BOXING / EARL GUSTKEY : Ruddock-Tyson Now Makes Little Sense

Art Miles is watching a lot of TV these days in his Inglewood living room. All day, Mike Tyson videotapes spin through his VCR, while Miles takes notes.

Miles’ heavyweight, Donovan (Razor) Ruddock, will fight Tyson on March 18 at the Mirage in Las Vegas, a bout that many in pro boxing have difficulty understanding.

Let’s say you’re Don King, Mike Tyson’s promoter. You know that Tyson, even if he fights no one over the next six months, will probably get his chance to win back the heavyweight championship next summer by fighting Evander Holyfield. That assumes Holyfield will beat George Foreman in April.

So why take a high-risk fight against Ruddock, with probably no title at stake and with everything to lose but little to gain?

“The reason they’re fighting us is that there are millions of dollars at stake for Tyson if he does beat Razor and winds up fighting Holyfield,” said Miles, who is Ruddock’s trainer.

“Let’s say the (World Boxing Council) strips Holyfield of the title for fighting Foreman instead of Tyson, and also that the WBC then designates Tyson-Ruddock for the vacant WBC title. If Tyson wins, he comes to the table for the Holyfield fight as a partial champion, and with far more leverage for the split of the purse than if he doesn’t have a title.”

Actually, many in the sport still question King’s wisdom on this one--no matter what’s at stake in future purses, which in this case is millions of dollars.

In pro boxing, managers and promoters are supposed to move fighters with great care. This means exposing him to as little risk as possible while at the same time positioning him for big-money bouts down the road.

Ruddock is not a low-risk opponent, and King is being knocked on two counts for making this fight.

First, as is maintained by Tyson’s legal but estranged manager, Bill Cayton, Tyson-Ruddock is the wrong fight at the wrong time.

“This fight is worth 20% to 25% of what it would be worth a year from now, after Mike has won the title back,” Cayton said. “I don’t believe, as many do, that it’s a dangerous fight for Mike--I think he will defeat Ruddock.”

Second, King can’t lose. It’s said that Ruddock’s promoter, Murad Muhammad, signed over five options to King, meaning King becomes Ruddock’s co-promoter should he defeat Tyson. So while King, for the first time since the early 1970s, doesn’t control at least a piece of the heavyweight championship, he does control the division’s No. 1 and No. 2 contenders.

In the meantime, Tyson filed suit in New York federal court Thursday. He is seeking $10 million in damages, and also to prevent two governing bodies, the World Boxing Assn. and the International Boxing Federation, from sanctioning the Holyfield-Foreman bout.

Miles, 54, an ex-welterweight from Oakland--and a 22-year Air Force veteran--likes his fighter’s chances.

“The one thing Razor does better than any other heavyweight during a fight is to adjust,” Miles said. “When he saw Larry Alexander go to a peek-a-boo defense, he threw hooks around his gloves and knocked him out with a left hook to the ear.”

Ruddock lived in Westwood for most of 1986, Miles said, sparring frequently at the Broadway Gym in Los Angeles.

“Razor learned a lot that year,” Miles said. “He always had the great body, the strength and the great punch. But that year in L.A., he learned how to take control of himself and the fight.”

Stephanie LaMotta is, like her father, a fighter. Jake LaMotta, one-time middleweight champion, fought and beat Sugar Ray Robinson, Fritzie Zivic and Marcel Cerdan.

His actress daughter, 31, who stays fit by lacing up gloves and working out, is faced with an opponent tougher than any he fought--multiple sclerosis.

Recently, she talked about her father and the way he was portrayed in the 1980 film, “Raging Bull.”

“I’ve been resentful of that depiction (in the film) ever since it was done,” she said.

“He never once showed himself to me to be anything other than a loving, sensitive, caring father. The film made him look like a maniac. Daddy was happy the film made him a lot of money, that it put him back in the limelight . . . but deep down, I know he was unhappy about how it made him look.”

Lost in the excitement of last week’s upset at the Forum, where unknown Rolando Pascua knocked out Humberto Gonzalez, was “new-look” Reggie Johnson’s victory over Jose DaSilva.

Johnson, a Long Beach middleweight (28-1-1) who has been knocked for being a talented boxer but not an exciting one, decided to open up on DaSilva, an outclassed Brazilian.

Johnson, who may have moved closer to a middleweight title fight against Michael Nunn, was aggressive from the opening bell and stopped DaSilva one minute into the third round.

Johnson is ranked No. 1 by one governing body, No. 2 by two others.

The May meeting between light-heavyweight champion Virgil Hill and Thomas Hearns at a Las Vegas site to be named is, after six weeks of negotiation, reportedly close to being wrapped up.

Signed contracts are in the mail, the Forum boxing staff says.

On the undercard of the pay-per-view ($24.95) show, it’s said, will be the rematch between ex-light-flyweight champion Gonzalez and his recent conqueror, Pascua. Also, junior-lightweight Jorge Paez and heavyweight Tony Tucker are on the card. The Forum plans to have Hearns headline its Jan. 28 show in Inglewood, with Hill appearing there Feb. 25, opponents to be named.

Last September, it was reported here that there would be a dramatic reduction in network TV boxing dates during 1991. NBC, for example, is going from 17 dates this year to two next year.

This week, the TV boxing calendar was slashed again. ABC boxing coordinator Bob Yalen, who had been told he had 15 dates in ‘91, is now being told he has seven that are “definite.”