By Kevin Iole Las Vegas Review Journal

A state panel examining ways to improve boxer safety plans to examine the feasibility of providing anyone who fights in Nevada with health insurance and pension benefits.

If Nevada can implement such a program it would force other states to follow suit, Sig Rogich, chairman of the Nevada Athletic Commission's advisory panel on boxer healthy and safety, said at a meeting Thursday.Athletic commission chairman Skip Avansino created the safety panel last year after Martin Sanchez and Leavander Johnson died from injuries suffered in bouts in Las Vegas.

The safety panel plans to make a full recommendation to the athletic commission by the end of May.

On Thursday, the panel voted to fine every fighter 10 percent of his or her purse for failing to make weight, to permit electrolyte drinks in the corner, to mandate a third doctor attend all fight cards in the state, to require an in-ring doctor's examination of both fighters immediately upon the conclusion of a match and to ask the legislature for more funding to expand its random drug and steroid testing program.

Much of the panel's focus Thursday was on the timing of the weigh-in. Members expressed concern about the amount of weight that boxers gain after weighing in and by the time they step into the ring to fight.

The panel said it is concerned that fighters who miss weight on the first try often go into a sauna to sweat off more pounds. Committee member Dr. James Nave suggested that practice be banned.

Most weigh-ins in the state are held at 5 p.m. the day before a bout, though weigh-ins for some major bouts are held earlier in the day to accommodate television.

Nave said it is vital for trainers, managers and gym personnel to be required to inform the commission if they know of a boxer who was knocked out during sparring.

The panel is considering a recommendation that would enable the commission to revoke the license of and fine a licensee who fails to comply.

Commission executive director Marc Ratner said he was told by a trainer that a fighter who died in Nevada had been knocked out in sparring three days before his fight. Ratner would not identify the trainer nor the fighter who died. He also refused to say when the fighter died, saying he promised the trainer confidentiality.

Rogich said he believes what he calls "the health-and-welfare component of all this" is critical. He said he wants to seek a way to provide insurance that would cover at least some of the expenses occurred by boxers if they are injured in Nevada.

In addition, he said a tax on ticket sales could be used to fund a pension plan for boxers, who are independent contractors with few ways to plan for retirement.

"There would have to be some percentage of every ticket sold that would go into a health insurance component for a boxer," Rogich said. "We'll have to define the eligibility. It would be similar to a COBRA plan, for a lack of a better definition. They would have the assurances to know that if a boxer came here and boxed and was hurt, there would be some medical component.

"If he or she couldn't fight anymore, there would be a medical component going forward for a reasonable period of time that we would pool from our boxing resources here. It might not be grand by the standards of what you're used to in your every day life, but at least it would be something."

None of the panels findings is binding. The athletic commission will study and implement them as it sees fit.

Marciano's punch vaulted him into rare air

BY GEORGE DIAZThe Orlando Sentinel

"The heavyweight champion of the world is either the toughest man in the world, or he is not, but there is a real possibility he is. It is like being the big toe of God." - Norman Mailer.

---

ORLANDO, Fla. - A nation looking for heavyweight heroes embraced Rocky Marciano, wrapped up in a tidy package of patriotism and punching power.

He was the son of Italian immigrants - his father worked in a shoe factory - growing up poor against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Determined to find a better way of life, Marciano pursued baseball, then boxing, as his career path.

As the calendar years clicked away, Marciano's legacy grew with each devastating victory, reaching 49 consecutive victories before he retired April 27, 1956.

Fifty years later, the boxing world remembers Marciano with much more than a nostalgic twist. It misses him for so many reasons, starting with the palookas posing as heavyweight champions these days, to the painful work ethic of a man willing to take one or two punches to give one in return.

He remains the only heavyweight in boxing to retire undefeated.

It probably will never happen again.

"It stands on its own as the second most important statistical monument in sports after `56,'" boxing historian Bert Sugar said, paying homage to Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak.

Most of America's sporting heroes have a certain shelf life. Cal Ripken Jr. respectfully bumped Lou Gherig as baseball's definitive iron man. Emmitt Smith became the NFL's leading career rusher, displacing Walter Payton. Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds have been crowned baseball's greatest Sultans of Swat over a season.

But Marciano likely will not be chased away so easily. Too many alphabet soup sanctioning-bodies clutter the ring, a situation aggravated by a lack of a heavyweight who can connect with the public as a true champion. And even if a modern-day fighter did, he wouldn't fight as often as Marciano did over his career. Marciano stepped into the ring 24 times in a two-year span alone.

Marciano was a thunderous throwback in those black-and-white frames, crouching down in an exaggerated pose - almost at eye level at his opponent's knees - stalking and biding time before delivering the big boom.

His right fist had a name - "Suzie Q" - and a nasty disposition. Suzie Q took a wallop at Jersey Joe Walcott and etched his profile for eternity with a 13th-round shot to the head, Walcott's face grotesquely distorted as sweat flew over his head like a watery halo.

No man delivered that much punishment over that extended period of time. Between March 1947 and September 1955, Marciano knocked out 43 opponents.

"No question he was the hardest puncher in the history of the sport," Sugar said.

During a time when boxing truly mattered in this country, Marciano stood among baseball stars Ted Williams and Stan Musial as icons of the generation that would lose its innocence once America stepped into the `60s.

A rebellious kid named Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali) screamed for attention, changing the dynamics of boxing, if not the world, as Marciano faded away in quiet glory.

It was the end of an improbable rise for a kid from Brockton, Mass., who once had aspirations of becoming a professional catcher, only to see the dream fade because his arm wasn't strong enough.

For baseball, anyway.

Nicknamed "The Brockton Blockbuster," Marciano used his stocky frame - 5 feet 10 1/4 and 184 pounds - for unorthodox leverage. He would bend down and hit upward, a style that also made him hard to hit.

First impressions were memorable.

"I knew the Rock when he first came to New York," said Angelo Dundee, a longtime trainer whose client list includes Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard. "Charley Goldman (Marciano's trainer) called me and said, `Ange, I want you to come with me today to the CYO. I'm training this kid from Massachusetts, and I want you to see him because he's short, stocky and bald-headed with sweeping shoulders but, boy, can he punch.'

"Everything Charlie told me about him was true."

Rocco Francis Marchegiano turned pro in 1947, fighting under the assumed name Rocky Mack to protect his amateur status. He knocked out Lee Epperson in the third round, beginning a run of 16 consecutive knockouts. He received a purse of $35.

Five years later, Marciano knocked out Walcott in the 13th round to win the heavyweight title. He defended it six times before retiring after knocking out Archie Moore.

Marciano sill had plenty punch of left in Suzie Q.

"You felt like someone had been beating you all over the body with a blackjack, or hitting you with rocks," Moore said after the fight.

Although Marciano said "he wanted to start living for my family," a driving motivation in his decision to walk away was his contempt for his manager, Al Weill. Under the terms of their contract, Weill was receiving half of the earnings from Marciano's fights.

"I'm getting out while I can," Marciano told reporters on the day he retired. "I'm dumping this guy before he dumps me."

Always fiscally frugal - he stashed money away because he distrusted banks - Marciano contemplated a few comebacks but never felt an urge strong enough to fight again.

"The retirement of Rocky Marciano clearly demarcates an end of an era," said Mike DiLisa, a boxing historian and author. "It was the end of all those hard-core boxing people from the `30s, `40s and `50s. After that, we ended up with the Peter McNeeleys of the world."

Marciano would "fight" one more time, matched in a computerized matchup against Ali. The "super fight" was filmed in privacy, with various alternate endings so the fighters didn't know the results until the movie was released on Jan. 20, 1970, through closed-circuit venues.

Although each fighter had to let up on hard shots to the head, many of the body blows were true. Reflective of his competitiveness, Marciano lost 50 pounds and bought a new toupee (which Ali playfully flicked away at one point in the filming).

"His hairpiece lost 10 pounds at least," Sugar said.

Using all variables from each fighter, the computer spit out a decision: Marciano, KO, 13th round.

"The computer was made in Alabama," Ali grumbled at the time.

Marciano never saw the finished product. Three weeks after the completion of the computer fight, and a day before his 46th birthday, Marciano hitched a ride on a small plane for a personal appearance in Des Moines, Iowa.

On Aug. 31, 1969, the plane crashed in a cornfield in Newton, Iowa, killing Marciano, another passenger and the pilot.

Agitated at the possibility of arriving late to the funeral service in South Florida, Ali nearly crashed his car. It was wide-eyed excitement for passengers Dundee and fellow heavyweight Jimmy Ellis.

"The traffic was so horrendous that Ali had to go on the pavement a few times," Dundee said. "That ain't a comfortable feeling."

They arrived in time to pay their respects, with words that still hold true today.

"Nobody comes close to the way the guy worked," Dundee said. "Nobody comes close to the dedication of the guy. He's one of a kind.

"Thank God for one of a kind."

It wasn't intentional, but Jameel McCline came full-circle in his boxing career over the last six months.

Three fights after a stunning upset defeat to journeyman Zuri Lawrence, McCline is right back where he was five years ago. The former West Paterson and Clifton resident is trying to convince network executives at HBO and Showtime that he is worth the fat checks they cut for meaningful heavyweight fights. Earning those six-figure purses, the rewards of McCline's meteoric rise in the heavyweight division following a sensational first-round knockout of Michael Grant in 2001, seems like a lifetime ago to the 35-year-old boxer.

"Everything is different for me now," McCline said Tuesday. "When you're on top for so long and then you crash so hard, so fast, not only is it humbling, it also makes you change the way you approach everything you do."

McCline (35-6-3, 22 KOs) will box Rob Calloway (57-6-1, 44 KOs, 4 NC) in a co-featured fight tonight in Miami, Okla. The 10-round bout will open an ESPN2 "Wednesday Night Fights" program from the Buffalo Run Casino, beginning at 9 p.m. Tulsa super middleweight Allan Green (19-0, 13 KOs) will encounter Donnie McCrary (17-3-2, 10 KOs, 2 NC), of St. Joseph, Mo., in the 10-round main event.

As for Calloway, also of St. Joseph, Mo., he is the most formidable of McCline's four foes since he suffered that 10-round unanimous decision defeat to Lawrence (20-11-4) on Oct. 22 in Hollywood, Fla.

Since losing to Lawrence, McCline, a two-time world championship challenger, has scored three straight wins. But those victories, two first-round knockouts and most recently a 10-round shutout against Marcus McGee (15-10, 8 KOs) on March 24 in Miami, came against opponents with a mediocre combined record of 78-40-3 (45 KOs).

Calloway, 36, is more durable than those three boxers, but he has been knocked out three times, most notably by World Boxing Council champ Hasim Rahman (41-5-2, 33 KOs) and England's Audley Harrison (19-2, 14 KOs).

"(The Lawrence loss) destroyed me," McCline said. "For (this fight) to do anything for me, I have to be completely dominant. I know how fragile my position is. I really don't have a whole lot to say, but I know there's a whole lot to do."

A more mature Mayorga?

Ricardo Mayorga admits he took a foolish, unprofessional approach to his last high-profile fight, an embarrassing eighth-round knockout defeat to Felix Trinidad on Oct. 2, 2004, at Madison Square Garden. The nasty Nicaraguan champion has been much more diligent in training for his WBC super welterweight title fight against Oscar De La Hoya on May 6 in Las Vegas. Mayorga matter-of-factly said on a conference call Tuesday that he has smoked only "three or four" cigarettes per day in this training camp, as opposed to two packs per day during previous camps, and added that he has "pretty much" refrained from engaging in sexual activity over the last two months.

Mayorga's maturity in the realm of physical preparation hasn't rubbed off in discussing De La Hoya, whom Mayorga has berated throughout this combustible promotion. On Tuesday, the foul-mouthed Mayorga claimed knocking out De La Hoya won't satisfy him.

"Simply put, I just don't like him," Mayorga said. "I've always had disdain for him. I not only want to stop him, I want to stop his heart or detach his retina, one of the two."

Meanwhile, Don King, Mayorga's promoter, said Tuesday that Trinidad (42-2, 35 KOs) has agreed to end another retirement to meet Mayorga (28-5-1, 23 KOs, 1 NC) in a rematch later this year if the hard-hitting former welterweight champ upsets De La Hoya (37-4, 29 KOs). Trinidad is also interested, according to De La Hoya and King, in facing De La Hoya again on Sept. 16, if De La Hoya overcomes Mayorga.

The final bell: news & notes

New York-based promoter Cedric Kushner announced Tuesday that his "Gotham Boxing" series will debut on May 24 in the Hammerstein, Neb. Bryan, 20, is a two-time defending national Golden Gloves champion at 141 pounds. The Eastside Ballroom at Manhattan Center. Longtime heavyweight contender Shannon Briggs will encounter Chris Koval in the 12-round main event. Brooklyn's Briggs (46-4-1, 40 KOs) and Koval (23-2, 18 KOs), of Youngstown, Ohio, will square off for Briggs' United States Boxing Association title. Junior middleweight Matt Vanda (34-1, 21 KOs), of St. Paul, Minn., is scheduled to appear in the 10-round, co-featured fight, but his opponent hasn't been chosen. Tickets ($45-$250) can be bought by calling Gotham Boxing at 212-755-1944. ...Clifton's Jeremy Bryan out-pointed (5-0) Brandon Little, of Toledo, Ohio, late Monday night in preliminary round action at the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Omaha.. The Eastside High School alum will return to the ring tonight in the quarterfinals. Paterson's Elvin Sanchez (201), who received a bye in the preliminary round, will also compete tonight in a quarterfinals fight. This will mark the 25-year-old Sanchez's debut at the national Golden Gloves showcase. Championship matches will be contested Saturday night at Omaha's Qwest Center. ... The action-packed welterweight bout between Kermit Cintron and David Estrada will be replayed early Thursday morning (1-2 a.m.) on ESPN Classic. Cintron (26-1, 24 KOs), of Reading, Pa., technically knocked out Chicago's Estrada (18-3, 9 KOs) in the 10th round of their fight a week ago in Palm Beach, Fla.

Mayweather Turns Down $8 Million To Fight Margarito!

by Dan Rafael ESPN.com

Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. rejected promoter Bob Arum's $8 million offer to fight welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito, and he instead exercised a provision in his contract to buy Arum out and become a promotional free agent, Arum told ESPN.com on Monday.

According to Arum, Mayweather turned down the career-best purse to meet Margarito on Aug. 12 on HBO Pay-Per-View, instead opting for free agency by buying Arum out of their deal for $750,000.

"I did hear from him," Arum said of Mayweather. "He decided not to fight this summer. I made him a tremendous offer. I think Margarito is the riskiest fight for him of anyone out there."

Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN.com that Mayweather passed on the fight not because he is ducking Margarito, but because he couldn't be ready to fight by Aug. 12. Mayweather injured his right hand during a dominating April 8 victory against Zab Judah.

"Floyd is not 100 percent healthy," Ellerbe said. "He has a bruised right hand. His hand is not broken. It's bruised, but it's a bad bruise. He wants to go into any fight 100 percent healthy. If Antonio Margarito happens to be the best available option when he is healthy, so be it.

"We are not turning down Margarito. I want to make that crystal clear. When and if he is the best available option for Floyd's next fight, that's the direction he will move in."

With Aug. 12 no longer set aside for a Mayweather fight, Arum said he will use the date to feature one of his other stars, heavyweight titlist Hasim Rahman, in a mandatory title defense against Oleg Maskaev on HBO PPV.

