McCullough's out, and so is open scoring

In a devastating turn of events for Wayne McCullough, the former World Boxing Council champion was forced to withdraw from his May 8 title fight with super bantamweight champion Erik Morales at the Las Vegas Hilton.

And the promoter of that fight, Las Vegan Bob Arum, was dealt a knockout blow as well, when his proposal to use "open scoring" for the fight, as well as the other bouts on the May 8 card, was voted down by the Nevada State Athletic Commission today.

McCullough suffered what Dr. Sam Colarusso called "significant ligament and muscular injuries" to his lower back while sparring this week.

McCullough, a Las Vegas resident, had been looking forward to his first major fight here. The Irishman also misses out on a $375,000 payday by having to withdraw from the bout.

He has been replaced by Juan Carlos Ramirez.

Today at City Hall chambers, Arum lobbied the NSAC to use "open scoring" on an experimental basis.

Open scoring would result in the judges' scores being publicly posted after each round, or at four-round intervals.

But his proposal was voted down 4-0 by NSAC commissioners. Chairman Dr. Elias Ghanem did not attend today's meeting at City Hall.

"This is a disservice to boxing," Arum said angrily in front of the commission. "In a lot of ways, what you are doing is inexcusable."

Dr. James Nave, NSAC vice chairman, chastised Arum for his tone.

"I believe boxing has many problems," Nave had said earlier. "But I don't believe open scoring would correct one of them."

Added commission member Lorenzo Feritta about open scoring: "There are more negatives than positives."

Arum made a lively 30-minute presentation to the NSAC board, during which he raised his voice for emphasis several times.

"I'm not asking for this state to adopt open scoring on a permanent basis, I'm asking we do it on a trial basis for May 8," Arum said.

"I think it's absolutely essential we try this. The issue is extremely important for Nevada. Let's give this a try; we owe this to the sport of boxing to see if it works."

Three of the four commissioners would have had to vote "yes" for the proposal to pass.

Arum took a more pragmatic approach to losing a drawing card like McCullough for a major fight at the Hilton.

"What can you do?" he said. "You've got to be philosophical about it. It definitely wasn't McCullough's fault that he got hurt and he tried (very hard) to fight through it.

"The kid was distraught when he came to us and said he couldn't go on."

McCullough, 22-2, was injured when struck by a punch in the lower left side of his back. His physician, Colarusso, told him Thursday he would have to discontinue training for two or three weeks, a decision which resulted in McCullough bowing out of the fight with the 32-0 Morales.

Stepping in as the late replacement is Ramirez, who is 17-1 fighting exclusively in his native Mexico. Ramirez has had one earlier try at a title fight, losing to Luisito Espinosa last year.

"At least we have a really good replacement," Arum said, although he added that anyone who wanted a refund as the result of McCullough withdrawing "doesn't need to do anything other than ask for one."

In a related item, that same May 8 card has added a Jorge Paez vs. Augie Sanchez 10-round featherweight fight. Paez is 62-12-4, while Sanchez is 21-1 but was dropped by Top Rank last year after losing a fight.

When asked if he felt Top Rank was merely using his man as an opponent for Paez, Sanchez's trainer, Pat Barry, said "that's always a possibility. It's a reality in boxing that things like that happen. But when opportunity knocks, you have to answer the door. I believe wholeheartedly in Augie's talents and I think he has the youth and strength to beat Paez."

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