De La Hoya Wants Policy of Openness in Boxing

You’d think it would be difficult enough to win an Olympic gold medal and world title belts in four weight classes. But now Oscar De La Hoya is taking on a real challenge. He said Wednesday that he wants to reform boxing.

“I’m pretty disgusted by the last big fight boxing had,� De La Hoya said, referring to the controversial draw March 13 between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis. “It was a terrible decision, terrible for boxing. I am really, really embarrassed.

“I have to go out there with my image and clean up the sport. I can do it, I have to do it.�

As a start in his crusade, De La Hoya said he will ask the Nevada State Athletic Commission to allow open scoring for his May 22 welterweight fight in Las Vegas against Oba Carr.

If approved, the judges’ scores would be revealed after each round to the boxers and their corners, the crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center and the HBO audience.

It’s not a new concept. De La Hoya’s partner in promoting his fights, Bob Arum, already has requested that Nevada regulators consider open scoring for the May 8 super-bantamweight fight in Las Vegas between Erik Morales and Wayne McCullough.

Boxing traditionalists in particular have concerns about open scoring. One is that a boxer who knows he has a lead will fight conservatively in the later rounds, avoiding combat and boring the audience.

But that’s no different from a football team with a lead in the fourth quarter taking time off the clock by running instead of passing. It’s called strategy.

“With open scoring, there will be no controversial decisions ever in boxing again,� De La Hoya said.

That’s too much to hope for, but at least you would be able to catch the crooks in the act.

“It’s one thing to learn about a crime after it happened on March 13,� Arum said. “It’s another thing to see it when it’s happening.�

*

Boxing experimented with limited open scoring years ago when Muhammad Ali defeated Earnie Shavers by a decision in 1977. . . .

Only the television audience was supposed to see the judges’ scores. . . .

But the experiment failed when Ali’s crafty trainer, Angelo Dundee, sent a runner to the dressing room between rounds to get the scores and relay them to the corner. . . .

Shavers’ trainer protested that Ali had an unfair advantage. Yeah, he had a smarter trainer. . . .

De La Hoya’s next opponent, Carr, didn’t show at Wednesday’s news conference at the House of Blues because of a car accident en route from his Big Bear training camp. He ran into a guard rail. . . .

“Let’s hope he punches straighter than he drives,� Arum said of Carr, who wasn’t injured. “I know it’s a treacherous drive, but hitting a guard rail means you really aren’t paying too much attention.� . . .

St. Petersburg, Fla., the site of the men’s Final Four, will be college basketball’s rumor central this weekend. But we don’t have to wait until then. . . .

Baron Davis isn’t as inclined as some suggest to leave UCLA for the NBA this year. . . .

That doesn’t mean he won’t go, particularly if he believes he’ll be a top-five draft choice, but he’s enjoying campus life and doesn’t want his college career to end with the bad taste of an NCAA first-round loss to Detroit Mercy. . . .

Bill Bayno might be out at Nevada Las Vegas. That’s one job that could lure John Thompson back into coaching. . . .

Why might Bob Bender leave Washington for Vanderbilt? . . .

If he has success at a medium-sized private school that stresses academics, that might make him the heir apparent to Mike Krzyzewski at his alma mater. . . .

Colorado State’s Ritchie McKay, a former Bender assistant with the Huskies, might return to Washington. Other candidates would be Pepperdine’s Lorenzo Romar, a Washington grad, and Gonzaga’s Dan Monson. . . .

Cal State Northridge’s Bobby Braswell is a strong candidate at Washington State. The Cougars also have talked to UCLA assistant Jim Saia. . . .

The parts of this that turn out to be true, if any, remember that you read them here. Forget the rest. . . .

It’s like that movie, “The Moderns,� when Wallace Shawn says, “I hate to spread gossip, but what else are you supposed to do with it?�

*

While wondering if perhaps the Pacific 10 is a football conference after all, I was thinking: Notre Dame made a huge mistake in passing on Rick Majerus, Michigan State has a great chance if Magic Johnson comes back to play, maybe the Sports Arena is a jinx for L.A. basketball teams.

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected]