Ahn Kyung Duk

Julio Cesar Chavez, who seemed more angry this week at his promoter, Don King, than his opponent, nonetheless routinely knocked out overmatched South Korean Ahn Kyung-Duk Saturday night at the Atlantic City Convention Hall. The calm, cold-eyed Chavez easily retained his two world junior welterweight championships and in so doing demonstrated both his own marvelous skills--believed by many to the best in boxing--and also the need for reform in boxing's widely criticized ratings systems.

Julio Cesar Chavez, who seemed more angry this week at his promoter, Don King, than his opponent, nonetheless routinely knocked out overmatched South Korean Ahn Kyung-Duk Saturday night at the Atlantic City Convention Hall. The calm, cold-eyed Chavez easily retained his two world junior welterweight championships and in so doing demonstrated both his own marvelous skills--believed by many to the best in boxing--and also the need for reform in boxing's widely criticized ratings systems.

Three intriguing boxing matchups top the sports television choices on a weekend that also includes the staples of the month: college basketball and pro football. Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson fights for the second time since losing his title to James (Buster) Douglas when he faces once-beaten Alex Stewart in an evening of boxing that begins at 7 tonight in Atlantic City on HBO.

Julio Cesar Chavez, the Mexican junior-welterweight world champion, signed a six-fight contract with Las Vegas promoter Bob Arum Thursday night. Chavez's Los Angeles lawyer, Leon Pizante, said the 18-month deal was worth about $15 million and would begin May 1. Chavez, who had been unhappy fighting for New York promoter Don King, walked out of a King news conference last week in Atlantic City, N.J., because, he explained later, he felt King was ignoring him.

Mike Tyson suffered a cut in a sparring accident Friday afternoon at Atlantic City, N.J., that required 48 stitches to close, forcing a postponement of the former heavyweight champion's bout with Alex Stewart Sept. 22. Tyson, according to his promoter, Don King, had just hit sparring partner Greg Page with two punches in a spirited exchange when Page fell forward, his head striking Tyson's head and cutting his right eye.

Two of boxing's best attractions, Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez, will appear on the sport's last major show of 1990 tonight, but the man who seems to have the toughest fight on his hands is their promoter, Don King. King is in hot water with both fighters. Tyson is unhappy because he doesn't understand why he has to fight the Alex Stewarts of the world instead of the heavyweight champion. Chavez is unhappy because King pays too much attention to Tyson. How unhappy?

Victor Valenzuela, the manager of junior-welterweight champion Zack Padilla, spoke volumes about the state of boxing in a couple of sentences Friday. Padilla was going nowhere six months ago. The 30-year-old from Azusa had quit boxing for four years, then started a comeback a year ago. Now, since April, he has won two fights in a row, each time as a 3-1 underdog. Padilla is short on style and hitting power, but long on courage.

George Foreman is planning to take his road show overseas, where he will fight an "unnamed" opponent Sept. 25 in London. . . . "The opponent is going to (be) an American, a hometown decision for me," Foreman said by phone Tuesday after a gym session in Houston trimmed him to 265 pounds. "It'll be shown on the USA network in the states. Not too long after that, I expect to fight Evander Holyfield for the title. I've been promised the first shot if Holyfield beats Buster Douglas." . . .

The recent imprisonment of Pete Rose and the partial banishment from baseball of George Steinbrenner were noted with some sadness by a Florida man whose favorite sport is boxing. John Branca, chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission in 1983-84, saw the two baseball developments as graphic examples of how firmly baseball and other American professional sports can govern themselves while professional boxing remains in anarchy.

In the summer of 1988, a couple of reporters in Atlantic City, N.J., sneaked into Mike Tyson's last sparring session before his 91-second fight against Michael Spinks. Officially, Tyson's workouts were closed to the media. But a rear door was unattended, and the two reporters sat in chairs at a discreet distance from the ring, where Tyson was beating up a $1,000-a-week sparring partner.

Negotiations are under way for another Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor bout, at 144 pounds, possibly as soon as November or December. Taylor's New Jersey promotion team, the Duva family, has apparently convinced Chavez's camp and HBO that Taylor can no longer make 140 pounds. Under discussion is a non-title fight for which both boxers would make several million dollars each. Chavez and Taylor fought for two 140-pound titles at the Las Vegas Hilton March 17.