Arum backpedals, sets another LV card

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003 | 9:34 a.m.

Upset with the scoring Sept. 13 after Shane Mosley defeated Oscar De La Hoya by decision at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, promoter Bob Arum said at the time that he would never put another fight card in Nevada.

But with one scheduled for Feb. 28 at the same site, he obviously has relented.

"I know I said some things," Arum said Monday. "But I feel as if I made my point. I've been having conversations with the members of the athletic commission and hopefully the problems I've addressed will be solved."

Arum declined to be specific about his complaints, but it's known that he disagrees with the method used to select officials for big fights. For the Mosley vs. De La Hoya fight, the judges picked by the Nevada State Athletic Commission were from Las Vegas, Thailand and South Africa.

Each of those judges scored the fight 115-113.

"Not that there are bad people or people with bad motives (on the NSAC)," Arum said. "But there are things that have to be dealt with. With a new chairman (in John Bailey) and the talks I've been having with the individual members, I'm hoping those issues will be resolved."

"It's great publicity," Arum said of having the fighter on a network show.

As for Mayweather's boxing career, Arum said he is trying to piece together a Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton fight in England.

In Houston (on Showtime), Francisco Bojado avenged an earlier decision loss to Juan Carlos Rubio by winning the junior welterweight rematch by margins of 11, 9 and 9 points on the judges' cards. On that same card, featherweight Rocky Juarez remained undefeated by taking a decision win over Hector Velazquez.

In Los Angeles, WBC super bantamweight champion Oscar Larios stopped Thailand's Napapol Kiatlisakchicchoi in the 10th round to up his record to 50-3-1, and Javier Jauregi won the International Boxing Federation lightweight title by stopping Leavander Johnson in the 11th round. Jauregi, 47-10-2, won a title vacated by Paul Spadafora.

In Tijuana, 41-year-old Julio Cesar Chavez continued his retirement tour with a second-round TKO win over former conqueror Willie Wise.