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Everybody wants to reform boxing these days. In the wake of the ghastly trilogy of last fall -when Duk Koo Kim was killed, Alexis Arguello was pounded senseless, and Tex Cobb served as a punching bag on national television - there are now more reformers than fighters. And greatly needed, every one.
There are currently two boxing bills in Congress and one in the New York State Legislature, all of them seeking to reform boxing, instead of banning it, which might be the best idea of all.
Meanwhile, the previously minuscule United States Boxing Association has added an ''International'' to its name and decided to ''offer hope to the *************** and the disenchanted,'' according to its president, Robert Lee.
But the biggest call for reform has come from Bob Arum, the promoter, who in the distant past of a week or two ago might occasionally have been seen as being part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
In a burst of independence, and making charges of corruption, Arum has broken with his old contacts in the World Boxing Association and cast his future with that reform group, the U.S.B.A. International.
''I think the public will say, 'Here's a guy who's been in bed with these thieves, and now he's calling for reform,' '' Arum said yesterday. ''But my rationalization is that I didn't see a lot of corruption until they tried to rip me off.''
The path to righteousness is worth following by anybody who believes in the survival of the sweet science of the shuffling step and the slurring tongue.
Fighting Bob has made some vigorous charges about payoffs in recent weeks, since it became apparent that his rival, Don King, had extended his power from the World Boxing Council to the W.B.A., leaving Arum nowhere to go but on the path to reform.
T he brave new world of boxing will begin on May 27 in Providence, R.I., when Marvin Hagler will fight Wilford Scypion in a bout postponed two weeks from tonight's original date.
Hagler is the middleweight champion of both the W.B.A. and the W.B.C., but this fight will be sanctioned by neither. Instead, it will be sanctioned by the shining knights of the U.S.B.A. International.
What is the U.S.B.A. International? Good question. According to Robert Lee, its president and also deputy commissioner of the New Jersey Athletic Commission, it is an association of 32 state boxing commissions.
Founded in 1977, the U.S.B.A. lumbered along for five years, sanctioning national titles for second-line American boxers. But last fall, shortly after the W.B.A. convention in Puerto Rico, the group got ambitious.
At that convention, Robert Lee of New Jersey ran for president, only to lose to Gilberto Mendoza of Venezuela, who was backed by none other than Bob Arum, in his pre-reform days.
''I'm totally responsible,'' Arum lamented. ''Lee came within a handful of votes, but I controlled the Oriental votes and helped beat him.''
Shortly afterward, the U.S.B.A. met in Atlantic City and decided that going international was ''an idea whose time has come,'' said Lee, who runs the U.S.B.A. International from the New Jersey commission offices and also from his home.
How did Arum and Lee become allies? Arum has told a Congressional hearing and a writer from The Ring magazine that he became tired of giving payoffs to Pepe Cordero, a W.B.A. official and boxing promoter in San Juan, P.R.
Arum testified last week that in order to stage a fight between Ray Mancini and Art Frias he had had to pay $250,000 to Cordero. He labeled this ''a payoff, not a bribe.''
Cordero did not return a call yesterday to his office in San Juan, but he has denied these charges in the current issue of Sports Illustrated. Until recently, he was considered an ally of Arum in the W.B.A. But he is now believed to be siding with Don King.
Having been squeezed out by the W.B.A., Arum is now promoting the Hagler-Scypion fight, which is being sanctioned by Robert Lee of the U.S.B.A. International.
''I'm not a vindictive guy,'' Lee said yesterday. ''We've been planning to sanction major fights since November. The Hagler-Scypion fight just happened along. Arum is just another promoter. I'm not the kind of guy who would say, 'Because of what you did, I'm not going to sanction your fight.' Somebody has got to grab the bull by the horns.''
The bull of boxing has many unsavory horns. Earlier this year, Ray Seales revealed on Howard Cosell's ''SportsBeat'' program that he had passed physicals in New York, California, Nevada and even Robert Lee's own state of New Jersey despite suffering from a detached retina.
E nter the legislators. Representatives James J. Florio, ******** of New Jersey, and Bill Richardson, ******** of New Mexico, have promoted a bill that would set up a 10-member commission to study boxing for 9 months, at a cost of $950,000.
Another bill is being pushed by Representative Pat Williams, ******** of Montana, which would set up a Federal boxing agency immediately. Representative Williams, who prefers the safer amateur boxing to the professional version, said yesterday that he favored a commission ''that would protect the workman in his workplace right away.''
In Albany, State Senator John Dunne, ********** of Garden City, has introduced a bill that would mandate periodic brain scans, thumbless gloves and a ''passport'' of each fighter's record and that would require suspension of a boxer's license for at least 90 days after a knockout.
Senator Dunne, not a boxing buff, said: ''I personally have great reservations. I think it is a very savage sport. The idea is to inflict damage, to render an opponent senseless. I have great problems in encouraging it. But I am not going to put my personal moral views in front of addressing a major issue. I have a sense there is not yet a great enough outcry to ban boxing.''
Not from Bob Arum. The promoter who has made his break from the tentacles of the W.B.A. to the safe shores of the U.S.B.A. International calls boxing ''a valuable sport, a good sport,'' and says: ''I'm going to do my darnedest to make it better. I favor Pat Williams's bill for a Federal agency. We've got to do something about this corruption.''
