/ 17 September 2003

Boxing commission to hear scoring charges

Nevada boxing officials want promoter Bob Arum to back up his allegations about the scoring in the Oscar de La Hoya/Shane Mosley fight.

Commission legal counsel Keith Kizer said on Tuesday that Arum will be sent a letter inviting him to appear before the commission and formally lay out his charges of misconduct in the scoring of the fight, which Mosley won by unanimous decision last Saturday night.

”He has made some serious allegations. We want to hear from our licensees, and if they have a problem we want to know,” Kizer said.

Attorneys for Mosley also want Arum before the commission — for different reasons.

A letter sent to the commission on Tuesday by attorney Judd Burstein asks for a disciplinary hearing against Arum for making an ”irresponsible attack upon the integrity of the commission” in comments made following the fight.

”If Messrs Arum and De la Hoya have proof of misconduct, they should come forward with it,” Burstein said. ”But if, as we believe to be the case, they are merely engaged in a disingenuous effort to avoid admitting that Mr De la Hoya lost fair and square, there should be consequences.”

Nevada regulations allow for disciplinary actions against anyone holding a license who ”reflects discredit to unarmed combat”.

Arum claimed on Monday that there was misconduct by a commission member in helping pick the judges who worked the title fight. — Sapa-AP

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