Columnist Dean Juipe: State should put an end to WBA hi-jinks

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, June 12, 2001 | 9:58 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Come July 1, the Nevada State Athletic Commission will be empowered to investigate boxing's various sanctioning bodies.

But no amount of good-intentioned legislation can correct what the World Boxing Association will do on (or before) Aug. 4 when it strips one of its current world champions, Clarence "Bones" Adams of Las Vegas, who will be fighting fellow WBA champion Paulie Ayala that night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

The fight is at Adams' weight of 122 pounds and should, in theory, have the full approval and blessing of the WBA.

Instead, the Venezuela-based organization will use the opportunity to take Adams' title from him even before he exchanges blows with Ayala.

Adams' crime?

Despite his best efforts and willingness to face the WBA's mandatory challenger, which every champion must due within a specific time frame, Adams has not met that obligation. And because he had the audacity to file a suit against the WBA, which he has since lost, the alienated Adams will lose the recognition that comes with being an acknowledged champion.

"So what?" says his promoter, Bob Arum.

"I don't care," says Adams, putting on his best facade.

But he does care, just as every fighter cares about holding a prestigious championship. And while Adams is reluctant to admit the WBA's actions will be harmful to his career or reputation, that reaction is more posturing than anything else.

Beyond the WBA's revengeful motives, a question arises: If Nevada is going to have the legal right to examine these sanctioning bodies in a mere three weeks, why can't it influence or alter the WBA's course as it pertains to Adams? Or, failing that, why can't it penalize the WBA for its transgressions?

After all, Adams has tried to satisfy his mandatory with Yober Ortega, but the challenger refuses to cooperate and didn't make it to a scheduled March 23 fight with Adams in Owensboro, Ky. The fact that Ortega is a Venezuelan is a "coincidence" that also has to be taken into account.

"It's something we'd like to know," NSAC executive director Marc Ratner said Monday, referring to the WBA's (lack of) justification for removing Adams as a champion, "but we're not going to get involved in ranking disputes."

That's a pity because the average fan would like to see some accountability from an organization such as the WBA, which routinely "over ranks" fighters from its neck of the woods. But Nevada has no plans to intrude and, instead, will concentrate on "seeing where the money goes" in its oversight of boxing organizations.

But Ratner did say any "egregious" act by a sanctioning body could result in the state either fining the offending party or not approving their fights in Nevada.

Well, this is an egregious act and Nevada should respond accordingly. If that means at least a temporary boycott of WBA title fights in the state, so be it.

What the WBA is going to do to Adams is unwarranted and diabolical. It's the perfect time for Nevada to make a meaningful statement and quit looking the other way.