Columnist Dean Juipe: Meeting scheduled Friday on open-scoring proposal

Dean Juipe

Thursday, April 22, 1999 | 10:46 a.m.

Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 259-4084 or juipe@lasvegassun.com

Promoter Bob Arum's suggestion to use open scoring for the Wayne McCullough vs. Erik Morales fightMay 8 at the Las Vegas Hilton will be resolved Friday at a meeting of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

If the proposal is passed, undercard fights that night will also use open scoring.

Arum jumped on the open-scoring bandwagon following the controversial draw between heavyweights Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis March 13 in New York. For a fight with open scoring, the judges' scores would be posted after each round, or, as favored by the World Boxing Council, after every four rounds.

Arum has become increasingly adamant that open scoring deserves a look, so much so that he is now threatening to move cards to states that will try open scoring in the event Nevada rejects the notion.

"I might consider moving some fights outside Nevada," he said this week. "Polls indicate 55 percent of people believe boxing's fixed and that this perception sometimes has a basis in fact.

"The public is losing confidence in boxing. If Nevada doesn't want to at least try this, they'll be perceived as being reluctant to change."

Arum will come armed to the Friday meeting -- which will be held in the City Hall chambers at 9 a.m. -- with an array of supporting material, including a film presentation. Among his film clips are cuts from TVKO's coverage of the April 12, 1997, fight in Las Vegas between Oscar De La Hoya and Pernell Whitaker in which De La Hoya won a decision that seemed to surprise the broadcasting crew.

"That fight provides a beautiful example of the value of open scoring," Arum said. "They made a federal case about the scoring, and if it had been posted every round there wouldn't have been that problem.

"They also went on and on about how Nevada judges favor De La Hoya. All of that is part of the perception that something funny occasionally happens with fights here."

Despite Arum's concerns, the NSAC may be reluctant to even experiment with open scoring. In addition, one of the participants in the May 8 main event, McCullough, does not favor open scoring.

"The commission is going to do what it believes is right," said NSAC executive director Marc Ratner. "Mr. Arum is the only one scheduled to make a presentation, and then there'll probably be some give and take with the commission members."

* HOLYFIELD-LEWIS: Negotiations for the Holyfield vs. Lewis rematch, which is tentatively set for November, have slowed although promoters indicate they will have the matter resolved by mid-May. The site possibilities have been narrowed from four to two, with Madison Square Garden in New York City and Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas the finalists. Sites in England and South Africa have been eliminated.

Mandalay Bay has offered a $10 million site fee for the bout, although insiders say HBO -- which would handle the pay-per-view telecast -- prefers the fight to be held in New York.

* SCORING ADDENDUM: Open scoring will be used Saturday in Washington D.C. for the WBA junior welterweight title fight between Sharmba Mitchell and Reggie Green. Showtime will televise the card, which includes two other world-title fights.

Mitchell and Green are old sparring partners and friends from Maryland who had little of a disparaging nature to say about each other during a conference call. As for the open-scoring question, neither felt it was a big deal and both said it wouldn't be a factor in the fight.

Mitchell, 44-2, and Green, 30-2, will be fighting for the belt Mitchell took from Khalid Rahilou last October.

"We're friends, but this is my job," Mitchell said. "After the fight we can go out to dinner. I don't think it's going to take away from our friendship.

"Reggie's a good fighter and I think he'll be a champion one day, but not (Saturday). Maybe someday after that."

Mitchell gave Green the title shot out of friendship, however.

"I didn't think he was going to get a shot for a couple of years," he said. "He's not getting any younger and I'm not getting any younger. I'll put up my belt and give him a chance."

* COUSER GOES: Las Vegas heavyweight Cliff Couser fights tonight in Tulsa, with bodybuilder Luis Monaco the apparent opponent. An earlier Couser foil, Lorenzo Boyd, may, however, be brought in as a late replacement.

