Arguello had so-so luck here
The late Alexis Arguello's success as a champion boxer is undisputed. And while Las Vegas played a part in Arguello's Hall of Fame career, it also was the scene of a couple of his toughest defeats.
Arguello, who was found dead Wednesday in his home in Managua, Nicaragua, was 82-8 with 65 knockouts. But one of his biggest losses was in 1983 to Aaron Pryor at Caesars Palace in a rematch of their brutal 1982 bout in Miami. Arguello was looking to avenge his 14th-round loss to Pryor at the Orange Bowl and was hoping a change of scene to Las Vegas, where Arguello had won all five of his previous bouts, would help turn the tables.
It wasn't to be. Arguello was knocked out in the 10th round -- his luck in Sin City had run out. He would fight one more time in Las Vegas, and that also ended badly for him with Scott Walker taking a 10-round unanimous decision on Jan. 21, 1995, at Arizona Charlie's. It was Arguello's final professional fight.
All told, Arguello fought seven times in Las Vegas at four venues, including the Showboat and the Aladdin.
• UNFITTING TRIBUTE -- The Canadian Football League isn't thrilled with Arland Bruce's tribute to Michael Jackson, as the CFL is reviewing the Toronto receiver's touchdown celebration after scoring in Wednesday's 30-17 victory against Hamilton.
Following his TD that put Toronto up 6-0, Bruce removed his helmet, shoulder pads and uniform top and laid down in the end zone. Bruce said he was honoring Jackson's memory by pretending to be buried. He received two objectionable conduct penalties.
"I made the mistake of telling him in camp that once he got to the end zone, I didn't care what he did," Argonauts coach Bart Andrus said.
• SOCCER SNITCH -- A former captain of Romania's national soccer team said he was an informer for the country's secret police during the regime of the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
The admission by Gheorghe "Gica" Popescu came three days after he denied the allegations, calling a newspaper report that he was an informant a "big lie."
In an interview with the newspaper Evenimentul Zilei on Thursday, Popescu, 41, said he wrote four notes informing on teammates and other colleagues while playing at Universitatea Craiova. The newspaper Adevarul reported Monday that Popescu had been an informant from 1986 until the regime was toppled three years later.
When the allegations surfaced Monday, Popescu said he signed a document in 1985 promising only to "defend the national interests." In Thursday's telephone interview, he defended his actions.
"Even if I wrote notes, I wrote good things," he said. "I praised people."
During Ceausescu's rule, the Securitate relied on an army of 700,000 informants in a country of 22 million. The security services kept tabs on Romania's athletes, and some players in international competitions reportedly were asked to share details of conversations with foreigners.
COMPILED BY STEVE CARP LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
