COLUMN: Royce Feour

     The aftermath of Oscar De La Hoya's unanimous decision over Pernell Whitaker revived one of boxing's biggest myths -- the challenger has to "take" the title from the champion. That is, the challenger has to do something more than just win the fight against the champion.
      No, no, no. All the challenger has to do is win the fight. Period. By one point, if that's all it is.
      A good judge doesn't expect any more out of the challenger to win than he would the champion.
      Once the fight starts, whoever is champion doesn't mean a thing in scoring the rounds. Not a thing. Whoever wins the round, wins the round. The challenger doesn't have to be any more dominant than the champion.
      Jim Nave, the Nevada Athletic Commission's leader in assigning judges and referees, puts that point in perspective.
      The champion, after entering the ring and proudly parading his belt a few times, turns it into the organization's supervisor before the fight. Therefore, during the fight, neither fighter holds the belt.
      The champion enjoys one big advantage: If the fight comes out a draw, the champion retains his title. But that doesn't have anything to do with the actual scoring.
      The public can be excused for believing the challenger has to "take" the title from the champion, but the boxing media should know better. But trust me, not all members do.
      Even Whitaker's promoter, Dino Duva of Main Events, Inc., said De La Hoya didn't do enough to take Whitaker's World Boxing Council welterweight championship. The thing was, De La Hoya didn't have to do anything more than Whitaker. Just win the fight. Or, more precisely, just win the rounds.
      Marc Ratner, the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, definitely knows better.
      "Certainly, it has been an age-old myth," he said. "It is real simple. If we scored the fight when everything is done, and said, 'Gee, the challenger didn't do enough to win the title,' that myth would work.
      "But we don't score that way. We score each round as a separate entity. Each round is a mini-fight. There are 12 little fights. Twelve chapters in a book, you can say it that way."
      Jim Nave, the commission's leader on judges and referees, said that myth is a thing of the past.
      "We constantly tell our judges to take the red corner and the blue corner and try to make a decision on the round," he said.
      The Nevada commission discourages judges from scoring an even round. Not that the judges can't ever score an even round, but they better not do it often.
      "In my 9 1/2 years on the commission, we've never told the judges to favor the champion," Nave said. "The thing we tell everybody in boxing is we do everything we can to make the playing field level for both fighters.
      "I don't think it means anything to any of our judges or to our out-of-state judges we bring in here. We wouldn't bring in a judge who judged that way."
      Nave pointed out numerous instances in Nevada in recent years of the champion losing to the challenger in a close fight: Julio Cesar Chavez losing to Frankie Randall at the MGM Grand Garden; Evander Holyfield losing to Riddick Bowe at the Thomas & Mack Center; Bowe losing to Holyfield at Caesars Palace; and Holyfield losing to Michael Moorer at Caesars Palace.
      Ratner said he has carefully reviewed a tape of the Whitaker-De La Hoya fight and is convinced the three Nevada judges scored it for the correct fighter.
      Judges Jerry Roth and Dalby Shirley scored the fight 116-110, and judge Chuck Giampa had it 115-111. To have De La Hoya winning the fight is fine, but the margin seems high. On the other hand, they are three of the best judges in the world, and it is difficult to imagine all three having an off night.
      "Whether the scoring was wide or not, I believe De La Hoya won the fight. The aggressor won the fight," Ratner said. "It absolutely comes down to styles and what the fight fan likes. People who like defensive geniuses and fighters who slip punches like Whitaker. Those who like the aggressor and the harder puncher like De La Hoya."
     
      Royce Feour's boxing column is published Friday. He may be reached by phone at 383-0354, by fax at 383-4676 or by e-mail at Royce_Feour@lvrj.com.