Thursday, April 22, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

King misses out on Toney

Heavyweight decides to stay with Goossen

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Promoter Don King has locked up nearly every heavyweight he can find in his ongoing quest to control boxing's premier division.

King has promotional agreements with IBF champion Chris Byrd, WBA champion John Ruiz and WBO champion Lamon Brewster.

In addition, King has made overtures to Corrie Sanders, who fights Vitali Klitschko on Saturday in Los Angeles for the WBC title.

King also re-signed former undisputed champion Evander Holyfield and is pursuing Andrew Golota, who fought to a draw with Byrd on Saturday in New York.

But one King wanted desperately has gotten away. James Toney, who became a factor in the heavyweight division with his ninth-round stoppage of Holyfield in October at Mandalay Bay, patched up differences with promoter Dan Goossen and will fulfill the remainder of his contract, through August 2007.

Toney couldn't be reached, but he told the Los Angeles Daily News that he and Goossen were again on even footing.

"Me and Dan are cool," Toney, the 2003 Fighter of the Year, told the newspaper. "Things got put together right. We're still together. I'm just running my own show now."

On Wednesday, a reserved Goossen confirmed only that he will continue to work with Toney.

Toney filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection last month, a move boxing insiders said was designed to get him out of his contract with Goossen and to allow him to sign with King.

Toney is still limping from surgery in January to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon. Goossen said surgeon Tony Daly told him Toney could resume training the second week in May and should be cleared to fight six to eight weeks after that.

• QUICK RETURN? -- King wants to match Zab Judah against Jose Rivera on the undercard of the May 15 light heavyweight title bout between Roy Jones Jr. and Antonio Tarver at Mandalay Bay.

Judah lost a unanimous decision to Cory Spinks for the undisputed welterweight title on April 10.

Rivera was supposed to have fought Ricardo Mayorga on Saturday in New York, but Mayorga failed to make weight, missing the 147-pound limit by 6 1/2 pounds. Mayorga instead fought and beat Eric Mitchell.

Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, said he had no problem approving the Judah-Rivera fight. However, commission rules require a fighter to get its approval if he fought more than 10 rounds and wants to fight again in less than 45 days.

• GOOD NUMBER -- NBC resumed its Saturday boxing series and will feature featherweights Rocky Juarez and Joe Morales this week. Last week's show, featuring Juan Diaz, received a 2.3 rating in Las Vegas, the second-highest number in the country.

• GOOD FIGHT -- Top Rank vice president Todd duBoef said an intriguing featherweight fight between former world champions Marco Antonio Barrera and Paulie Ayala has been made. He said the bout will be televised on HBO, either on June 19 or June 26, and likely will be in Las Vegas.

The co-feature, duBoef said, will be a middleweight fight featuring hot prospect Jermain Taylor.