Rebel boxing team receives $25,000 gift

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, July 21, 1999 | 10:36 a.m.

There's an old saw that follows a familiar refrain and has served a worthwhile purpose.

Simply put, it's "Beware of strangers bearing gifts."

It's a message with an easily identifiable warning: Over the course of history, as often as not there are strings attached to any and all gestures of goodwill, especially those that seem particularly magnanimous.

Yet there are exceptions, and one will occur today when boxing promoter Panos Eliades -- who has no real connection to Las Vegas -- presents the UNLV club boxing team with a check for $25,000.

For the 1-year-old boxing program, it's a huge boost. For Eliades, it's an inspiring donation that goes beyond the merely symbolic.

"I haven't met the UNLV people yet," Eliades said Tuesday in his suite at Mandalay Bay. "But to me, Las Vegas -- not Madison Square Garden or something like that -- is the mecca of boxing and when it was suggested I help the UNLV team, I didn't hesitate.

"There's no benefit to me, but I think it's a good thing to do."

He also believes his contribution will not-so-subtly result in other promoters following his lead.

"I think Don King and Bob Arum will have to match or exceed me, just to satisfy their own egos," Eliades said. "Arum, I think, will give if asked. With King and his ego, he'll have to give $100,000."

Arum did donate $5,000 to the UNLV team last year, but Eliades has exceeded that level of generosity with money that will be used for an endowment fund. It has also dawned on UNLV coach Skip Kelp that others in the sport and within the community may now be more inclined to contribute after seeing Eliades hand over a significant check.

"Talk about blind faith," Kelp said. "This man doesn't even know us and he's blessed us. It's not only nice to have, it gives us more credibility. Now other people, not just boxing promoters, might think our program is a worthwhile thing."

Kelp and his primary fund-raiser, Bruce Kobrin, have beaten the bushes in Las Vegas looking for money for the program.

"It's funny," Kelp said. "We're knocking on everyone's door asking for money, and here's a check for a considerable sum that comes out of nowhere. Until two weeks ago, I was completely oblivious to it."

A mutual friend, Paddy Ryan, orchestrated the donation and will join the principals at today's presentation ceremony at the Lied Athletic Complex.

"It's hard to find anyone willing to give something and not expect anything in return," said Eliades' United States attorney, John Caluwaert. "But Panos has a quality that the sport has often lacked, and he's here on his word. That's the common thread with Panos: His word is his bond.

"He said he would give this money to the university and he's not only here to do it, he takes a humble approach to it."

Eliades, 48, is a native of Cyprus who has a college degree in chemistry and is a London-based chartered accountant who specializes in Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases. While he has 50 professional fighters in his stable, including World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, his involvement in boxing started quite by accident.

"I didn't know anything about boxing and had never even been to a match," he said of his experience prior to purchasing Lewis' contract (for $100,000 plus about $3 million in back commitments) in 1991. "A man who was a neighbor, Roger Levitt, had Lewis' contract from the Olympic Games but when he lost his $60 million fortune he was looking for someone to sell it to.

"Levitt isn't a nice person but he was a neighbor, and I ended up buying the contract. About the only thing I knew about boxing was that it was loaded with all kinds of tricky characters."

From that humble introduction, Eliades has built a worldwide presence in the sport even though his Las Vegas profile has been limited to Lewis' occasional fights here.

"I'm quiet and like to stay behind the scenes," he said. "No way in a million years did I think I'd be involved in this sport like I am today."

He said if Lewis had lost a 1992 fight with Razor Ruddock in London, he may have withdrawn from the game. But when Lewis won by second-round knockout, Eliades was inspired to not only carry on but to expand.

"I progressed in boxing because of Lennox," he said. "I'm lucky to have him and we have a terrific relationship."

He is also known to have a solid relationship with rival promoters.

"I get along with them all because I never fight them," he said. "I change to their level, that way they think they're in charge. If I didn't do it that way, I'd never be able to make a deal with any of them because most of the people in the sport are habitual liers."

But he takes pride in being a man of his word and he is certainly endearing himself to Las Vegans and those in athletics at UNLV.

"We look after people all over the place," Eliades said of his philanthropic ways, which included a $4 million donation to the underprivileged in England. "Whatever you give, God gives back many times over.

"In the case of the UNLV team, I'd like to keep an eye on things and see how they progress. I'd like to see a great boxer come out of their program and become a world champion."

Then, with a wink, he offered an informal provision to his donation. "Maybe if they do develop a champion, the coach can steer him to me," Eliades said of a desire Kelp would be only too happy to oblige.