Columnist Dean Juipe: Promoter supports boxers joining forces with union

Dean Juipe

Thursday, May 15, 2003 | 9:19 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.

At least one major promoter is in favor of boxers organizing into a union and having that union associated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Cedric Kushner said the bond should prove beneficial to the fighters.

"I think it's a very good thing, and anything that's good for the fighters is good for Cedric Kushner Promotions," he said after the Joint Association of Boxers announced this week an affiliation with the Teamsters.

"I've had conversations with a couple of other promoters as well, and, best I can tell, they're in favor of it, too," Kushner said. "I can't think of any reason why it won't work, although it's fair to say there's a certain skepticism about it because it's so novel, so new."

JAB, with former fighter Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and attorney Walter Kane at the helm, reached agreement with the Teamsters following a seminar Monday at Bally's. JAB will solicit fighters to join the organization and will charge them 2 percent of their fight purses, with that money placed in a fund that will provide the fighters with health insurance and a pension.

Similar endeavors have been examined in the past but JAB is the first to seemingly get off the ground, let alone link with a major union.

"This has a chance of going around the world," Kushner said. "There's been a need for change.

"Look at the other business models in professional sports. They all have players' unions.

"Well, we in boxing have a billion-dollar industry as well, although we haven't been conducting ourselves like it."

The JAB-Teamsters alignment isn't above criticism, however. Nor is Kane's involvement, given the fact his brother runs a Teamsters local union.

Many see the link as being the first step toward involving the Teamsters with a sport in which the union may ultimately decide the contestants in championship-level fights. In addition, it has been pointed out that while sports such as professional baseball, football, basketball and hockey do have players' unions, none of them is affiliated with an outside organization such as the Teamsters.

Kushner, however, sees the union as a plus, although he wants a little something in return for his support.

"I'm not magnanimous," he pointed out. "I want something out of it. I want stability and I want loyalty from my fighters."

Only time will tell if the plan is going to work.

Former junior lightweight world champion Steve Forbes of Las Vegas, who is coming off an April 26 win at the Stratosphere, has accepted a June 13 fight in Lincoln City, Ore. ... Las Vegas-based cruiserweight Kelvin Davis gets a televised rematch with O'Neil Bell, set for May 23 in Concho, Okla., on ESPN2. ... Junior welterweight Jesse Feliciano of Las Vegas gets the assignment of facing U.S. Olympic star Ricardo Williams June 3 from Uncasville, Conn., on ESPN2. Williams is 8-1 but is coming off a loss. ... Fernely Feliz has been tapped to meet Attila Levin in the main event of a May 24 card in Reno. ... Heavyweights Jeremy Williams and Imamu Mayfield headline June 7 at the Flamingo in Laughlin. ... Super bantamweights Alejandro Barrera, 15-0, and Jorge Lacierva, 20-5, top the card May 23 at the Aladdin.