Columnist Dean Juipe: Heat is on Utah after Rone tragedy

Dean Juipe

Thursday, July 31, 2003 | 9:09 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.

Utah's lack of regulation and its handling of professional boxing is a disgrace, a former director of the state's boxing commission said this week.

Nick Butterfield, who was director of the Utah commission two years ago but who resigned in frustration, said he hopes to take up the subject with the state's governor, commerce department and boxing commission.

"We can't keep doing what we've been doing," he said, contacting the Sun in the aftermath of the death of heavyweight fighter Brad "T.C." Rone, a Las Vegan who died in the ring July 18 in Cedar City, Utah.

Rone died after the first round of his fight with Billy Zumbrun. Rone, 34, took the fight on short notice and was approved despite the fact he had lost 26 consecutive fights, had a 7-41-3 record and a history of high blood pressure.

David Butterfield, Nick's brother, was the referee for the Rone vs. Zumbrun bout.

Nick Butterfield lives in Salt Lake City and runs a boxing gym owned by former middleweight world champion Gene Fullmer.

"I'm tired of these fights we've been putting on," Nick Butterfield said. "We're on the wrong road.

"I'm campaigning to make changes. I'd like to take the information I've got to the governor and try to get things done right.

"The way it is now is embarrassing. The people who run boxing in Utah simply don't know what they're doing."

Butterfield claims that the Utah commission has deleted at least two pertinent rules from its books, and adds that training sessions for state-appointed ringside personnel have all but been eliminated.

"I know of an inspector who stood right there and watched a fighter have his hands illegally wrapped," he said. "The guy had no qualifications to be an inspector. He said he was told he could learn all he needed to know in five minutes."

The rule changes he cited were ones that commonly come into play.

"We had a rule on the books when I was director that any fighter with seven or more consecutive losses had to be reviewed," Butterfield said. "That was changed this year.

"So was a rule on weight limits. As it is now, Utah has nothing on the books on what to do when a fighter comes in over a weight limit."

He said a fighter with 247 losses was approved for a fight in St. George last month. "We licensed the guy, can you believe that?" Butterfield said.

Asked why the Utah commission, under director Richard Weinsoft, has become so lax, Butterfield criticized his successor and said "it's easier for the commission not to enforce rules, so that's what they're doing."

Butterfield said he feels he's in a better position now to implement change than he was while serving as the state's boxing commission's director.

"As director I couldn't do it as efficiently as I can now," he said. "I felt my hands were tied when I was the director."

Wright, incidentally, was not impressed by Fernando Vargas' TKO-6 victory against Fitz Vanderpool last Saturday in Los Angeles. "Now I know why Fernando didn't want to fight me, and, frankly, I agree with him," Wright said in a comment relayed by his publicist. "He's done. Fighting him would be like shooting fish in a barrel. There's no challenge in it for me." Wright does not have a fight scheduled but has been lobbying for a high-profile opponent such as Oscar De La Hoya or Bernard Hopkins to accept his challenge. ... Former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman has moved to Las Vegas to work with trainer Roger Mayweather. Rahman, 35-4-1, was heavyweight champion for seven months in 2001, having beaten Lennox Lewis before losing the rematch. He does not have a fight scheduled.

Former bantamweight world champion Paulie Ayala will fight for the first time in 11 months when he goes Oct. 17 in Fort Worth, Texas. Ayala, 33, is 34-2 and has been out of the ring since losing by decision last Nov. 16 to Erik Morales in Las Vegas. No opponent yet for Ayala's upcoming fight, which will be televised by Telefutura. ... Top Rank has signed promising welterweight Anthony Thompson and will have him on a Sept. 12 card in Las Vegas. He's 7-0 and is believed to have championship potential. ... No site yet for that particular Sept. 12 card, but the MGM has the right of first refusal. That card is one of two that Top Rank will promote on that same date, as it will also have a card at the Orleans in an effort to capitalize on the hype surrounding the De La Hoya vs. Shane Mosley fight a night later at the MGM.