A CAPITAL IDEA? : Soviet Officials Are Looking Into Pro Boxing in U.S.

It’s commonly accepted dogma in boxing today that there are a lot of dogs out there, that there isn’t anyone on the horizon who can defeat Mike Tyson.

But that depends on where the horizon is, right?

What about the Soviet Union?

Look out, Iron Mike--here comes Ivan Drago.

And maybe a bunch of little Ivan Dragos, too.

Soviet sports representatives, it seems, have been making pointed inquiries in New York and Las Vegas lately about how to tap into the West’s boxing-for-dollars market. Apparently, it hasn’t gone unnoticed in the Soviet Union’s Ministry of Sport that Mike Tyson will make something like $50 million this year.

About a month ago, Las Vegas boxing promoter Bob Arum had a visitor from New York, Soviet Union expatriate Edward Nakhamkin.

“Nakhamkin told me he was speaking for higher-ups in the Soviet Union who were interested in how their top boxers could earn dollars in the West,” Arum said.

“He asked me if I would be interested in working with a group of Soviet boxers after the 1988 Olympics during a training period of 3 to 6 months, then selecting a smaller number from that group to box professionally here, with the money they earn going to the Soviet boxing federation.

“I told them I was interested, and that’s pretty much where it stands. I told Nakhamkin that the next step for me would be to go to the Soviet Union and see their boxers compete, to see not only their Olympic team but the kids who don’t make their Olympic team, too.”

Arum’s rival, New York-based Don King, left for Moscow Wednesday. His spokesman, Murray Goodman, said King had been invited by Soviet sports officials “to discuss an exchange of sports and cultural programs.” Goodman said King is scheduled to be in Moscow until Monday.

The Soviets, it turns out, have been talking about their amateur boxers earning Western dollars in the ring for years.

“We’ve been hearing this (Soviets entering pro boxing) from them for years,” said Col. Don Hull, president of the USA Amateur Boxing Federation. “They first raised the subject with me after the 1976 Olympics, in fact.

“Under international amateur rules, they could box against pros here, but it would have to be done completely under amateur rules, or they’d lose their amateur status.”

Arum said Nakhamkin gave him a list of 24 Soviet boxers who are said to be under consideration in Moscow for such a program. On the list are several former world amateur champions and world-class boxers such as heavyweight Alexander Yagubkin, featherweight Yuri Alexandrov, welterweight Vasily Shishov and super-heavyweight Vycheslav Yakovlev.

“I told Nakhamkin that if, after watching a group of Soviet athletes during a training period, I felt they had promise as pros, I would sign them to contracts, pay them signing bonuses and promote their fights,” Arum said.

“I had the feeling the money part of it would be handled like their pro tennis players, that it would go back to their boxing federation.”

If Yakovlev winds up boxing professionally in the United States, it would almost be Rocky IV come to life. He’s a dead-ringer for Ivan Drago, the blond Soviet boxer in Rocky IV, a robot-like creation of Soviet science.

When reached by phone to comment on the issue, Nakhamkin, an art dealer, declined.

“I am going to Moscow on April 5. Ask me about it after I get back,” he said.

He was asked if his source was the Soviet boxing federation.

“No,” he said, “higher than that.”

Arum wonders if Soviet sports officials have been bluntly told by Kremlin economic officials to find ways to support themselves without government support.

“I was told by a friend who’s been in Moscow that they’re looking for ways for their dancers, artists, hockey players, boxers and basketball players to earn money in the West,” Arum said.

“It may be that someone over there has taken a long look at the figures top U.S. pro fighters make, and some wheels have started turning.”

Too bad all these vibes aren’t coming from Havana, said one U.S. amateur boxing official.

“It’s too bad it’s not the Cubans talking about this instead of the Russians,” said Rolly Schwartz, a U.S. amateur boxing official since the 1940s.

“I could take that Cuban national team and produce five world pro champions within a year. The Soviets have some good kids, but many of them would have some big adjustments to make. . . . they’d have to be less mechanical.

“On the plus side for them is that their boxers are always in great physical condition, much better, generally, than our pros. And they tend to be excellent defensively.

“Take their lighter weight guys, like (Yuri) Alexandrov. If he were to come over here and box some of our top pros . . . Hey, (Hector) Camacho would never lay a glove on him.”

Jose Torres, former world light-heavyweight champion and the current New York state boxing commissioner, said he has discussed the subject of Soviet boxers recently with others.

“What the Soviets want to do now is some kind of USSR amateurs-USA pros show,” he said. “The logical extension after that would be for some of them to turn pro.”

Jim Fox, executive director of the USA Amateur Boxing Federation, said the timing doesn’t sound right.

“The 1989 World Championships (of amateur boxing) are in Moscow,” he said. “I can’t believe they’d remove the heart of their national team before that. They know that if those kids participate in pro bouts, they’re through as amateurs.”

Marco Sarfaraz, a U.S. amateur boxing referee the past 10 years, has refereed amateur bouts with Soviet boxers.

“A big part of boxing instruction over there is defense,” he said. “Their top level boxers have really mastered defensive boxing. I see their lighter weight guys doing very well at the pro level here, their heavier guys I’m not so sure. Their heavyweights tend to be technique-oriented, not big hitters.

“Yakovlev, for example, is about 6-4, 220 and has a 32-inch waist. He looks like he could hit a ton, but he doesn’t.

“The Soviet kids would need a lot of gym work here, against some tough pro sparring partners. They’d need to learn the rough-and-tumble aspects of pro boxing.”

The talent pool for the Soviet boxers is enormous, the largest in the world. There are about 275,000 amateur boxers in the Soviet Union, according to USA amateur boxing federation officials. The United States has 17,000. The Soviets range from small boys at the club level to 1,500 to 2,000 in the “national class,” or boxers who have worked their way up the system and earned the right to train for the opportunity to make Soviet international teams.

Schwartz: “When you see a Soviet kid win an Olympic Games gold medal or a world championship, you’re looking at a kid who’s been involved in tremendous competition in his own country just to make his national team.”