The United States Boxing Championships, a tournament designed to establish an American champion in every weight division, was launched with much hoopla last January from a ring set up on the flight deck of the Navy carrier Lexington (TIME, Jan. 31). Behind the extravaganza were Superpromoter Don King, the orchestrator of Muhammad Ali's bouts in Zaïre and Manila; Roone Arledge and ABC Sports, the tourney's bankrollers and broadcasters; Ring magazine, the "Bible of Boxing," which rated the worthiness of the tournament boxers; and New York State Boxing Commissioner James Farley Jr., who lent the championships his name. Now. four months and five elimination rounds after its dramatic inaugural, the tournament has been suspended, careers are in jeopardy, a grand jury is investigating charges of kickbacks and falsification of fighters' records has been revealed.
Phantom Fights. The tournament first went awry during the second series of bouts at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis when Heavyweight Scott LeDoux, enraged over the judges' decision against him, charged into ABC's camera range and unleashed a barrage of kicks at Winner Johnny Boudreaux, who was being interviewed by Howard Cosell. During the melee, Cosell's hairpiece came unstuck—and so did the tournament. LeDoux later charged fix, claiming that Boudreaux was among a stable of fighters managed by King associates. Paddy Flood and Al Braverman. According to LeDoux, their pugs had a lock on the championships, receiving preferential booking in the tournament and the special favors of judges. After the fight, a federal grand jury was convened in Baltimore to investigate the charges. Indictments are expected.
King and ABC denied any favoritism, however, and cards were televised on four more weekends. Then the spotlight shifted to Ring, the most respected publication in boxing. Ring's rankings of fighters in every weight division have been boxing's heretofore unchallenged guidelines. ABC learned that the fighters' records listed in Ring were doctored to establish eligibility for booking in the King tournament. One boxer, Ike Fluellen, a Bellaire, Texas, policeman who had not fought in over a year, mysteriously found himself credited with wins in two phantom bouts held in Mexico. According to Fluellen, he was advised to switch managers in exchange for ranking and a tourney invitation. In all, the records of eleven fighters were misrepresented or falsified in the 1977 Ring ratings. Ring Editor Nat Loubet's unpersuasive defense: the magazine was dependent on unverifiable information supplied by managers.
The revelations were too much for ABC Sports and Arledge, who has recently been touted as the next head of news operations for the network. The network canceled the seventh series of bouts—scheduled to be fought in Miami Beach—stopped the tournament, and hired a special investigator to delve into the charges. Rival CBS was caught in the backlash. After promoters set up an embarrassing mismatch for CBS's boxing series, both networks—wary of viewer confidence in the sport—suspended future bouts. ABC hopes to clean house and resume the telecasts, but Don King's tourney and the future of boxing on television may be down for the full count. And ring insiders fear that there may be further revelations, involving the sports press and others around King, before the tawdry saga is over.