Columnist Dean Juipe: Determined Ayoub rises in stature

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2002 | 9:42 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

When she was appointed to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Amy Ayoub seemed to represent everything that was wrong with the system. It had become so political that a political consultant had found her way to the board and was taking a spot, I remember writing, that rightfully belonged to someone with closer ties to athletics and a greater understanding of the intricacies of the boxing industry.

An update, if not an apology of sorts, now seems to be in order.

It was Ayoub, after all, who had the courage to lead the commission toward the decision it eventually rendered Tuesday, one that denied Mike Tyson a license and scuttled his proposed April 6 heavyweight title fight with Lennox Lewis at the MGM Grand.

Either Ayoub had that type of fortitude all along and I just missed it, or she has developed into an exemplary commission member on the strength of her tenacity and hard work. But no matter how the end result was achieved, she has not only made her mark but quieted anyone who once viewed her ascension to power with a wary eye.

By knowingly taking the reins of an issue that had one or two of her colleagues reluctant to say "boo" in advance of the Tyson hearing, Ayoub has emerged as a leader and a significant force. She had Tyson mopping his brow with a handkerchief, if not squirming in his seat, as she led a questioning that was both insightful and determined.

She and her three colleagues who comprised the 4-1 vote against Tyson have allowed Nevadans to react with an unrestrained pride. For once, a state body took the higher ground and the moral road when confronted with a demon who brought only dollar signs to the table.

Prior to the hearing and even during a late recess that allowed the commission members to speak privately about their pending votes, there was a very real belief that only Ayoub would vote against Tyson's application for a license. Yet her vigilance and refusal to be bullied (by Tyson adviser Shelly Finkel, in particular) appeared to swing the proceeding's momentum an entirely different direction, and within minutes it was apparent that Tyson's plea was going to be unsuccessful.

I say she swayed at least a couple of her fellow panelists to vote the way they did, simply because she let it be known beforehand that she wasn't happy with Tyson and then she followed that up by taking an aggressive posture at the hearing.

She rescued a hearing that NSAC chairman Luther Mack had earlier allowed to be unduly manipulated by Tyson's chief counsel, Bob Faiss, who had an associate read into the record the lengthy biography of physical therapist Keith Kleven before subjecting everyone in the audience to such nonsensical items as a video of Tyson's segment in a Crocodile Dundee movie.

The hearing was drifting until Ayoub brought it back into focus. She spoke up when she felt she had to and she uncovered a shortcoming by Faiss, who failed to document Tyson's claim that he had undergone psychotherapy on a twice-a-week basis until being cleared last May.

Without her, there may have been an entirely different result when the Tyson issue was put to a vote.

She pulled a trigger that kept us all from being embarrassed.