Saturday, January 10, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

FBI INVESTIGATION: Top Rank: 'Nothing to hide'

Promoter Arum quiet about raid; probe eyes fight fixes, other crimes

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Bob Arum Top Rank chairman, boxing promoter mum after FBI raid of company's office

Top Rank Inc. chairman and boxing promoter Bob Arum went into seclusion Friday, declining to answer questions about the FBI raid carried out at his office Tuesday.

Sig Rogich, whose consulting firm, Rogich Communications, was hired to represent Arum, said the 72-year-old promoter was "incredulous" about the raid. Rogich said Arum "seems as perplexed as anyone by what's gone on, but he knows he has nothing to hide."

Arum huddled for hours Friday with attorney Richard Wright and Rogich after Arum returned from a vacation to South Africa. Arum did not speak to reporters, but his company issued a statement that said in part, "Top Rank has done nothing wrong."

The FBI confirmed the raid was carried out as part of a joint investigation with the New York City police, but both refused to discuss why agents seized computers, videotapes, boxing contracts, financial records and medical records from Top Rank's office at 3980 Howard Hughes Parkway.

A law enforcement source familiar with the case said the investigation is focusing on fixed fights and organized crime activity not necessarily related to boxing.

Though the New York Daily News reported in Friday's editions that investigators have uncovered evidence that the Oscar De La Hoya-Shane Mosley fight on Sept. 13 at the MGM Grand may have been fixed, no evidence surfaced to support that claim.

At a news conference with Mosley's promoter Gary Shaw, the boxer's attorney Judd Burstein called the Daily News story "ridiculously untrue." He said neither he nor Mosley had been contacted by investigators.

An MGM Grand spokesman said Friday there were no unusual betting patterns that would have alerted sports book personnel to a fix. When the Arizona State basketball point-shaving scandal broke in 1994, it was Nevada bookmakers who noticed betting irregularities and notified authorities.

However, sources said the investigation is interested in whether an April 27, 2002, bout promoted by Top Rank in Anaheim, Calif., between Joey Torres and Perry Williams was fixed. Torres, in his professional debut a week shy of his 42nd birthday after having served more than 20 years in prison on a murder conviction, was knocked down only seconds into the fight.

Torres got up and stumbled around the ring, but referee Raul Caiz Jr. let the bout continue. Williams threw few punches the rest of the round, then in the second round, he went down on a seemingly harmless punch from Torres and didn't get up.

The California Athletic Commission investigated the bout and determined there was no fix.

"People don't realize how bad these two fighters were," said Dean Lohuis, the commission's chief inspector. "When Williams hit Torres and (knocked him) down, he was almost shocked. When you know you can't fight and come in knowing you're just an opponent, you're almost shocked when something like that happens. It didn't look good, but I don't think there was anything there, nor has anybody contacted us that I know of."

At the commission's June 12, 2002, meeting in Los Angeles, chairman Van Gordon Sauter called the bout "a disgrace," and said it "was a very embarrassing contest." He said he was not satisfied with the investigation, but no further action was taken.