Melee at Mandalay

Dean Juipe

Friday, Aug. 25, 2000 | 10:25 a.m.

A skirmish at the dais that preceded the Fernando Vargas vs. Ross Thompson boxing press conference Thursday at Mandalay Bay was, to some extent at least, premeditated on Thompson's part.

Thompson initiated the scuffle, which resulted in cut lips for both Vargas and his promoter, Main Events' Gary Shaw. Vargas also had a mark near his right eye.

A day earlier Thompson had warned a reporter that he may do something untoward at the press conference, which is typically a docile affair.

"There's going to be a rage coming out of me once I see him there," Thompson told the Buffalo News, referring to seeing Vargas at the press conference. "As soon as I see him, I might explode."

Thompson and Vargas, who will fight Saturday in the hotel's Events Center, were drawn near one another when Shaw interrupted an interview Thompson was giving to a local television station. Anxious to formally begin the press conference, Shaw told Thompson "Get up here Ross or we're going to start without you."

Thompson gave Shaw a dirty look and broke away from his TV interview, seemingly to take his assigned seat at the dais. After walking up the podium stairs he had to pass behind Vargas to reach his seat.

Vargas appeared to make a comment to Thompson and Thompson first slapped at the International Boxing Federation 154-pound champ, then doubled his fist and threw a right hand. Pandemonium erupted as the fighters' handlers wrestled to regain control.

"I'm bringing it to you," Thompson shouted at Vargas. "You can't fight.

"Look at your mouth, bitch.

"This is my show. All the people who think this bum can fight are going to see him get knocked out."

Vargas replied "You've been smoking crack" as Mandalay Bay security personnel arrived. Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Marc Ratner took the microphone and said "Everyone calm down or there won't be a fight Saturday night."

Things weren't tranquil for long, however.

"We've been told by everybody that he's going to get blown out," Thompson's manager, Nick Garone, said to the media when it was time for his remarks. "But I don't see it. He belongs here. He deserves this fight.

"I don't like it when writers, right away, don't give a guy a chance. It's not fair."

Thompson, a former Las Vegas resident, is 24-3-1 and is a plus 2000 underdog in the Mandalay Bay sports book.

Vargas, 19-0, is a minus 3000 favorite. He's receiving $1.25 million for the fight, while Thompson gets $350,000 -- although he will almost certainly be fined by the NSAC for his press-conference outburst.

As Shaw reluctantly introduced Thompson for his turn at the microphone, a volatile aura retook the room.

"I'm not here to attack Fernando Vargas physically," Thompson said, apologetic only for a moment. "But the man stood up."

Thompson then followed his manager's lead and criticized the media before directing his anger at Vargas again.

"All these reporters who know nothing about boxing ... it's people like that that brought out that side of me," Thompson said. "This rage has been building up in me.

"He has had the red carpet laid out for him, but this guy can't fight."

Demonstratively, Thompson then challenged the crowd.

"Anybody who want to take bets on the fight stand up right now," he said. "I'll take those bets."

As Thompson belabored that message and grew more and more agitated, Shaw lost his patience and asked that Thompson's microphone be shut off. Thompson refused to quit speaking, however, and two or three minutes later he interrupted Vargas' co-manager, Rolando Areliano, during his allotted time to speak.

"Whose nose is bleeding?" he said toward Vargas, Shaw and Areliano. "I'm tired of hearing this bum talk."

Shaw then asked for security to escort Thompson from the room, or for "Metro to arrest this guy."

Being restrained in part by his handlers, Thompson took a side exit from the room in the bowels of the Events Center. He hollered at Vargas as he left, while Vargas repeatedly made a dagger-across-the-throat gesture at Thompson.

"When you get crack heads you're going to have guys acting like that," Vargas said later. "The chump is scared. Ross Thompson is going to get knocked out and then we'll go home and work on (Felix) Trinidad.

"I'm going to punish Thompson for this."

Vargas is expected to fight Trinidad Dec. 2 at Mandalay Bay.

"I'm very, very saddened to see this happen," Ratner said of the melee. "There's no reason for this kind of stuff."

He said the fighters will weigh in separately today.

Thompson earned the fight with Vargas by virtue of his No. 1 ranking with the IBF. Now a resident of Buffalo, Thompson lived in Las Vegas through most of the 1990s and has been beset by personal troubles, including the death of one brother by accidental drowning at Lake Mead and the death of a second brother after a stabbing incident in Dayton, Ohio.

The nine-bout card in the hotel's scaled-back arena opens Saturday at 4:30 p.m.