European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 13, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday. February 13, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary sleaze remains King of the ring b Wallace Matthews news Day it is. In the words of my Friend Anthony Carter Paige the sports editor of new York newspaper the City Sun. Like cockroaches scattering in the Bright  that is what All the pathetic and transparent efforts of Don King. Jose Sulci Man and Gilb no Man do a to preserve Mike Tyson s title look like. Do Lac really expect us to believe in opposition to what our own eyes have seen that Tyson did t gel his Bull kicked by busier Douglas saturday night in Tokyo .1 or that hesitation in a referee s count might have changed the outcome of a bout in which Tyson was dominated exposed and -5fin Jelv knocked out Don King apparently they do. Because they operate and always have operated out of arrogance and contempt and greed and just Plain stupidity. And because most people shrug their shoulders and say it s boxing they have gotten away with it. Time and again. Well they should not getaway with it this time. If. Somehow. King Sulaiman. Morido a and the rest can justify taking  title away from Douglas then they should be drummed out of the business once and for All. For the uninitiated. Sulaiman is the president of the world boning Council a Mexico City based outfit existing solely it seems to collect exorbitant Sanction ing fees from boxers in Exchange for cheap Green Vinyl and plastic title belts and to strip fighters who do not play by their rules. More often than not. Fighters pro Moi cd to Don King arc Given preferential treatment when it comes to rankings and other trivialities. Mendoza is the president of the world boxing association based in Maracay. Venezuela. The Aba s of lenses arc similar it once stripped its middleweight Champion. Sumbu Kalambayi. For signing to fight inter National boxing federation Champion Michael Nunn and set up a tight Between two Kalambayi victims. Mike Mccallum and Scrol Graham to decide his Suc Cessor. Lately the Aba has followed the wac around like a Puppy dog in an Effort to double team and crush the United slates based International boxing federation. Not surprisingly the if is the Only Organiza Tion that has stood up and said. Enough of this non sense. Buster Douglas is the  and that is what All of them should be saying today Sulaiman and Mendoza and King who of course has stranglehold on Tyson. But without a title Tyson is just another Street thug with a big food Bill and King docs not need any More of those on his payroll. So. First and Foremost King must make sure he gets Tyson Back his title. Or at least another shot at it and soon. And that is where the problem comes in. Under the rules of the Aba and wac re matches arc prohibited. This is a safeguard against champions and Chal lengers Ping longing a title Back and Forth with fixed fights. But both the wac and the Aba have these built in loopholes in the Aba. It is the Infa Mous Rule 19" and in the wac it is the championship  each in essence says when you need to get something done disregard All other  what happened in the immediate aftermath of Douglas Victory is this after King finished grinning his Stark s Grin behind Douglas in the Hob pos fight interview he had one of his latin american Hench men. Yamil Chad Herd Sulaiman Mendoza and their lieutenants into a room in the bowels of the Tokyo dome. He bombarded them with a patented two hour Don King tirade in the course of which King can convince most pc pc to Trade their children for a Sac of Rice. Not surprisingly. King s audience came away impressed. I d like to recognize my Misiac said referee Octavio Cyran of Mexico. With Mendoza nodding along. Sulaiman said there will be no Champion before a meeting on feb. 20."privately, Sulaiman told a Friend. You must Sec it my Way. We have to protect our fighters. There were two knockouts  reminded of the famous 1927 Long count involving Jack dumps by and Gene Tunney thai resulted in Tunney. Beneficiary of the Long count winning the fight he said a totally different  meaning probably that dumps by was not promoted by Don King. A source associated with one of the ratings organizations who is disgusted by the affair but must remain Anonymous said King will Stop at nothing to hold onto Tyson s title. You Don t think he s going to give up his meal ticket that easily. He s resourceful indefatigable and impossible to  King s plan is undoubtedly to get the Aba and wac to declare the bout no contest vacate the title and order an immediate rematch promoted of course by Don King who now holds promotional rights to both fighters. In order to get his shot at Tyson. Douglas was forced to sign Over the right to promote his next three bouts to d. King. That is Why when the tearful Defeated Tyson was being led from the ring. King was not in the procession. He was behind Douglas smiling for the cameras. The Man who likes to say. I must go where the wild Goose goes knew exactly where to go As soon As Tyson s Goose was cooked. And he knows where to go now that he needs a favor to his to o puppets Sulaiman and Mendo a. The Blench from this affair is so Strong that even King s rival. Bob arum known to Many As the Snake can come out smelling Good from it. This could have been a Cinderella Story a great great night for  arum said. Bui King and these two Noriegas have to in Eccl their slay. Slimy politics Ami Dothe most ludicrous preposterous thing. Nobody will accept this in any conceivable  hut everybody has and enough limes that King. Sulci Man and Mcindo a Are betting they will accept in again. Long count was t