THERE is a storm brewing in Memphis, one that threatens to compromise whatever integrity the June 8 Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson heavyweight title bout would have been able to preserve.
It involves neither of the fighters, but the man whose job it is to control them or send them to the showers.
By any standard, Tyson and Lewis are two killer sharks.
And the Tennessee Athletic Commission, the goldfish bowl that landed this whale of a bout, wants to throw a guppy in between them.
His name is Bill Clancy, and although he may someday develop into a fine referee, he is not even remotely qualified to work a bout of this magnitude.
In what other sport could we even be having this discussion?
In the Super Bowl, the World Series and the NBA Finals, it is generally agreed that the best and most experienced officials get the gig. In boxing, however, competence has nothing to do with it. What you know takes a back seat to who you know.
And in order to get work, you’ve got to work for the right people.
Yet, with the retirement and subsequent illness of Mills Lane, the death of Mitch Halpern and the devaluing of Arthur Mercante Jr., boxing has only a handful of referees to draw upon, and no more than two or three who are truly qualified.
Then, you’ve got to come up with one that both sides agree on.
Incredibly, Tyson and Lewis are in agreement on not one, but two possible referees for their bout.
One is Joe Cortez, probably the best and most experienced referee currently working.
The other is Eddie Cotton, who probably is the best and most experienced referee not currently being blackballed by Jose Sulaiman.
So why is Tennessee pushing so hard for Clancy, whose biggest fight, by his own admission, was a 1999 fight between Larry Holmes and Bonecrusher Smith for the Geriatrics Heavyweight Title at Viagra Falls?
I can’t tell you because the man making the call for the commission, Tommy Patrick, did not return my phone calls yesterday.
“For the life of me, I can’t understand it,” a member of the Lewis camp said. “But if they insist on Clancy, I’m telling you neither fighter will go into the ring.”
The furor over Clancy is nothing personal.
It is just that each side knows its man will have a tough enough time with his opponent.
They don’t want to have to fight the ref, too. They want a guy who can’t be bullied, who will neither jump the gun nor freeze up in the violence-charged atmosphere.
The assigning of Cortez, who has worked a half-dozen fights with each fighter, including the Lewis KO of Hasim Rahman in November that made all this possible, should be a no-brainer.
But Sulaiman, the dictator of the boxing banana republic known as the WBC, has deemed Cortez referee non grata for accepting work from the WBA and IBF and WBO to help defray whopping medical expenses involving his wife and daughter.
That is a WBC no-no. So Jose Sulaiman, boxing benefactor and humanitarian, cut Joe Cortez off like a hangnail.
That left Cotton, Jay Nady of Las Vegas and Laurence Cole of Dallas on the very short list.
Only Cotton drew no objections from either camp.
At 6-foot-4, 245 pounds, Eddie Cotton is no cotton candy.
He has refereed in the New Jersey prison system and, for the past 10 years, in the pros.
You may remember him for sending Andrew Golota to his room in the ninth round of his rematch with Riddick Bowe, even though Golota was way ahead on the cards, rioters be damned.
He may not be the best man for the job, but he could very well be the second-best.
That should be good enough for any boxing commission, especially one as loose and lucky as the one that landed this fight.
But then, why should Tennessee be expected to do something that boxing has never been able to do?
Namely, stay the hell out of its own way.