Promoter Arum says boxing needs open scoring

Dean Juipe

Friday, March 26, 1999 | 10:09 a.m.

It was more cocktail party than press conference.

And the chitchat at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay was a mixture of business scuttlebutt within the local casino industry, and, when promoter Bob Arum was involved, the need for open scoring in boxing.

With a horde of casino executives in attendance, Arum not only introduced Oscar De La Hoya and Oba Carr and extolled the many virtues of their May 22 fight at Mandalay Bay, he used the assembly to push again for open scoring.

His influence is such that he even persuaded De La Hoya to pick up the cause.

"It would benefit everybody," De La Hoya said at Thursday's lovefest. "I'm going to try to get behind it, and I think with what I stand for in boxing I can do it.

"Boxing needs this."

Arum's modified proposal would have each of the judges' scores posted after every round, although the judges would not be identified by name. He's asking the Nevada State Athletic Commission to experiment with open scoring at a May 8 fight at the Las Vegas Hilton (between Wayne McCullough and Erik Morales) that he's promoting.

The inference is that if it works May 8, it would be tried again May 22. However, there are indications that the NSAC may not favor open scoring, although it will vote on the matter next month.

"Open the windows and let the sun come in," Arum bellowed. "I say if a crime is going to be committed in the ring, let's watch it happening."

He has taken this stance as a result of public outrage following the Lennox Lewis vs. Evander Holyfield draw two weeks ago in New York City. While most everyone thought Lewis had easily won the fight, the judges scored the bout as a split-decision draw.

Regardless of the NSAC's decision on the matter, De La Hoya and Carr will meet in what will be the first sporting event in the Mandalay Bay Events Center and the 12,000-seat arena is assured of being sold out. In fact, 10,000 of the seats are already committed to assorted casinos in the city.

That type of support had Mandalay Bay president Tony Alamo caught up in a little hyperbole of his own. "This is going to be one of the greatest events in the history of boxing," he proclaimed, although his own casino's sports book has yet to put a line up on the fight and the common number seen around town is 8-1 in De La Hoya's favor.

Carr, 26, is 48-2-1 with 28 knockouts but is 0-2 in his two previous tries for a world title.

De La Hoya, also 26, is 30-0 with 24 KOs and is a walking gold mine who holds the World Boxing Council's welterweight championship as well as several lucrative endorsement deals. This will be the Golden Boy's 16th fight in Las Vegas and he's expected to win and advance to No. 17 -- vs. Felix Trinidad -- in September at the same site. Arum and rival promoter Don King will meet next week in an effort to finalize the fight with Trinidad.

But first things do come first and it's Carr in the batter's box.

"I kind of know what Oba's all about," said De La Hoya, dressed to the 9's and with a Hollywood air about him. "He has all the talent to dethrone me. This guy's no pushover."

Carr is coming off a near-shutout decision victory over Frankie Randall and has also beaten talented fighters like Derrell Coley and Anthony Jones. (Coley, incidentally, does not figure in De La Hoya's future plans despite his No. 1 contender's position with the WBC. A Top Rank spokesman said it would ask for a waiver from the WBC to allow De La Hoya to keep his belt and fight Trinidad instead of Coley, whose mandatory is due this summer.)

"I refuse to lose," Carr said from behind dark sunglasses and with the hairline fracture of the jaw he injured in the Randall fight now repaired. "I know I've been negative in my career at times, but I refuse to be stopped. I've worked all my life for this opportunity here and I'm putting my all into it."

Likewise, De La Hoya says he's motivated not only to star in a new arena's debut but to erase the disappointment he experienced during and after his decision victory over Ike Quartey last month in Las Vegas.

"The fans loved that fight, but I didn't like it," he said. "What I did in the ring I could do better. I thought he'd attack me, and when he didn't I got confused.

"With Oba Carr, he'll come and fight.

"I've never been so motivated for a fight, except for the first time I fought Julio Cesar Chavez."

The cable network HBO will televise the card, which includes World Boxing Council junior lightweight champion Floyd Mayweather of Las Vegas vs. Mexico's Goyo Vargas. Mayweather is 20-0, while Vargas is a slightly deceiving 38-6-1.

"Right now I feel I'm the best fighter in the world, pound for pound," Mayweather said. "I'm not going to let anybody take anything away from me."

Vargas, however, predicted he would take the possession Mayweather prizes the most.

"This will be a tough fight," he said through an interpreter. "But it's one that's very winnable. I anticipate hurrying back to Mexico with his world championship belt."

Arum, ever the entrepreneur, smiled throughout. He had the audience in his pocket plus the self-righteous belief that his open-scoring proposal was for the betterment of the sport.

He also had WBA bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia in the crowd and back with Top Rank after a year or so with Don King Productions. Arum talked about having Tapia headline a card at Mandalay Bay in July.

"We've got some momentum here," Arum said. "I want to keep it going."

The clang of glasses back along the open bar indicated he was preaching to the choir.