Douglas fault a Dave Anderson the new York times whatever the boxing politicians eventually decree. James bus Ter Douglas is the boxing Public s new world heavyweight Champion. Yes. He apparently got a wrong count and a Long count from the referee during his Knockdown by Mike Tyson in the eighth round of their Tok o title bout. But that was the referee s fault not his. And in thai situation the fighter is not responsible for the referee s mis Jakc. During any round. The referee is in charge. Nol the Knockdown . And certainly not the world boxing Council and world boxing association dark suits who sunday put the heavyweight title in limbo pending a review of Doug Las s convincing loth round knockout of the no longer undisputed undefeated and unconquerable Champion. Octavio Cyran Sanchez the mexican referee has acknowledged his mistake in relaying the Knockdown timekeeper s count. In a videotape seen at the Home Box office studios sunday the referee count is nearly 2 seconds behind that of the Knockdown . Who is Visi ble in the background wearing White gloves. As the referee counted  for example the timekeeper was about to Flash four fingers. Douglas meanwhile was listening to the numbers Cyran was shouting Only inches away. When the referee yelled.  Douglas was on his feet. Not wobbling. Not tottering. Firmly on his feet. Even though Douglas was t on his feel until the timekeeper s count had reached at least 12. He was up before the referee counted to 10. In boxing history Only the referee s count is what counts. Jack dumps by Learned that lesson when Gene Tunney got a Long count reported to have been anywhere from 14 to 18 seconds in their 1927 title bout Al Chicago s Soldier Field. Referee Dave Barry did t begin the count until Dempsey had retreated to a Neutral Corner. Tunney arose and was eventually awarded a 10-round decision thereby re Taining the title he won from Dempsey the year before in Philadelphia. The count had already started when i was pushed toward a Neutral Corner having already lost valuable seconds dumps by wrote in his autobiography. I was the Jungle fighter so set in byways i could t accept new conditions. I was used to standing Over my opponents to make sure that when i pounded them Down they stayed Down. The count stopped and started again Al one. Al nine. Tunney was  another Long count occurred in Muhammad Ali s first round knockout of Sonny Liston in 1965 in Lewiston Maine. When referee Jersey Joe Walcott became confused the timekeeper Nat Fleischer yelled that Liston had not beaten the 10 count. With Liston on his feet in a Clinch Walcott stopped the fight some 17 seconds after the Knockdown. Fleischer was later scolded for usurp ing Walcott s authority. As Douglas went Down from Tyson s right uppercut he slammed his left Glove to the Canvas apparently in disgust after having dominated Tyson so completely. He appeared to know what was going on. When the referee yelled seven he reassembled himself and slowly but surely arose. Had the referee s seven been in sync with the timekeeper s count Douglas appeared Able 10 beat the count. I was t really Hurt Douglas said later. When i looked up the count was at six. 1 got up Between seven and eight. I clearly heard  perhaps a Boxer s first commandment is when knocked Down listen for the referee s count and watch his fingers. When knocked Down a Boxer can t be expected to search for the timekeeper. As Long As Douglas got up before the referee counted  he was entitled to continue. Even though the referee made a mis make thai was and is Tyson s problem not Douglas s problem. Wisely and fairly International Box ing federation president Bob Lee has ruled that Douglas is now recognized by that organization As the world heavy weight Champion. Both the wac and the Aba will con Vene soon to Rule on their shares of the heavyweight title. If either organization were to Rule a no decision or worse were to re verse the outcome in Tyson s favor the action would be boxing s most Memora ble miscarriage of Justice. Also its most aromatic. Don King s personal Brand of controversial Cologne permeated the scene. In boxing a promoter is supposed to be Neutral but in sitting at Tyson s Side Sun Day during Tyson s complaint King resembled the manager he is accused of  part of King s machinations in order for Douglas to gel a title shot the 29-year-old Journeyman heavyweight had to Grant options on his title fights if he won to King s promotional firm. King is also whispered to have hypnotized both the wac and the Aba in recent years into agreeing to do whatever the pro molar wished. In this situation. King will surely be arguing that Tyson deserves to keep his  incredibly if Tyson somehow had survived 12 rounds he might have retained the title on a decision. In checking the scr cards of two judges against the opinions of most peo possible Champ Buster Douglas. Belt May go Back pie who saw the Boul Here on Home Box office Cable television. Tyson s Rcpt Lalion seemed to be on display instead of his skill. Going into the 10th round judge Ken Morita of Japan actually had Tyson ahead in Points. 87-86. While Masakazu Uchida also of Japan had it even 86 86.the Only judge who saw it the Way most people did was Larry Rozadilla of los Angeles who had Douglas far ahead 88-82. On my television card Douglas was in command 88-84, in Points and 6 2-1 in rounds. In the 10th round Buster Douglas unloaded a barrage of nine unanswered punches notably a crunching right uppercut and a lethal left Hook. Mike Tyson sagged to the Canvas his mouthpiece Askew. This time the Hob videotape showed that the dethrone Champion was t counted out until 14 seconds later. Don King did t complain about that