Las Vegas welterweight Vargas won’t fight Ali in New York

Jessie Vargas isn't the first person who has trepidation about visiting New York.

But the Las Vegas welterweight isn't afraid of getting accosted by Minnie Mouse or Spiderman in Times Square. He's worried about getting a fair shake if he were to get in the ring with Sadam Ali.

Negotiations for a Vargas-Ali fight in December on HBO broke off Thursday, and Vargas is looking elsewhere for his next fight.

"We had some concerns about getting a fair decision in New York," Vargas said. "We'll fight Sadam Ali, but not in his hometown."

Cameron Dunkin, Vargas' manager, said he looked at the scores of Ali's last fight, when he defeated Francisco Santana at Madison Square Garden on April 25, and was troubled by what he saw. Ali, who won the World Boxing Association's International welterweight belt that night, was ahead on the scorecards 100-90, 97-93 and 97-93.

"There's no way the Santana fight was that wide," Dunkin said. "It was a 7-to-5 fight. That told me all I needed to know about Jessie fighting this guy in New York."

Vargas (26-1, nine knockouts) said he'll let Dunkin handle the negotiations for his next fight.

"I trust Cameron completely," Vargas said. "When they tell me who I'm fighting and where, I'll be there."

Dunkin said he talked to Top Rank president Todd duBoef about Vargas perhaps fighting Ruslan Provodnikov. But that's probably not going to happen, either. Dunkin said Vargas probably won't return to the ring until early next year.

"We're looking at everything," Dunkin said. "We're wide open, and Todd and I are trying to come up with something for Jessie. But it has to make sense for Jessie for us to take a fight, and fighting Ali in New York doesn't make sense. Todd understood that."

In his last fight, Vargas lost to Timothy Bradley on June 27 in a controversial finish at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. Referee Pat Russell inadvertently stopped the bout with eight seconds remaining and Bradley on wobbly legs.

* REMEMBERING DEAN — Former major league pitcher Dean Chance died last Sunday at age 74. Along with an 11-year baseball career that included winning the Cy Young Award in 1964, Chance was a boxing manager, promoter and founder and president of the International Boxing Association.

Chance was managing fighters while still active in the major leagues. Among the fighters he was associated with was heavyweight Earnie Shavers.

"He loved boxing, but he didn't need boxing to be successful," said Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler, a good friend of Chance's. "He cared about his fighters, and he was absolutely a man of his word."

Trampler said Chance had an amazing memory that served him well in boxing and other endeavors.

"He was the best gin rummy player I ever saw," Trampler said. "He remembered every card that was played. He also could tell you every pitch he ever threw, whether it was against Mickey Mantle or Reggie Jackson or whoever."

In the mid-1990s, Chance opened a gym for the IBA off Eastern Avenue and Flamingo Road that remains operational. Among the boxing greats who trained there were Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao.

"Dean was a smart guy," Trampler said. "Some people thought that because he was from Ohio that he was a rube that they could take advantage of. But Dean was no rube. He was sharper than most anyone."

* BROOK INJURED — Kell Brook, the International Boxing Federation welterweight champion, suffered an injury to his ribs sparring Thursday, and his title defense against Diego Chaves on Saturday in Sheffield, England, has been postponed.

The card won't be canceled, but Showtime no longer will televise it.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.