There are currently two boxing bills in Congress and one in the New York State Legislature, all of them seeking to reform boxing, instead of banning it, which might be the best idea of all.
Meanwhile, the previously minuscule United States Boxing Association has added an ''International'' to its name and decided to ''offer hope to the *************** and the disenchanted,'' according to its president, Robert Lee.
But the biggest call for reform has come from Bob Arum, the promoter, who in the distant past of a week or two ago might occasionally have been seen as being part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
In a burst of independence, and making charges of corruption, Arum has broken with his old contacts in the World Boxing Association and cast his future with that reform group, the U.S.B.A. International.
''I think the public will say, 'Here's a guy who's been in bed with these thieves, and now he's calling for reform,' '' Arum said yesterday. ''But my rationalization is that I didn't see a lot of corruption until they tried to rip me off.''
The path to righteousness is worth following by anybody who believes in the survival of the sweet science of the shuffling step and the slurring tongue.
Fighting Bob has made some vigorous charges about payoffs in recent weeks, since it became apparent that his rival, Don King, had extended his power from the World Boxing Council to the W.B.A., leaving Arum nowhere to go but on the path to reform.
T he brave new world of boxing will begin on May 27 in Providence, R.I., when Marvin Hagler will fight Wilford Scypion in a bout postponed two weeks from tonight's original date.
Hagler is the middleweight champion of both the W.B.A. and the W.B.C., but this fight will be sanctioned by neither. Instead, it will be sanctioned by the shining knights of the U.S.B.A. International.
What is the U.S.B.A. International? Good question. According to Robert Lee, its president and also deputy commissioner of the New Jersey Athletic Commission, it is an association of 32 state boxing commissions.
Founded in 1977, the U.S.B.A. lumbered along for five years, sanctioning national titles for second-line American boxers. But last fall, shortly after the W.B.A. convention in Puerto Rico, the group got ambitious.
At that convention, Robert Lee of New Jersey ran for president, only to lose to Gilberto Mendoza of Venezuela, who was backed by none other than Bob Arum, in his pre-reform days.
''I'm totally responsible,'' Arum lamented. ''Lee came within a handful of votes, but I controlled the Oriental votes and helped beat him.''
Shortly afterward, the U.S.B.A. met in Atlantic City and decided that going international was ''an idea whose time has come,'' said Lee, who runs the U.S.B.A. International from the New Jersey commission offices and also from his home.
How did Arum and Lee become allies? Arum has told a Congressional hearing and a writer from The Ring magazine that he became tired of giving payoffs to Pepe Cordero, a W.B.A. official and boxing promoter in San Juan, P.R.
Arum testified last week that in order to stage a fight between Ray Mancini and Art Frias he had had to pay $250,000 to Cordero. He labeled this ''a payoff, not a bribe.''
Cordero did not return a call yesterday to his office in San Juan, but he has denied these charges in the current issue of Sports Illustrated. Until recently, he was considered an ally of Arum in the W.B.A. But he is now believed to be siding with Don King.
Having been squeezed out by the W.B.A., Arum is now promoting the Hagler-Scypion fight, which is being sanctioned by Robert Lee of the U.S.B.A. International.
''I'm not a vindictive guy,'' Lee said yesterday. ''We've been planning to sanction major fights since November. The Hagler-Scypion fight just happened along. Arum is just another promoter. I'm not the kind of guy who would say, 'Because of what you did, I'm not going to sanction your fight.' Somebody has got to grab the bull by the horns.''
The bull of boxing has many unsavory horns. Earlier this year, Ray Seales revealed on Howard Cosell's ''SportsBeat'' program that he had passed physicals in New York, California, Nevada and even Robert Lee's own state of New Jersey despite suffering from a detached retina.
E nter the legislators. Representatives James J. Florio, ******** of New Jersey, and Bill Richardson, ******** of New Mexico, have promoted a bill that would set up a 10-member commission to study boxing for 9 months, at a cost of $950,000.
Another bill is being pushed by Representative Pat Williams, ******** of Montana, which would set up a Federal boxing agency immediately. Representative Williams, who prefers the safer amateur boxing to the professional version, said yesterday that he favored a commission ''that would protect the workman in his workplace right away.''
In Albany, State Senator John Dunne, ********** of Garden City, has introduced a bill that would mandate periodic brain scans, thumbless gloves and a ''passport'' of each fighter's record and that would require suspension of a boxer's license for at least 90 days after a knockout.
Senator Dunne, not a boxing buff, said: ''I personally have great reservations. I think it is a very savage sport. The idea is to inflict damage, to render an opponent senseless. I have great problems in encouraging it. But I am not going to put my personal moral views in front of addressing a major issue. I have a sense there is not yet a great enough outcry to ban boxing.''
Not from Bob Arum. The promoter who has made his break from the tentacles of the W.B.A. to the safe shores of the U.S.B.A. International calls boxing ''a valuable sport, a good sport,'' and says: ''I'm going to do my darnedest to make it better. I favor Pat Williams's bill for a Federal agency. We've got to do something about this corruption.''
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