Columnist Dean Juipe: Lawyer to Arum: Put your cards on the table

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2003 | 8:54 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.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission will conduct a hearing into promoter Bob Arum's allegation that last Saturday's fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley was "fixed" or at least mishandled by the regulatory board.

The hearing will be held Oct. 15 at 9 a.m. in the commission's offices.

Arum contends not only that De La Hoya deserved the decision win, but that at least one of the three judges selected by the NSAC to work the fight was inferior and that a commission member -- Dr. Flip Homansky -- improperly intervened in the process of selecting the judges.

Mosley won the fight when all three judges scored it 115-113 in his favor; the Sun card had him ahead by a 116-112 score.

"If Messrs. Arum and De La Hoya have proof of misconduct, they should come forward with it," wrote Mosley's attorney, Judd Burstein, in an open letter to the commission. "But if, as we believe to be the case, they are merely engaged in a disingenuous effort to avoid admitting that Mr. De La Hoya lost fair and square, there should be consequences."

Burstein called Arum's statements at the postfight press conference an "irresponsible attack upon the integrity of the commission."

NSAC regulations allow for disciplinary actions against anyone holding a license who "reflects discredit" on the sport.

According to the Ventura County Star, Vargas is currently walking with a cane and attempting to rehabilitate a chronically bad back. He has a bulging disc that could shorten, if not end, his boxing career.

"I've always had back problems," he said. "But the last three weeks (before the Oct. 3 fight in Tucson was postponed Sept. 5) I couldn't even train.

"Hopefully my back clears up and doesn't cause me too much trouble. If it does, I've got to deal with the pain or do something else."

Vargas said he is aiming to fight in December.

Bantamweights Cruz Carbajal, 23-11-1, and Gerardo Espinoza, 27-4, are scheduled for 12 rounds in a fight that has been added to the Oct. 4 Mandalay Bay card that features Evander Holyfield vs. James Toney in the main event. ... Referee Joe Cortez, who worked Saturday's Mosley vs. De La Hoya fight, has formed a charitable organization that will attempt to raise funds for stem-cell research. Joe and Sylvia Cortez, along with Mara Braun, have formed Las Vegas Friends, which hopes to contribute to the Reeve-Irvine Research Center in Irvine, Calif., that studies damaged cells and efforts to replace them. Cindy Cortez, a daughter, is a quadriplegic who was injured in an automobile accident. Call 255-0888 for more information on Las Vegas Friends.