PHOENIX – The Arizona State Boxing & MMA Commission proceeded with plans for the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Daniel Jacobs card without any unforeseen issues related to the licensing of Chavez at a meeting Wednesday.
Chavez, who faces Jacobs in a super middleweight bout Friday at Talking Stick Arena on DAZN, was cleared to fight Tuesday after a Nevada district judge granted him an injunction, lifting his suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Chavez already had been granted a pending license by the Arizona Commission, a three-member regulatory board which approved the Matchroom-promoted card at its Nov. 18 meeting.
If the Nevada judge had ruled against Chavez and upheld the suspension, it’s likely that the license would have been withdrawn. Under the Muhammad Ali Act, federal law mandates that one state’s suspension be honored nationwide. An item on the Arizona Commission’s agenda Wednesday indicated it was prepared for that possibility. Possible action was mentioned regarding the main event, including an option to move into a private Executive Session if necessary.
It wasn’t necessary.
Yet controversy lingers.
Chavez Jr. was suspended after he allegedly refused to submit to a drug test while training at the Wild Club Boxing Club in Los Angeles in late October. First, Chavez said he was asked for a test sample by someone who failed to show him credentials proving he was a Voluntary Anti-Doping Association representative. Then he said he did not believe he had to undergo the test because he had yet to sign for the fight, although the bout had already been scheduled for Las Vegas.
That’s when Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn moved the card to Arizona. Then the Nevada Commission upheld its suspension of Chavez Jr. at a meeting in mid-November. Chavez Jr. then filed his lawsuit.
The Nevada Commission, angry at Hearn’s decision to move the card, has threatened his promotional license. Hearn is using the Arizona license held by Phoenix-based Iron Boy Promotions to promote Friday’s card. According to the Arizona Commission, Matchroom has applied for a license. The U.K.-based promoter plans to stage more cards in the state in 2020.
“We have no quarrel with Nevada,’’ Scott Fletcher, Chairman of the Arizona Commission, said Wednesday. “We share a border.’’
But there is a quarrel between Top Rank’s Bob Arum and Hearn. Arum ripped into Hearn during a session with reporters last weekend while promoting Terence Crawford’s fight against Egidijus Kavaliauskas.
Hearn, Arum said, is “in a strong position in the U.K. where the fans really buy tickets, but he’s falling on his ass in the United States, because he doesn’t understand the market and says stupid things. And what he’s doing now with Chavez, putting himself at risk with the Nevada Commission, is senseless.”
Hearn, of course, read the comments. And, of course, he fired back at a news conference Tuesday after the court ruling in favor of Chavez Jr.
Hearn took the podium at Talking Stick and thanked Chavez for enduring what he called “an ordeal.’’ He thanked Chavez’s attorney.
“I also want to thank the haters,’’ Hearn said. “Thank you, Bob Arum. I saw his comments.’’
Hearn accused Arum of also “shopping” a controversial card from one state to another. Hearn cited Antonio Margarito. Margarito couldn’t fight in California after he was found to have used altered hand wraps before losing to Shane Mosley on Jan. 24, 2009 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center. While under suspension in California, Margarito fought his next bout in Mexico. Then he was licensed in Texas for his loss to Manny Pacquiao on July 23, 2010 on the Dallas Cowboys home field in Arlington.
Arum also argued that the Nevada Commission should begin drug testing once a fight is announced.
“Once a fight is announced, the Nevada Commission has jurisdiction to test a fighter,’’ Arum said. “A lot of fighters take performance enhancing drugs and then clear their system by the press conference, so if you wait until the press conference, you will miss that they took performance enhancing drugs.’’
Hearn said that Chavez is being tested, but not by VADA. Instead, Hearn said, the tests have been conducted by Drug Free Sports, which conducts testing for the NFL.