Columnist Tim Graham: Stop heinous criminals from getting in the ring

Tim Graham

Thursday, April 22, 1999 | 2:46 a.m.

Tim Graham's column appears Thursday. His media notebook appears Wednesday. Reach him at tim@lasvegassun.com or 259-4078.

They rape. They rage. They murder. They plunder.

And when they're not in prison, they're legally beating people up for money.

Felonious boxers: It's a matter of fact and a tired story that has been written and rewritten.

We have been reminded this week of a disgraceful chapter from boxing's past. This chapter, however, is an unfinished one. I held hope it would not end as another tale of a wicked man finding financial success in the name of sport.

Now, I fear, that is exactly what will happen.

Tony Ayala, a devastatingly talented fighter in the 1980s, wants to resume his career -- eventually in Las Vegas -- after his release from a New Jersey prison on Tuesday.

Ayala served 16 years for rape. But to simply state his crime is not enough to illustrate how deplorable his deed truly was.

In the early morning hours of New Year's Day 1983, Ayala, already on probation for slamming another woman's head into a public restroom toilet again and again, broke into a female neighbor's home. Fueled by heroin, booze and testosterone, he tied the woman to her bedposts and repeatedly raped and sodomized her at knifepoint.

His defense was that the sex was consensual. But once behind bars, he admitted he did it. He also conceded he had sexually assaulted the woman he previously beat up.

Ayala, now 36, already has struck a reported $1.2 million deal with Lester Bedford, a promoter from Fort Worth, Texas. Ayala also was wooed by Bob Arum and still is being considered a possible opponent for Oscar De La Hoya.

But when I heard HBO Sports was refusing to negotiate a TV deal with Ayala, I was relieved a bit. I thought someone finally had come to his senses and drawn a line similar to those in the four major sports. Yes, the NBA, NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball offer too many second chances, but never for such heinous crimes as Ayala perpetrated.

I thought boxing, at last, was going to follow suit and set a moral standard.

I was wrong. The only reason HBO Sports is reluctant to deal with Ayala isn't because of his lack of character. It's merely because they're not sure how good his skills are.

"To presuppose this guy has anything left after 16 years of inactivity is ludicrous," HBO Sports executive Lou DiBella said. "But if he establishes his career we'll talk."

Such tolerance, however, is not the fault of the networks. It is society's. After all, we are the ones who watch.

As soon as Mike Tyson served time for rape he became a hotter commodity. And biting off a part of Evander Holyfield's ear probably kept Tyson's career alive. Had he lost to Holyfield without snapping, he would have been considered a typical, washed-up fighter.

So Tony Ayala, the disgrace to the human race that he is, will become a wealthy man. All he has to do is knock out some club fighters, get on TV, dispatch a few more pugs and await a lucrative title shot.

Some people will even feel happy for Ayala if he makes it back on top.

Boxing's bar, impossible as it may seem, has been lowered yet again.

The fact Ayala is making one penny in the ring only proves society's has been lowered, too.