Boxers break publicist’s leg at press conference
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A publicist for Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. broke his right leg while trying to break up a scuffle between Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas at a news conference Wednesday.

Ricardo Jimenez got caught in the middle when handlers for both fighters rushed in to break up the fight, Top Rank’s Bill Caplan said Thursday.

Jimenez was on Vargas’ side of the podium at a news conference called to formally announce the fighters will meet for De La Hoya’s WBC super welterweight title May 4 in Las Vegas when Vargas shoved De La Hoya, according to Caplan.

“Ricardo was trying to hold back the crush of people and used his right leg as a supporting wedge,” Caplan said.

Caplan said Jimenez didn’t tell anyone about the injury until after the news conference ended -- more than an hour after the scuffle.

“He was taken to the emergency room, where he found out the tibia snapped where it joins the kneecap,” Caplan said.

Jimenez, 45, will be examined again Monday to determine if surgery is necessary. The examination has to be put off because of the swelling in Jimenez’s right leg, Caplan said.

Jimenez was fitted with a soft cast before being discharged from the hospital late Wednesday. He was the sports editor for the Spanish language newspaper La Opinion before joining Top Rank two years ago.

When Vargas reached the dais, he exchanged words with De La Hoya. The two shoved each other, and Vargas put his hands around De La Hoya’s throat before they were separated.

No punches were exchanged and a measure of calm was quickly restored.

Members of Vargas’ camp later shouted an obscenity in Spanish when Arum referred to De La Hoya as a “true gentleman” during his introduction, and Vargas used an obscene phrase while declaring himself a “real Mexican.”

When asked later why he used the obscenity, Vargas said he did not remember using it.

De La Hoya’s trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., directed angry words toward Vargas, saying the fighter was under “house arrest.” Vargas is wearing an electronic monitoring device to fulfill a 90-day jail sentence following a no-contest plea to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit assault in connection with a 1999 incident near Santa Barbara.

Arum said security was heavier than for any other boxing news conference he has been ever involved in. Reporters were required to wear credentials, and organizers took the rare step of barring individuals from the news conference who were not the news media.

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002