Columnist Ron Kantowski: California columnist's shot was a low blow

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4088.

If you live here long enough, you'll wind up defending Las Vegas' honor. Like learning to tip well, it's just something we learn to do.

So this week, it's noted Long Beach Press-Telegram columnist Doug Krikorian who needs to be straightened out.

In the aftermath of the exciting Shane Mosley-Oscar De La Hoya bout last Saturday in his backyard, Krikorian blasted judge Marty Sammon, who scored the fight 115-113 for De La Hoya. Well, I'm with him there, as my highly unofficial scorecard read 116-112 for Mosley (before somebody at the bar spilled a Bud on it).

Krikorian went on to call Sammon an "imbecile" who should never be allowed to judge a fight again. He said there was no way, under any circumstances, that De La Hoya could beat Mosley in a rematch.

Unless the rematch were here.

"Actually, I'm wrong," Krikorian wrote. "Oscar De La Hoya could well beat Sugar Shane Mosley in Las Vegas, where (De La Hoya's promoter) Bob Arum is a dominant figure and where the officials almost always dutifully follow his cue (except, of course, in the De La Hoya-Trinidad fight where Don King was involved, too)."

That's where I disagree.

Bob Arum is a popular figure around town, maybe even semi-respected (especially in comparison to King). But I wouldn't call him a dominant figure. Steve Wynn is a dominant figure. Jerry Tarkanian was a dominant figure. Arum is just a familiar face who (to his credit) is easy to get a hold of.

I will grant that De La Hoya's decision victories here over Pernell Whitaker and Ike Quartey were open to interpretation. But they were not the product of outrageous scoring.

One could even reason that given those two close decisions, the judges (at least subconsciously) might have leaned the other way just a wee bit in scoring the De La Hoya-Trinidad fight. Many ringside observers without a vested (or betting) interest in either man had De La Hoya winning that one, his dubious tactics in the final rounds, when he chose to run and hide, notwithstanding.

There also was the inference, not so much by Krikorian but by others in the boxing media, that Mosley wouldn't get a fair shake here because De La Hoya means too much to the local economy.

As they said in Scotland last week, that's rubbish. De La Hoya means nothing to the local economy.

When Mosley and De La Hoya fought in LA, did anybody hear the slot machines go silent? Did they stop dealing 21? Did the showrooms go dark?

Didn't think so.

The site is divided into five areas: Major League Baseball, NBA, NFL, NHL -- and Fresno State.

Former Rebel J.R. Rider (who starred here under Rollie Massimino) may be the next to break out into his own category, according to a Sports Illustrated story.

"The 1997-98 Fresno State basketball team is the all-time Cracksmoker All-Stars," said site creator Chris Burke of college basketball's World of Outlaws, coached by UNLV icon Jerry Tarkanian.

"Our primary sources are the Internet, national newspapers and the Fresno Bee."

It should be noted that the site doesn't exactly practice fair play. In the event the players in question are cleared of charges, it's hard (if not impossible) to find a link that says as much.

* AROUND THE HORN: Leftover from the Stanley Cup playoffs: New Jersey's Claude Lemieux, noting the captain's "C" on the sweater of the Flyers' Eric Desjardins, said in all seriousness, "What's the C for -- selfish?" ... Time to check the Gatorade for illegal agents. Jared Lorenzen, the new starting quarterback at the University of Kentucky, stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 270 pounds. ... Translation of a blunt headline in a German newspaper following the national soccer team's two-and-out performance in the Euro 2000 championships: "You are the soccer idiots of Europe! Germany is ashamed of you!" ... Tasha Schwikert, the 15-year-old gymnastics sensation from Las Vegas, will be one of 14 teenage Olympic hopefuls profiled on "Dream Teens" on MSNBC. The series will air Sept. 18-29 from noon-2 p.m. PDT. ... Former UNLV QB Jon Denton was released Monday by the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos.

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