That bout, a rematch of Maskaev's 1999 knockout victory, took on greater significance last weekend in the wake of Wladimir Klitschko's title-winning knockout of Chris Byrd in Germany.

The reason: Among the four recognized heavyweight title holders, Klitschko became the third from a former Soviet republic to beat an American to win a belt, leaving Rahman as the lone American heavyweight champion and Maskaev poised to give Eastern Europe a sweep of the titles in boxing's marquee division.

Arum said Mayweather preferred to await the outcome of the May 6 Oscar De La Hoya-Ricardo Mayorga fight instead of committing to Margarito because he would prefer to fight De La Hoya.

"We're not sitting waiting on De La Hoya," Ellerbe said. "He's in a tough, tough fight with Mayorga."

Many in the sport believe a De La Hoya-Mayweather fight is the biggest fight on the horizon and the only one capable of generating 1 million-plus buys on pay-per-view.

The reason Mayweather opted for the buyout rather than waiting for the May 6 result was because the contract had a limited window for the buyout, one that expired before the De La Hoya fight. However, Arum said he would have extended the window if Mayweather had asked. What Arum wouldn't do, he said, was raise the guarantees for other fights outlined in the contract.

Arum said while Mayweather would have taken the $8 million to fight Margarito, he asked for a $10 million guarantee to fight opponents such as Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton, when Arum was only willing to guarantee $7 million.

Arum said Mayweather also asked for $20 million to fight De La Hoya, a fight Arum said he wasn't interested in participating in.

"That's not in the cards," Arum said. "He wants $20 million for the De La Hoya fight? It's not there. Sometimes, my man, you gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. We'll talk about things down the road."

Ellerbe said Mayweather opted for the buyout so he could be "more in control of when and who he fights next. It's as simple as that. There is nothing bad between Floyd and Bob."

Arum agreed that the split with Mayweather was not on bad terms like their brief breakup last year. In fact, Arum said, "We intend to be back together. Everything with this was honorable and good. I had offered him numbers [for a multi-fight contract extension] that were livable. His expectations are in the stratosphere. He was entitled to buy me out, and he did. We decided this was the best way to handle it. He is a free agent. We have agreed to work with each other [in the future]."

The split frees Mayweather to make a potential deal with De La Hoya without Arum as part of the promotion. His involvement would have made making a deal almost impossible: The head of Top Rank has openly feuded with De La Hoya, his former superstar, and their companies rarely do business together as a result.

Arum said he was simply not interested in participating in a De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, but not because of his distaste for De La Hoya.

"I don't want to, because if I did that fight, I would be working for such a small percentage, it's not worth it," he said.

Instead, Arum is turning his attention to the Rahman-Maskaev fight.

Arum said that he and Maskaev representative Dennis Rappaport are about $300,000 apart on making a deal. If they don't finalize terms, the WBC will hold a purse bid May 1 in Mexico City.

But Arum is confident they will make the deal.

"We're very close," he said. "It will take another day to work it out."

Arum said he is already making arrangements to announce the fight at a news conference in New York on May 10. He added that the fight would take place at either Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., or at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Arum said Margarito could wind up on the Rahman-Maskaev card in the co-feature.

"But it's tentative," Arum said. "If Mayweather decides to fight in September or October, and Margarito could still be a candidate, I want him to be flexible."

This is a great article from The Washington Post about one of our own, the Best Ring Announcer in the Boxing Business Today - Henry "Discombobulating" Jones.

