Establishing his agenda

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004 | 10:06 a.m.

The infamous "Black Book" that is compiled and overseen by the state's Gaming Control Board may soon have a partner, if Nevada State Athletic Commission chairman John Bailey has his way.

Bailey, who was reappointed chairman for a one-year term at the NSAC meeting this week, said Wednesday that he would like to initiate and install a "Black Book" of boxing that would list individuals who were forbidden to do business with commission licensees.

"We need to start considering the process of implementing something that's similar in structure to the 'Black Book' in gaming," Bailey said. "I think it's important in terms of the confidence of how boxing is regulated."

Bailey, 43, said gaming's "Black Book" provides a perfect model.

"In gaming, the 'Black Book' is a method by which gaming licensees know specifically that there are certain people they cannot be associated with," he said. "We could do the same in boxing. We could have a list of individuals that our licensees would be prohibited from associating with.

"The list would include any individuals who have committed felonies or been convicted of being involved in corruption of any sort."

Bailey, one of three attorneys on the five-person NSAC, replaced Luther Mack as chairman last year and will serve as chairman at least through the end of 2004. Bailey has his own law practice and offices in Las Vegas.

When asked for his goal for boxing in Nevada in the coming year, he chuckled and said "I'm looking forward to a brighter future for boxing in the state.

"I'm concerned about the recent events."

Those "recent events" obviously include the FBI's raid of Top Rank's Las Vegas offices and the confiscation of many of the promotional firm's records and library artifacts.

"Our legal training tells us that we don't want to read too much into the fact the FBI had a search warrant and took some stuff from Top Rank," he said, referring to the legal expertise he and fellow NSAC members and attorneys Joe W. Brown and Skip Avansino bring to the board. "I don't think any of us knows what's coming down the road or even who was the real target of the raid at Top Rank, but we'll attempt to monitor the investigation as best we can.

"If anything comes out of it that affects our licensees, I feel comfortable in saying the commission will take swift and appropriate action."

Bailey added that he has not spoken with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum in recent weeks or in the aftermath of the FBI raid, and he would not speculate on the future plans of the 72-year-old promoter or his promotional firm.

Arum has implied that he might retire this year, which was a notion that surfaced during an outburst that followed Oscar De La Hoya's Sept. 13 loss to Shane Mosley at the MGM. At the time, Arum expressed disbelief at the judges' scores of the fight and said he would no longer do business in Nevada.

He later apologized to the NSAC and is, in fact, continuing to promote cards within the state.

"I haven't spoken to Bob on these types of issues," Bailey said. "It certainly seemed appropriate when he wrote us a letter and apologized, and I'm comfortable with how that scenario came to an end.

"But that kind of stuff certainly doesn't help (boxing's image)."