Notes on a Scorecard - June 18, 1992

LAS VEGAS —  Dan Duva, the promoter, may be the most powerful figure in boxing today, but he is not to be confused with such predecessors as Tex Rickard, Mike Jacobs or Don King. . . .

I mean, the date of Duva’s heavyweight title production starring Evander Holyfield and Larry Holmes was set so as not to conflict with the Pat Limandri Academy for Dance production of “Hansel and Gretel,” featuring Nicole and Lisa Duva. . . .

“The dates mentioned for the fight were June 12 and 19,” Duva said. “But the 12th would have conflicted with our daughters’ dance recital. My wife wouldn’t have been able to attend the dress rehearsals. So the 19th it was for Evander and Holmes.” . . .

Dan and Kathy Duva watched Nicole, 9, and Lisa, 7, perform Sunday afternoon in New Jersey before flying to Las Vegas that night to finish preparations for the fight at Caesars Palace Friday. . . .

This will be a co-promotion of Duva’s Main Events and Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., but Duva has the champion and, therefore, the clout. . . .

He also promotes the fights of Pernell Whitaker, who recently vacated the lightweight title and might be the best active fighter in any weight class, plus champions Terry Norris, Meldrick Taylor, Vinny Pazienza, Joey Gamache and John-John Molina, and heavyweight contenders Lennox Lewis and Michael Moorer. . . .

But you call Dan Duva the most powerful person in boxing and, characteristically, he disagrees. . . .

“Oh, no,” he says. “Evander Holyfield is. If I’m not doing a good job, he can throw me out tomorrow. I don’t control him. He controls me.” . . .

So what is a low-key, pleasant 40-year-old family man with degrees in political science from Rutgers and law from Seton Hall doing in the fight game? It’s in the genes. . . .

The patriarch of the New Jersey Duvas is Lou, 70, who first made his living from boxing by fighting bootleg bouts and selling his purse, a watch, for $8. . . .

Lou later became a trainer, manager and jack-of-all-boxing trades, and now with Shelly Finkel co-manages many of the fighters who appear on Dan’s cards. . . .

Last year, fighters managed by Duva and Finkel were 39-1 and unbeaten in a dozen title fights. . . .

“With Evander, one day I’m his trainer, one day I’m his equipment manager and the next day I’m the chauffeur for his van,” Lou said. . . .

If Dan tends to stay in the background, Lou is right out there on center stage. . . .

One night, Lou got so incensed at taunting from Roger Mayweather, who had just beaten Pazienza, that he rushed into the ring and charged at Mayweather. Getting in the way was Dan Duva. Father threw son across the ring and then mixed it up with Mayweather. . . .

“The tapes clearly showed that Mayweather threw the first punch,” said Kathy Duva, the publicist for Main Events. . . .

Dan’s brothers and sisters--Denise, Donna, Dino and Deanne--also work the cards. “We were poor when the kids were named,” says Lou. “This way, they could share the shirts with the DD initials on them.” . . .

Dan’s first promotion was a martial arts show in 1976. Dan Quayle must have done the spelling on the posters because they read: “marital arts show.” Paid attendance in a 2,100-seat gym was 67. . . .

Duva had better luck with boxing, which sold out the 3,100-seat Ice World in Totowa, N.J., for 18 consecutive months. . . .

Main Events hit the big time in 1981 with the first Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns match that grossed what then was a world-record $34 million. . . .

In 1984, Duva fighters Johnny Bumphus, Rocky Lockridge, Livingstone Bramble and Mike McCallum won world titles and Evander Holyfield turned pro after being the victim of a bizarre disqualification in the Olympic Games. . . .

“Evander is the most secure athlete I’ve ever been around,” Duva said. “He does the best he can all the time. There’s not a shred of dishonesty to him. Some people say he’s boring. I find him refreshing.” . . .

A longtime promoter, Don Chargin, finds Duva just as refreshing. “In my 47 years in the business, Dan is the most honorable man I’ve dealt with. No contest.”. . .

Duva insists that he is not in boxing for the duration despite the riches it has brought him. . . .

“Not to criticize others, but I think a lot of the problems of Bob Arum and Don King have come because boxing is their life,” Duva said. “It consumes them. It never has consumed me and it never will.” . . .

“This is a piece of cake,” said Kathy Duva, going about her publicity duties at Caesars Palace Wednesday. “But that dance recital . . . I helped out, and do you realize that our daughters had seven costume and hair changes?”