COLUMN: Barbara Robinson

     I hope boxing fans are feeling good. Many are saying Mike Tyson got his just desserts.
      Of course, it doesn't matter that Tyson got the harshest punishment ever given in the United States for biting.
      It doesn't matter that biting isn't that rare in boxing -- in Massachusetts a boxer who bit another boxer was given a three-month suspension; the second time he bit another fighter he was given a year's suspension. World Heavyweight Champion Evander Holyfield also bit a boxer and has failed to apologize. I was disappointed that during the ensuing media blitz Holyfield never acknowledged that he too had lost control while boxing, had bitten an opponent and never offered his opponent an apology.
      I don't like boxing. I don't understand how it can be called a sport. The object of professional boxing is to knock your opponent out. When a boxer is knocked out he has suffered a brain hemorrhage. Last year a boxer died after a fight here in Las Vegas. I don't understand why boxing fans got so upset because a man who was being paid $30 million to cause his opponent's brain to hemorrhage chose instead to give him an ear hemorrhage. Amateur boxers wear helmets to reduce the number of knockouts or brain hemorrhages. If The World Boxing Association were really concerned with a boxer's ears and brain, helmets would be the way to go.
      I can't understand why people who paid up to $50 to see a Don King Production want their money back. These people got to see history being made. They definitely got to see a King production. What's their problem?
      The Nevada Athletic Commission has saved face but did very little to help Tyson. I have never seen an African American man publicly agree to counseling. The commission could have pleased many of us by mandating less punishment and more psychiatric therapy. That might have helped a man who lacks a true mother/father or family experience. The commission missed an opportunity to help someone who admits he has problems.
      It was cute listening to Marc Ratner, the executive director of the commission, say that no man is bigger than the sport, and that although Tyson is a big draw in Las Vegas, the commission had to deal with issues bigger than money. But the economic ramifications could be real. Tyson fought two to three times a year. Not only did he fill up our hotels, the crowds that followed him loved to gamble and shop. Now that Tyson is out of commission for at least a year tourism officials and hotels have to figure out some other source of entertainment that will fill all of these rooms. Las Vegas' retail outlets know that Tyson fights have bettered their bottom line. Just talk to the many stores left with excess merchandise after the cancellation of the last Tyson-Holyfield fight.
      Tourism has been soft this summer. Many Las Vegas hotels have more empty rooms than usual. Hotels aren't filling up on Friday as they previously did. Traffic congestion on the highway from Los Angeles has caused the arrival and departure patterns at hotels to change. Competition is keener. Customers book late and buy less. I don't think threatening Don King with punishment if he does business with Mike, or passing a law that allow the Nevada Athletic Commission to take all of a fighter's purse, will help our ability to attract boxing to our tourist economy. Mississippi, New Jersey, Mexico and many foreign countries with gaming would love to replace Las Vegas as the premier boxing venue. Remember, Don King, the king of international fight promotion, brought us the "Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire and the "Thriller in Manila" in the Philippines.
      The director of sales for a hotel said, "It would be sad if Las Vegas lost the boxing industry because of our need for retribution." Bottom line: Show Las Vegas the money.
     
     Barbara Robinson is a retired attorney living in Las Vegas. Her column appears every other Friday.