Boxers Contracts

The heavyweight crown may move from head to head, but there really is only one King in boxing. Don King, striking in the dead of night, reestablished his dominion over the heavyweight division by getting the new champion, Hasim Rahman, to agree in principle--at 3 a.m. Friday--to a deal that could pay Rahman $70 million for four fights.

The heavyweight crown may move from head to head, but there really is only one King in boxing. Don King, striking in the dead of night, reestablished his dominion over the heavyweight division by getting the new champion, Hasim Rahman, to agree in principle--at 3 a.m. Friday--to a deal that could pay Rahman $70 million for four fights.

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?

When he enters the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on March 24 to face Arturo Gatti, Oscar De La Hoya will be staring into the camera. But whose camera? HBO has a contract with De La Hoya for his next four fights, the one against Gatti worth $4.5 million to De La Hoya. But that might not be enough. De La Hoya's handlers, emboldened by their surprising legal victory over promoter Bob Arum last month, have put the gloves back on to take on the cable network.

One of the United States' most promising hopes for a boxing gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics, light-welterweight Fernando Vargas of Oxnard, might have jeopardized his amateur status by agreeing to a contract with the sports agent accused of giving money to three USC football players.

He is free of his contractual obligations, but not unscathed. He is poorer, but has such a promising financial future that it hardly matters. He does not turn 21 until next month and has never won or even fought for a world title, but corporate executives and boxing's most powerful men continue to contort and twist in reaction to his every decision. Oscar De La Hoya, where exactly do you go from here? The boxing career will move forward, of course, but how far will he advance?

Caesars World and Riddick Bowe have signed a multi-fight deal calling for the new heavyweight champion to make at least four title defenses at Caesars venues well into 1994. The deal means that at least four title defenses will be at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas or Caesars Atlantic City. Although Caesars World, parent company of Caesars Palace, is a co-sponsor of Bowe's Feb. 6 Madison Square Garden defense against Michael Dokes, the four-fight deal will begin with Bowe's second title defense.

Cruiserweight Jeremy Williams of Long Beach has signed a one-year pro management contract with Bill Cayton.

A hearing involving lawyers representing former welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya and his promoter, Bob Arum, ended without a resolution of the legal deadlock that is keeping De La Hoya out of the ring. The fighter is suing Arum to terminate their contract. De La Hoya's side had been asking for a summary judgment in the case. Instead, Judge Matt Byrne instructed the sides to return to his courtroom the week of Dec.

Promoter Bob Arum will file a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court today against Univision Sports and its CEO, Jerry Perenchio, charging both with interfering with his promotional contract with former welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya. Arum's action comes in the wake of the announcement that De La Hoya has hired Perenchio to be his new promoter after suing Arum last month to end their ties.

For eight years, welterweight Oscar De La Hoya and promoter Bob Arum have enjoyed the most lucrative relationship outside the heavyweight division in boxing history. But Tuesday, De La Hoya struck the legal blow he hopes will forever shatter that relationship, suing Arum in U.S. District Court, claiming the contract between the two is unenforceable.

Middleweight David Reid, the only American fighter to win a gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games, has turned his back on several established boxing organizations to sign his first professional contract with a new group. According to a source close to the negotiations, Reid has agreed to a multiyear contract with Amerika presents, a group headed by former Ten Goose Boxing promoter Dan Goossen and former broadcasting executive Mat Tinley.

What's next for Fernando Vargas? Suddenly, the 18-year-old welterweight, who had assumed he would vault into the professional ranks after Olympic triumph, is a slightly less than golden free agent. Vargas, from Oxnard, has been associated both with the Shelly Finkel-Duva family alliance and with Stanley Levin, who manages Roy Jones Jr., and said Thursday afternoon that he will decide with whom to sign in a matter of days or weeks.

One of the United States' most promising hopes for a boxing gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics, light-welterweight Fernando Vargas of Oxnard, might have jeopardized his amateur status by agreeing to a contract with the sports agent accused of giving money to three USC football players.

P.J. Goossen, one of the most popular boxers to fight at the Warner Center Marriott, Tuesday signed a promotional contract with Top Ring USA that will make the San Fernando Valley his home base for the next three years. Goossen, ranked among the world's top 20 junior middleweights by several boxing organizations, has a record of 15-0. "We're very excited about being associated with a boxer with P.J.'s talent," said Gerrie Coetzee, Top Ring's president.

Were the past few days the opening shots of the last Don King-Bob Arum war? If so, the timing is devastatingly perfect. While the sport of boxing sags and wheezes toward box office irrelevance, its two most powerful, reviled and stubborn figures are reviving a feud that, by now, both know neither can win. And, by now, does anybody care? This, of course, is nothing new.