Trial set to begin for boxers in alleged fixing

Jace Radke

Thursday, Jan. 15, 2004 | 9:28 a.m.

As speculation continues to surround the FBI raid of boxing promoter Bob Arum's Las Vegas offices, a case in which another boxing promoter is charged with fixing fights is set for a Feb. 3 trial in the George Federal Building.

The case focuses on an August 2000 Don King-promoted card at Paris Las Vegas that included a fight between Thomas Williams and Richard Melito Jr.

According to a federal grand jury indictment returned in August 2001, Thomas was approached by his promoter, Robert Mitchell, and brought into a scheme to throw the fight for Melito Jr. to promote Melito Jr.'s career.

The indictment states that Mitchell and others "arranged for at least some of Richard Melito Jr.'s opponents to accept bribes of money and other considerations to agree to intentionally lose to Richard Melito Jr."

Mitchell and Williams are charged with sports bribery and conspiracy to commit sports bribery. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The indictment does not name other specific instances of bribery or other alleged fixed fights, but does state that the conspiracy to bribe opponents for Melito began sometime around March 1995, and lasted through the fight on Aug. 12, 2000. It further alleges that the conspiracy took place "in Nevada and elsewhere."

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Kelly is representing the defendants in the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson, head of the Organized Crime Strike Force, is prosecuting the case.

Neither could be reached for comment on the case Wednesday.

There have been no indictments or charges of any kind in connection with the Jan. 6 raid of Arum's Top Rank Inc. offices as part of an ongoing investigation. FBI agents served a search warrant at Top Rank, 3980 Howard Hughes Parkway, and seized computers, contracts and financial records from 2001 to the present.

The search warrant affidavit remains sealed, and officials with the FBI would not comment about the nature of the investigation except to say that agents are working with the New York City Police Department.

FBI officials said only that the search warrant was served as part of an ongoing investigation.

Arum, who lives in Las Vegas and is Top Rank's chairman, has promoted boxing matches since 1966. Some of the fighters he has promoted include Muhammad Ali, Roberto Duran, Joe Frazier and George Foreman.

Currently Top Rank represents Floyd Mayweather, Erik Morales and Oscar De La Hoya. Top Rank has a card scheduled for Feb. 28 at the MGM Grand.

The 72-year-old Arum is a former Justice Department attorney who became involved in boxing in 1962 when he was assigned to help collect the proceeds of the first Sonny Liston-Floyd Patterson fight.

Arum is no stranger to controversy. In 2000, he paid a $125,000 fine to Nevada boxing authorities for bribing the International Boxing Federation to get approval of a heavyweight title fight in 1995 between then-champion George Foreman and unranked Axel Schulz.

But unlike rival promoter Don King, Arum has largely avoided being the target of legal actions, though King unsuccessfully sued him for allegedly stealing boxer Julio Cesar Chavez from him.

Arum has promoted some of boxing's biggest fights, with his last big promotion the fight for the 154-pound title between De La Hoya and Shane Mosley in September.

After De La Hoya lost a decision, Arum lashed out bitterly at the judges of the fight and accused Nevada boxing officials of improperly picking the judges to allow Mosley to win. Arum later apologized for his comments, saying they were "made in the heat of passion."

Marc Ratner, executive secretary of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, has said that newspaper reports that the FBI investigation might be linked to that fight being fixed are "nonsense."