Leonard’s fight plans may be canceled
■ BOUT: There is a question
about the promoter’s business
dealings
By John Curran
The Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Plans
for Sugar Ray Leonard’s come
back bout unraveled Thursday
when regulators sought to bar his
promoter and the fight’s casino
and television sponsors pulled
out.
The New Jersey Casino Control
Commission is being asked to ban
New Contenders Inc. from pro
moting the Feb. 28 fight with Hec
tor Camacho because of alleged
ties to organized crime.
If the commission agrees, the
bout would almost certainly have
to be canceled. It probably will be
anyway.
But Bernie Dillon, who re
signed Wednesday as president of
New Contenders, said the fight
hadn’t been canceled.
The state Division of Gaming
Enforcement told the casino com
mission late Wednesday that New
Contenders should be barred from
doing business with casinos be
cause of links to the Gambino
crime family.
The allegation centers on New
Contenders chairman Michael
Blutrich, a lawyer for Scores, a
New York topless dance club
raided last month by federal
agents investigating the Gambino
link.
Sun International Hotels Ltd.
and Griffin Gaming & Entertain
ment, which were to sponsor it,
backed out Thursday. So did
TVKO, the pay-per-view division
of Time-Wamer Sports, which
was to televise it.
Dillon said he was seeking new
sponsors and a new pay-per-view
partner.
“I’ve talked to the fighters, and
they want to keep the fight togeth
er,” Dillon told The Associated
Press from the airport in Chicago,
where a fight news conference
was held Thursday. “I’m attempt
ing to keep the fight together.
“Everywhere we’ve gone (to
promote the fight), the public and
the media have been very respon
sive to the fight.”
Blutrich’s office was bugged as
part of the investigation into
whether the Gambinos are the se
cret owners of the club, the New
York Daily News reported.
According to the Division of
Gaming Enforcement, informa
tion has been obtained that raises
serious questions about the suit
ability of New Contenders and
Blutrich to do business with casi
nos.
Blutrich once hired Willie Mar
shall, a bodyguard and driver for
a reputed Gambino mob member,
as a bouncer at a bar he owned in
New Rochelle, N.Y., and helped
get him a bouncer job recently at
Scores, the DGE said.
Marshall was present when two
club employees were slain last
June but refused to cooperate with
police investigating it, according
to a four-page letter Catania wrote
to Bradford Smith, chairman of
the Casino Control Commission.
“This information, while not
yet frilly developed, is so serious
that action must be taken to pro
tect the public interest and the
policies established by the Casino
Control Act,” Deputy Attorney
General Rick McDonough said in
a motion filed Wednesday.
A woman who answered the
telephone in Blutrich’s New York
law office Thursday said he was
out of town at a trial.
The Scores connection isn’t
Blutrich’s only legal problem.
Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort
is suing him for $500,000 it ad
vanced him in credit last year that
he hasn’t repaid, according to
documents filed with the motion.
The state of Delaware, mean
while, is suing Blutrich and other
corporate officers of the National
Heritage Life Insurance Co. of Or
lando, Fla. According to the suit,
Blutrich and the others gave NHL
bad legal advice and breached
their fiduciary duty to the compa
ny, causing losses of more than
$50 million.
New Contenders and Scores
Entertainment had no relation
ship with each other, Dillon said.
Not so, said Frank Catania, di
rector of the DGE. The companies
have office space on the same
floor as Blutrich, and each has
loaned the other money in the
past, he said.
“I’m right now striving to keep
the fight together because it’s a
fight that we have gotten tremen
dous support throughout the box
ing and sports community for,”
Dillon said.
He wouldn’t identify his poten
tial sponsors, but said the New
Contenders problem shouldn’t
stand in the way.
“The fight should not be taint
ed. It’s a sporting event. The fight
ers have nothing to do with any of
this,” he said.
New Contenders, founded in
1989 by Blutrich, has promoted
six previous fights in New Jersey,
including a Roy Jones Jr.-Vinny
Pazienza fight in June 1995.
New Jersey gambling regulators
are well known for their efforts to
keep mobsters and accused crimi
nals from working in or with casi
nos.
Last year, they barred Don King
from promoting a Mike Tyson
Buster Mathis Jr. fight in Atlantic
City because of a pending indict
ment in New York.
Leonard, 40, has won world ti
tles in five weight classes and has
retired three times. He hasn’t
fought since 1991, when he was
battered by WBC super welter
weight champ Terry Norris.
