"They asked me if--in the wake of that terrible, terrible scene in Houston--I wanted to do these fights coming up," Cosell said from his New York office the other day. "I told them no."
He won't work another professional fight.
"I'm not doing any more boxing," he said. "Let me qualify that only a little. I love amateur boxing, and if the company wants me to, I would do Olympics boxing. But professional, no. I have walked away from it. I am past the point where I want to be part of it. I don't want to be party to the hypocrisy, the sleaziness . . . I'm worn out by it."
The blame for boxing's sickness today falls on three groups, Cosell said.
"First, the networks who make possible the continued existence of organizations such as the WBA and WBC, which exist only for the purpose of creating championships that in turn create fights that the networks, including ABC-TV, can sell for top dollar.
"Second to blame are the ruthless, sleazy promoters. And third is the vast majority of the print-media members who are apologists for boxing."
Cosell's break with boxing is not unexpected. He hadn't worked a fight since Holmes-Gerry Cooney last summer. His dissatisfaction with, even contempt for, boxing promoters and other parasites is so profound that, in his words, "I went to Larry Holmes' room for a set of gin rummy so I could avoid the sleaze in the hotel lobby."