A Message for Kids That Cuts Through the Drone

Upcoming Fights

April 26
At Miami, Okla. (ESPN2): Allan Green vs. Donnie McCrary, 10 rounds, super middleweights

April 28
At Uncasville, Conn. (ESPN2): Samuel Peter vs. Julius Long, 10 rounds, heavyweights

At New Town, N.D. (Showtime): Lamont Peterson vs. Mario Jose Ramos (20-1, 9 KOs), 10 rounds, junior welterweights; Anthony Peterson vs. Jermaine White, 8 rounds, junior welterweights

April 29
At Mashantucket, Conn. (HBO): Acelino Freitas vs. Zahir Raheem, 12 rounds, for vacant WBO lightweight title; Andre Ward vs. Andy Kolle, 8 rounds, middleweights

At Panama City, Panama: Roberto Vasquez vs. Noel Arambulet, 12 rounds, for Vasquez's WBA junior flyweight title

May 4
At Las Vegas (ESPN): Sergio Mora vs. Archak Ter-Meliksetian, 10 rounds, middleweights; Alfonso Gomez vs. Jesse Feliciano, 8 rounds, welterweights

May 6
At Las Vegas (HBO PPV): Ricardo Mayorga vs. Oscar De La Hoya, 12 rounds, for Mayorga's WBC junior middleweight title; Kassim Ouma vs. Marco Antonio Rubio, 12 rounds, junior middleweights

At Worcester, Mass. (Showtime): Alejandro Garcia vs. Jose Antonio Rivera, 12 rounds, for Garcia's WBA super welterweight title

At Tokyo: Eagle Kyowa vs. Rodel Mayol, 12 rounds, for Kyowa's WBC strawweight title

May 13
At Boston (HBO): Luis Collazo vs. Ricky Hatton, 12 rounds, for Collazo's WBA welterweight title

May 18
At Hollywood, Fla. (PPV): Julio Diaz vs. Ricky Quiles, 12 rounds, for vacant IBF interim lightweight title

May 19
At Sydney, Australia: Anthony Mundine vs. Danny Green, 12 rounds, super middleweights

May 20
At Los Angeles (HBO): Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Rocky Juarez, 12 rounds, for Barrera's unified junior lightweight title; Jorge Barrios vs. Janos Nagy, 12 rounds, for Barrios' WBO junior lightweight title

At Belfast: Scott Harrison vs. Joan Guzman, 12 rounds, for Harrison's WBO featherweight title

May 27
At Carson, Calif. (HBO): Jhonny Gonzalez vs. Fernando Montiel, 12 rounds, for Gonzalez's WBO bantamweight title; Paul Williams vs. Walter Matthysse, 10 rounds, welterweights; Daniel Ponce De Leon vs. Alejandro Barrera, 12 rounds, for De Leon's WBO junior featherweight title

June 3
At Las Vegas (Showtime): Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo, 12 rounds, for Corrales' WBC lightweight title

At Germany: Nicolay Valuev vs. Owen Beck, 12 rounds, for Valuev's WBA heavyweight title

June 10
At Atlantic City, N.J. (HBO PPV): Antonio Tarver vs. Bernard Hopkins, 12 rounds, for Tarver's Ring magazine light heavyweight title

At New York (PPV): Miguel Cotto vs. Paulie Malignaggi, 12 rounds, for Cotto's WBO junior welterweight title; Kevin Kelley vs. Bobby Pacquiao, 12 rounds, junior lightweights; John Duddy vs. Freddy Cuevas, 10 rounds, middleweights; Juan Manuel Lopez vs. TBA, 6 rounds, featherweights; Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. TBA, 6 rounds, junior welterweights; Tommy Zbikowski vs. TBD, 4 rounds, heavyweights

June 17
At Memphis, Tenn. (HBO): Jermain Taylor vs. Winky Wright, 12 rounds, for Taylor's unified middleweight titles June 24
At Las Vegas (HBO): Calvin Brock vs. Timor Ibragimov, 12 rounds, heavyweights; Joel "Love Child" Julio vs. Carlos Quintana, 12 rounds, WBA welterweight eliminator

July 15
At Las Vegas (HBO PPV): "Sugar" Shane Mosley vs. Fernando Vargas, rematch, 12 rounds, junior middleweights

July 22
At Atlantic City, N.J. (HBO): Carlos Balodimir vs. Arturo Gatti, 12 rounds, for Baldomir's Ring magazine/WBC welterweight title