Arum finds dealing with King to be a royal pain

Steve Carp

Friday, Sept. 17, 1999 | 9:50 a.m.

Having Don King on board for Saturday's welterweight world championship fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad wasn't Bob Arum's idea.

Fact is, the head honcho of Top Rank, Inc., had no choice. Without King, there would be no Trinidad. And no Trinidad, no fight.

But that doesn't mean he has to have his archenemy take an active part. In fact, Arum is limiting King's presence in the promotion as much as humanly possible.

And how does Arum do that?

"Finesse," he said. "One thing you never do is violate the terms of a contract. So you work within the contract."

One way to reduce King's presence is reducing his exposure. The contract calls for both Top Rank and Don King Productions to have banners at ringside come fight night. But those who watch the proceedings will notice neither company's banner will be displayed.

"If we don't have our banner, King can't have his," Arum said. "From my standpoint, I can't care less if we have a banner."

Arum's bigger concern is King's presence having a negative impact on De La Hoya's corporate backers.

"It's a very dicey thing for us because of Oscar's sponsors," Arum said. "They are very leery of King. It's a very, very serious issue."

McDonald's, one of De La Hoya's sponsors, couldn't have been pleased when King challenged Arum to a $1 million bet on the outcome of Saturday's fight. Arum not only rejected the offer immediately, he lectured King on the impropriety of such a proposition, then went on to blast King and the entire Trinidad camp for their insensitivity after Wednesday's press conference at Paris Las Vegas.

"The deal was for Trinidad to talk to the press and he left," Arum said. "King had to haul him back from the parking lot, then he talks for five minutes.

"It's bush-league and it's stupid. He's getting a percentage (of the pay-per-view sales). Why wouldn't he want to help himself?"

But Arum's biggest concern with King was his taking over the final press conference and turning it into one of his infamous filibusters. Arum waited until the last possible moment to call King to the microphone and for the next 35 minutes, all Arum could do was cringe as the verbiage flew from King's mouth.

It also doesn't help that Arum has problems with his left ear and King's high-pitched screeching only aggravates the condition. So he was grimacing for more than one reason.

"The only reason he's here is because he delivered Trinidad," Arum said of King. "We paid him $10.5 million to deliver Trinidad. That's all. He can call himself the co-promoter all he wants but there is no co-promoter for this fight."

* HALPERN'S READY: Las Vegas' Mitch Halpern, who will be the third man in the ring Saturday, said he's ready to go.

Halpern, who will be refereeing his 59th world championship fight, said he has been working out daily in the gym and is not getting caught up in the prefight hype.

"The focus should be on the fighters, not the officials," he said Thursday. "I haven't done anything different to prepare for this fight than I do any other. I hit the gym every day, and that's pretty much it.

"The bottom line is when the bell rings, I have a job to do."

Halpern, who was supposed to work the second fight between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield in 1997 but was replaced a couple of days before the fight by Mills Lane after politics from the Tyson camp entered into play, is grateful for the support of the Nevada State Athletic Commission -- especially executive director Marc Ratner, who pushed for him to be named referee for Saturday's fight.

"It's obviously a great honor to be chosen and I appreciate the commission's faith in me," he said.

Ratner said Halpern is more than qualified to work this megafight.

"He was the right person," Ratner said. "Both camps found him acceptable and neither had a problem with Mitch."

This won't be Halpern's first experience with either fighter. By his account, he has worked five of De La Hoya's fights and four of Trinidad's.

"I don't think it matters," he said of having prior experience in the ring with both fighters. "Every fight's different."

The three judges will be Las Vegas' Jerry Roth, Glen Hamada from Kent, Wash., and Bob Logist of Belgium.

* SMOOTH SAILING SO FAR: A fight this big has egos that can throw a monkey wrench into the best-laid plans. So far, there have been no problems behind the scenes.

"It has been as smooth a production as I've seen for a megafight," Ratner said. "We've been proactive on this, having spent the last two months working out all the details as to who comes into the ring first, how many people are allowed in the back, things like that."

Ratner's primary concern is security and safety, whether it's in the ring or back in the dressing room area. Each corner will be manned by two of Ratner's staff and access to the ring will be restricted.

"The important thing is that the security is in place to protect all involved," he said. "I want the dressing room area to be clean and that only the people who are credentialed to be in the back or at ringside are allowed there."

Ratner is confident that Mandalay Bay will be ready to deal with the hoopla that comes with a fight of this magnitude.

"They've had some good dress rehearsals with Oscar and (Oba) Carr, the (Johnny) Tapia-Ayala fight and last week's (Floyd) Mayweather card," he said. "I'm confident things will be fine from that standpoint."

The fight has been a sellout from Day 1 and the scramble is on to find seats for the many celebrities, athletes and politicians who want to be ringside Saturday.

* TWO-WAY ACTION: Betting continues to come in on both fighters and remains a pick 'em proposition at most Las Vegas sports books.

At Mandalay Bay, race and sports director Gene Kivi had both De La Hoya and Trinidad at minus 120, meaning to win $100, you have to put up $120. His over-under on the number of rounds the fight goes is also pick 'em with the number set at 10 full rounds. Either way is minus 120.

Kivi said the heaviest action is coming in on whether or not the fight ends in a draw. Mandalay Bay opened the wager at 15-1 and Thursday, it was down to 10-1.

"I think you'll see the favorites flip-flop back and forth," Kivi said. "We're starting to see some De La Hoya money trickle in as people start arriving from California. But we're expecting a lot of Trinidad money, too."

So far, the big bets have yet to be wagered. Kivi said his place has booked some $10,000-$15,000 wagers.

"I expect we'll see some six-figure bets," he said. "And being the host property we'll take all the action anyone has."

* MIA EXPOSED: Mia St. John, who will fight on Saturday's undercard against Kelly Downey, showed off the cover for the November issue of Playboy, which features her posing in a pair of shorts, boxing gloves and nothing else.

St. John, who has done some modeling in the past, is featured in an 11-page pictorial spread in the upcoming issue, which will hit the newsstands the first week in October.

* GOODMAN-KING WAGER: Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he'd be willing to take Don King's outlandish $1 million bet if only King were backing Oscar De La Hoya.

"I mean I'm not making any money as mayor," Goodman joked.

But his honor will bet "a couple hundred bucks" on Trinidad with his friends -- not in the sports books. He offered reporters gathered at City Hall for his weekly press conference Thursday a chance to wager against him, but didn't find any takers.

"I don't like the way De La Hoya is talking," Goodman said. "He doesn't sound like a champion, he's talking about only fighting a few times a year and how he wants to be a singer."

Goodman has drawn criticism from Hispanics over his appointment of a non-Spanish speaking woman to serve as his liaison to the Latino community. But he joked that siding with Trinidad will only upset "a part of the Hispanic community."