Camacho, 34, also is past his
prime. The former junior light
weight and lightweight, who now
fights as a middleweight, last
fought Oct. 1, stopping Heath
Todd in the sixth round.
Men’s Basketball: Madden takes on hometown team
■ Continued from Page 11
from the comforts of home.
If history has anything to say, Saturday’s
game will be high scoring and close. When
these two teams met last year, the Ducks held a
10-point lead with two minutes to play. But
Fresno State came back to beat Oregon 83-82. In
1992, the Bulldogs took a two-point victory
from the Ducks.
Fresno State is led by guard Dominick
Young, who is averaging 18.3 points per game.
The rest of the starting five all average more
than eight points per game.
Kenya Wilkins had 23 points against Port
land State, raising his average to 21.7 points per
game. Kyle Milling averages 13 points and nine
rebounds per game.
Not only are the Ducks looking to avenge
these two close losses, but one Oregon player
also has a small personal stake in the meeting.
After being suspended from the Ducks’ squad
in May 1995, for not meeting academic stan
dards, forward Henry Madden decided to try
to take his talents back home to Fresno State.
But during the summer, he tore his anterior
cruciate ligament and Tarkanian didn’t want
to take a chance on his rehabilitation. So Mad
den and Oregon head coach Jerry Green
worked out a deal late in the summer making
Madden promise to work hard on academics
for a year in order to get back on the team.
Since his return in an Oregon uniform, Mad
den has averaged 10 points and 5.7 rebounds
per game.
But despite the connection to the Bulldogs,
Madden said he just wants to win.
“I don’t have any personal feelings, but that’s
just my hometown, and 1 kind of want to do
good against them. If we get a victory, then we
get a victory,” he said.
Madden also said the Ducks are taking this
just like any other game.
“We don’t have anything to prove,” he said.
"We’re just going to go out and play a regular
game. We’ll do the things necessary to win the
game and hopefully we’ll get the victory.”
He cited three things necessary to win.
“Execute our offense, box out, rebound — it’s
just the little things that nobody thinks of doing
that we have to do,” Madden said.
Green was excited about the prospects about fac
ing Fresno State for the second consecutive year.
“I’m glad to be 3-0, glad to be back at
McArthur Court and glad to get another oppor
tunity to face them,” Green said. “I think it’s a
high-profile game when a top 20 team comes
into McArthur Court with a national champion
coach like Tark is. I don’t think there will be a
seat available in the whole place.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the Duck Ticket
Office reported that 6,700 tickets had already
been sold for the game, but a representative re
ported that they expected a near sellout.
Preview: Oregon works on
improving its offense
■ continued from Page 11
bugging you all night long,” Boev
ing said. “If you stop them at the
beginning and shut them down,
then I think we’re really going to
be able to control the momentum
of the game. We just really want
to protect our home court."
UNLV enters this year’s match
up losing three straight games af
ter opening the season with a
win against Sam Houston State.
The Rebels are led by forward
Celeste Taylor who is averaging a
double-double with 13.8 points
and 11.3 rebounds a game.
UNLV also relies heavily on its
backcourt. Guards Toby Girard
and Taneisha Gossett are averag
ing a combined 22.1 points a
game.
“I think [their line-up] counter
balances us right now because
we’re getting most of our scoring
from the posts and less from the
guards,” Boeving said. “Our
coaches have definitely been
telling us to shoot from the out
side when we’re open to give us
more balance.”
il
We just really want to protect
our home court.
— Betty Ann Boeving
Women’s basketball
-99
Following their win against
Portland, in which the Ducks
struggled offensively, the Oregon
coaching staff dedicated the next
day’s practice entirely to the of
fensive scheme.
“Yesterday was definitely a
unique practice,” Boeving said.
“Right now, we have quite a few
different offenses that we are try
ing to incorporate everybody into,
and there are times when the
newness of it all makes our [new
comers] a step slow or just doesn’t
get them to where they need to be.
So we’re still trying to guide each
other around on offense.”
Oregon will try to improve its
offense in game action starting at
7 p.m.
BASKETBAII
OREGON DUCKS
VS.
#13 Fresno St. Bulldogs
Sat., December 7 • 7:05 p.m.
McArthur Court
Doors open at 6:05 p.m.
Free Admission to UO Students
(Valid student I.D. required)
Mac Court Ticket Office M-F, 10-4
Duck Ticket Office,Casanova Ctr. M-F, 9-5
Mac Court Ticket Office opens 12 noon day of game
for more information, call fire Duck Ticket Office 346-4484 • 346-5418 (Hearing impaired)
HHHli 1
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