‘World Series of Boxing’ Will Have Its Share of Players and Promoters

NEW YORK —  Boxing promoter Don King was the lone dinner guest at the home of HBO executive Seth Abraham about three months ago when the idea was born for a series of fights that would lead to a single heavyweight champion.

But one of King’s rival promoters, Butch Lewis, also had his finger in a very sweet pie when an agreement for seven fights on HBO was signed Jan. 15 in Atlanta by King, Lewis and Bob Greenway, the cable television company’s vice president for sports programming.

The value of the package is in the neighborhood of $20 million, said Abraham, senior vice president for program operations and sports.

There already has been at least one report that Lewis would pull out of the deal to promote a rich, closed-circuit televised defense of the International Boxing Federation title by Michael Spinks against Gerry Cooney. Lewis not only promotes Spinks, but is his adviser.

“I signed a deal memorandum with HBO to agree to agree,” Lewis said. “We’re working feverishly to have all the formal contracts drawn up. I’m very optimistic that all the players will come together.”

“Unequivocally, we have a signed deal,” Abraham said.

He said the document signed by King, Lewis and Greenway was not on the “back of a napkin,” but an eight-page deal memorandum that summarized all the points. It will take weeks for attorneys to draw up formal contracts, Abraham added.

King is tied to Pinklon Thomas, the World Boxing Council champion; Tim Witherspoon, the World Boxing Assn. champion, and several other heavyweights. Lewis has only Spinks, but will be co-promoter of all seven fights through a joint company formed with King.

“Don is shopping for a site for the March fight, and Butch is shopping for the April fight,” Abraham said.

The first of the seven fights will be a title defense by Thomas against Trevor Berbick on March 22. The second bout will be a rematch in April--a date has not been determined--between Spinks and Larry Holmes. Spinks became the first light heavyweight to become a heavyweight champion when he upset Holmes for the IBF title last Sept. 21.

“We’re encouraging Don to look at Madison Square Garden for the March fight,” Abraham said. “We think that would be good place to start.

“Maybe, he can put Camacho on the card to sell tickets,” said Abraham, noting that the New York metropolitan area would not be blacked out by HBO. Kingo promotes Hector (Macho) Camacho, the WBC lightweight champion from Spanish Harlem, who is very popular in the area.

The third fight of the series will be a title defense by Witherspoon, who won the WBA championship on a decision over Tony Tubbs in Atlanta on Jan. 17. Fights 4 and 5 will be WBC and IBF title bouts. Then in 1987, the WBC and WBA champions will box, with the winner to meet the IBF champion.

Abraham said HBO would “have total opponent approval,” and would present a list of five ranked challengers for each of fight Nos. 3, 4 and 5. Possible challengers are fighters such as Frank Bruno, Carl Williams, Gerrie Coetzee, Mike Tyson and Tyrell Biggs. They are not tied to King.

Lewis also said Cooney was still in the picture. Cooney, who had announced his retirement last year, has been seeking a fight against Spinks without acquiring a top 10 ranking.

Cooney could get a shot at the title during the series if he fights and earns a ranking or if a particular sanctioning group would approve a match with Cooney having a ranking, Abraham said.

As for the purse structure, the richest bouts will be Spinks-Holmes and the two each involving two champions.

“Those are the champagne fights,” said Abraham, who disagrees with the designation of “tournament” for the seven bouts. “In my mind, it’s the World Series of Boxing.”

Many people involved with boxing cringe at the word “tournament,” recalling the U.S. Championships Tournament promoted by King and televised by ABC in the mid-1970s. It fell apart amid charges of kickbacks and phony records. A grand jury investigation brought no indictments.

The meal that got the ball rolling occurred in late October or early November.

“Don started approaching us in September about a Thomas-Berbick fight,” said Abraham. “It really bothered me because I began to see that with three heavyweight champions, the public didn’t care. We kept passing the Thomas-Berbick fight.”

The Witherspoon-Tubbs match was bought by HBO about six months ago as part of a four-fight package that included Thomas’s win over Mike Weaver and Camacho’s lightweight title victory over Jose Luis Ramirez.

No one else bought Thomas-Berbick either.

One evening after a session in court on income tax evasion charges, King went to Abraham’s for dinner.

“Don kept telling my wife, Lynn, ‘Tell Seth to buy Thomas-Berbick,” recalled Abraham. “My wife is knowledgeable about sports, but not about boxing. She said, ‘Tell me who Berbick is, and I’ll tell Seth whether to buy it or not.’ ”

Abraham told King: “You want to talk about Thomas-Berbick, let’s talk about one heavyweight champion.”

“What do you have in mind,” King said, and Abraham, who said, “I was improvising,” replied, “Let’s make a deal for heavyweight and build a series of fights and get a single champion.”

King then talked about problems, one of which was Spinks’ ties to Lewis.

“Let’s approach Butch,” Abraham said.

This was not done immediately because of King’s trial, but it was discussed by Abraham, Greenway and Ross Greenberg, vice president and executive producer for HBO Sports. The original plan callled for a four-fight series.

King was contacted and he got hold of Lewis.

Early in December, Abraham met with King and Lewis, and the following week serious negotiations began with the HBO trio, the two promoters and their attorneys and Lewis’ father, John. Lewis uses his father as a sounding board, said Abraham, adding, “John Lewis was a silent hero.”

By this time King had been acquitted.

Negotiations continued through December, including a session that lasted from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Agreement was near.

Then a problem arose concerning Cooney. Lewis and Dennis Rappaport, Cooney’s manager, had been talking and agreement reportedly was close. But the HBO negotiations continued by telephone over the holidays.

After Jan. 1, there was one more face-to-face meeting. It was at that session in Atlanta that the deal memo was drafted.