"I'm not sure which one I'm fighting, but I don't even worry about it," Couser said. "I guess I'll find out when I get there."

Couser was more excited about being told his father, who he met only once and was known to him as Michael Kilpatrick, supposedly also fathered Mike Tyson. Couser and Tyson are, of course, dead ringers in terms of physical appearance.

"My dad had 17 kids," Couser said. "He was a rolling stone and a woman manipulator. I remember being told he may have been Tyson's father, and my mother knew Tyson's mother, but now I'm positive we're step brothers."

Couser, 17-3, said a reporter from ESPN The Magazine informed him about the blood link with Tyson, although that magazine's publicist said Wednesday that it had not reported such a thing and had no plans to do so. Nonetheless, Couser is once again pushing for a fight with Tyson.

"It makes even more sense now than it ever did," he said.

* SOBRAL DATE: Junior middleweight Manny Sobral, a Canadian who lives and trains in Las Vegas, was surprised to see his name in the No. 10 position in the latest WBC rankings. Sobral, despite being 25-0, has not fought since June 27 of last year and had not been ranked in the top 10 by any organization prior to the WBC's decision to include him in its top 10.

"Boxing doesn't make any sense sometimes," Sobral said.

"Go figure," said his trainer, Jerome Coffee.

Sobral will shake off the cobwebs May 1 with a fight outside of Seattle with Rocky McCray. A win and he may advance to a June 23 date, perhaps with the British Commonwealth title at stake.

"I've been training regularly and I'm ready to go," Sobral said. He has had two fights scheduled -- one with Ron Weaver, one tentatively with Yory Boy Campas -- fall through since his most recent outing.

"Manny's always willing to fight, but no one seems willing to fight him," Coffee said. "I keep telling him he's got to get some fights with some legitimate names, and maybe now we're heading in that direction."

* QUICK HITS: Local heavyweight Jimmy Thunder has taken a July 3 fight in Los Angeles with contender David Tua. "It'll be a good fight while it lasts," said Thunder's trainer, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. ... Muhammad also said IBF cruiserweight champ Arthur Williams of Las Vegas is, indeed, on the Roy Jones undercard June 5 in Biloxi, Miss. Williams, 30-4-1, will take on Alexander Gurov, 20-3-1, in an optional title defense. "That's an easy fight for Arthur," Muhammad said. "He hits too hard for Gurov." Following the Gurov fight, Williams has a mandatory with Saul Montana and, following that, he may take on Thomas Hearns in Detroit. "Emanuel (Steward) called me and said the money's no problem for that fight," Muhammad said. "Where the money's at, that's where we're going."

Las Vegas resident Johnny Tapia is back with Top Rank and is fighting Saturday in his native Albuquerque against a fairly easy opponent, Sergio Liendo. A pay-per-view fight with Paulie Ayala will follow in June at Mandalay Bay. "Is Ayala as big an opponent as Johnny can face? Absolutely not," said promoter Bob Arum. "But it's his first attempt at pay-per-view and we'll dress up the card with some other good fights." As for taking Tapia back after the WBA bantamweight champ had bolted Top Rank for Don King Productions, Arum said "I'd have to be an idiot to hold it against him. When he left us, he was a free agent, which is different than trying to break his contract. Now we're landing a guy who we hope can become a pay-per-view attraction. I wouldn't say I'm overly confident he can do it, but it's at least a great possibility."

Las Vegas cruiserweight John McClain lost by unanimous decision to Ramon Garbey last Sunday in Miami. McClain, 23-7-2, lost by 6, 6 and 4 points on the judges' cards. Garbey is 14-0. ... On that same card, Las Vegas heavyweight Jorge Luis Gonzalez improved to 27-5 with a TKO-4 win over Rodolfo Marin. ... The Muhammad Ali Boxing Bill goes before U.S. Senate committee hearings today in Washington, and Ali and former referee Mills Lane are scheduled to testify. The bill did not pass through the U.S. House last year.

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