Thursday, July 27, 2000 | 9:48 a.m.
Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.
Miffed that his man took a fight without his approval and worried that his head isn't in the right place, trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad convinced James Crayton to withdraw from his scheduled main event Friday at the Orleans.
Crayton, of Las Vegas, had been slated to meet Juan Prado in a 10-round fight at 135 pounds. But neither man will appear on the show.
"The fight's off because James has lots of personal problems he needs to address," Muhammad said. "I don't want him out there if his head isn't screwed on right. He's not ready to fight."
The Orleans will improvise and has elevated a companion fight, Paulino Avitia vs. Andrew Tsurkan, into its top spot.
Muhammad and Crayton were at odds after Crayton quietly took a May 25 fight in Argentina. He was there serving as a sparring partner for a Freddie Norwood title defense and he took a fight with Claudio Martinet to fill out the undercard.
Martinet won the bout, handing Crayton a second consecutive loss and lowering his record to 31-13-2.
"I told him I didn't want him fighting down there and then he takes one and loses," Muhammad said. "I was angry and very disappointed in him. I never even would have known about the fight if I hadn't seen it surfing the web.
"I've been in this game long enough to know what happens in the other guy's hometown. He should have known that, too."
The loss to Martinet followed one to Antonio Diaz and puts Crayton, at the age of 30, in a precarious position. Is he still a viable contender or is he headed toward journeyman's status?
"He doesn't need to become an opponent," Muhammad said. "I don't need it either. If that's what he's going to be, he should just retire."
With Crayton vs. Prado off, bantamweights Avitia (12-0 with 11 knockouts) and Tsurkan (9-0 with seven KOs) will step into the spotlight. This will be Avitia's first fight outside of his native Mexico, while Tsurkan is a Russian who has fought exclusively in America. Neither man has a win over a recognizable opponent.
Also scheduled: Tye Fields, 11-0, vs. Curtis McDorman, 4-0, six rounds, heavyweights; Limmie Young, 11-2, vs. Carl Cockerham, 8-3, six rounds, middleweights; and Arthur Petrosyan, 5-0, vs. Marco Aruaz, 2-1-1, six rounds, junior lightweights. First bell is 7 p.m.
Homansky, 50, will have to surrender his ringside physician duties to take the commission post.
Fertitta, 30, resigned from the NSAC after assuming a greater role with his family's Station Casinos chain. He is also president and CEO of Fertitta Enterprises, a private investment firm. He had been on the athletic commission for three years.
Homansky is chief of staff at Valley Hospital and has worked as a ringside physician since 1980. "His expertise, his passion and his dedication for the sport of boxing will serve the commission well," Gov. Kenny Guinn said in a prepared statement.
* NO PURSE BID: A purse bid that had been scheduled for Monday was averted and Main Events has the promotional rights to the Fernando Vargas vs. Ross Thompson junior middleweight title fight that will be held Aug. 26 at Mandalay Bay.
Main Events and Don King Productions were scheduled to participate in the purse bid, but Main Events reached an agreement with King and will promote the bout.
Vargas is the IBF champion at 154 pounds and is 19-0.
Thompson, a former Las Vegan, is the mandatory challenger and is 24-3-1.
Raul Frank (23-3-1) and Vernon Forrest (31-0) top the undercard and will fight for the IBF welterweight title that Felix Trinidad vacated earlier this year.
Tickets are on sale and are priced from $25 to $250.
* TYSON-IZON: David Izon had been training for a Saturday fight with Rocky Phillips in Tunica, Miss., until his handlers pulled him off that card and handed him some tapes of Mike Tyson. Now a Tyson vs. Izon fight is close to fruition, with a Michigan site and an early September or October date.
Dates of Sept. 8, Sept. 9 and Oct. 7 are being discussed. As for the site, everything from Comerica Park and Joe Louis Arena in Detroit and the Silverdome in Pontiac are being discussed. Showtime will televise.
Izon is 26-3 against marginal competition. Tyson is 48-3.
Main Events promoter Gary Shaw says "we've passed the 50-50 mark" when discussing the likelihood of a Felix Trinidad vs. Fernado Vargas fight for November in Las Vegas. ... Former IBF cruiserweight champion Arthur Williams of Las Vegas has taken an Aug. 10 fight in Biloxi, Miss. It will be his first fight since being sidelined by Hepatitis B. "My health is 100 percent and I'm at about 80 percent in terms of training," he said this week. "I'll be 100 percent by fight time. I don't take anyone lightly." Williams says he has a contractual right to a rematch with current champ Vassiliy Jirov, although negotiations have slowed. "He'd better fight me sometime soon or I'm going to take somebody to court," Williams promised. ... Caesars Tahoe has a Saturday card featuring former bantamweight champ Jorge Eliecer Julio (42-2) and Israel Vazquez (21-2) in the main ev ent. The semi-main event offers light heavyweights Julio Gonzalez (23-0) and Manuel Verde (15-2).
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