a commission that doesn't care. The Japanese Boxing Commission has walked away from everything to do with that fight card."

That doesn't figure to appease Ghanem or fellow commission members who may share his sentiments.

"I really don't think Morrison should be in the ring," he said. "I guarantee you he'll never fight here again."

* Meanwhile, the NSAC's legal counsel, Gordie Fink, is occupied with the ramifications of a satellite dish service in Indiana that has guaranteed its customers that the Tyson-Holyfield fight will go at least three rounds. The company, National Programming Service, has advertised that it will offer a credit to customers if the fight doesn't go three rounds.

Recognizing the impropriety of such an offer, most Nevada sports books have taken down the round-proposition wager on the fight; the over-under bet was three rounds.

"We're gathering facts," Fink said, adding that he would make a presentation to the NSAC at its meeting Friday. "We have to go one step at a time and the first step is to see if any of the people the commission licenses have any connection to this satellite company."

He would not elaborate on what action the NSAC, or the state attorney general, could take if such connections do exist, or if such connections do not exist.

* In Philadelphia today, attorney Marty Keach of the law firm that includes Oscar Goodman and David Chesnoff, will argue before a federal appeals judge that the International Boxing Federation acted improperly in stripping Botha of his heavyweight crown. The IBF vacated the title after determining Botha had taken steroids, although the fighter maintains the steroids in his system were a derivative of a medical prescription he was taking last year before his IBF title fight with Axel Schulz. (Botha will fight IBF champ Michael Moorer on the Tyson-Holyfield undercard, although that also may be in jeopardy if rumors that Botha has checked into a hospital are true.)

"Who knows how this will go?" said Sterling McPherson, Botha's manager. "I do know we came out of the courtroom in New Jersey (where the IBF's decision to strip Botha was initially upheld) and felt there was something fishy.

"We may or may not win this one, but at least we've got the best lawyers money can buy."