Scovone Seeks to Clear Name
The Mysterious “No-Show Promoter” of the Ruidoso Speaks Up!

text & photos by chris cozzone

What happens when everything goes wrong with a boxing event?

Usually, the production is shut down.

But in the case of the March 23^rd fight card at the Inn of the Mountain Gods in Ruidoso, even that didn’t go right.

Instead, the show went on—due to the reckless resolve of one of the fight card’s co-promoters, Butch Bryant who, for reasons unknown, continued to throw together a fight card that had already been decreed “unsanctioned” by the New Mexico State Athletic Commission.

It was more of a circus than a fight card; and more of a freak show than a circus . . . .

Reduced to a “smoker” (i.e. an unsanctioned event), the card had a veterinarian for a ringside physician; an unsafe ring with sagging ropes; and a weigh-in that was postponed three times before cancelled altogether for lack of fighters.

The “boxers” were gathered last-minute—literally; consisting of people off the street mixed in with real fighters whose names were changed. Even the main event was thrown together on the spur of the moment: retired lightweight champ of the ‘80s, Louie Burke, who’d gone down there as a representative of NewMexicoBoxing.com to report on the atrocities, agreed to do a sparring exhibition with Jose Cataneo, whose opponent, Eric Holland, had been labeled a shameful “no-show” by Bryant. While Burke agreed to do the exhibition pro bono to appease the gathered 250-300 people in attendance, the other fighters all thought they were getting paid.

Wrong.

No one’s sure who got paid, but at least one disgruntled, unpaid boxer has said, “You can be sure Butch Bryant crept out of the Inn of the Mountain Gods with something lining his pockets.”

But what of the other promoter? Bryant’s mysterious “other half”—Chuck Scovone, who, along with Holland, was labeled a no-show?

He says he did not know the fight was even happening.

“I thought the fight was cancelled,” Scovone says, now wishing to clear his name that has been “raked through the coals.”

On the Thursday before the Saturday night fight, Scovone was singing a different tune when he’d talked to this reporter, saying that the fight was a “go” and that he would call that night with a line-up that was being secured that very day.

The New Mexico Athletic Commission, though, was unsure whether it was going to sanction the event. The bonding money that ensures that everyone gets paid had not been secured yet. As of Thursday evening, a decision had not been reached.

On Friday morning, the Commission decided to pull its officials and not sanction the event. That’s when things got tricky.

“At that point, I thought the fight was over,” says Scovone. “There’s no point in putting on a fight card if it’s not going to be sanctioned. I wanted to put on a class act and didn’t want to be involved with a circus. I had nothing more to do with it.”

Scovone also says he did not know that there were plans to continue the fight card, under his “partner” Butch Bryant.

Bryant, on the other hand, was moving forward, telling everyone, including this reporter, that the “fight was a go,” and that there would be a card—“commission or no commission.”

On Thursday night, answering the phone of the Sun World Athletic Club, Bryant also gave a line-up that included Albuquerque’s Joseph Brady (whose promoter pulled him out the minute he heard it was unsanctioned), Eric Holland (who also pulled out for reasons that range from fear of non-payment to fear of fighting in an unsanctioned event); Andre King (who’d pulled out the week before for the Pojoaque fights on the same night); Holly Holm and Sunshine Fettkether (who’d also declined the week before because they said they had not had the decency to even be contacted by the promoters in Ruidoso); and Colbert Losoya (who would also wisely pull out the next day when he was but one of three people who showed up for a cancelled weigh-in.)

Bryant “organized” the event, found willing bodies to fight in the ring—by 7:30 PM, the night of the fight, just a half hour after what should’ve been first bell. Bryant carried on the production.

But nobody got paid, as promised. NewMexicoBoxing.com received at least three emails from fighters on the card (whose names were not what they were given at the event) who said they’d been promised $500 but not given a dime.

The only fighter paid—in part—was main eventer Jose Cataneo (who, along with Burke, did use his real name.) Cataneo was given boxing gloves, exercise equipment and parts of a ring in lieu of payment.

Unfortunately, the gloves, equipment and ring pieces were not his to give away but his “partner’s”, Chuck Scovone; the gloves, equipment and ring were property of the Sun World Athletic Club in Alamogordo, which is owned and operated by Scovone.

“He gave away $500 of new boxing gloves,” says an outraged Scovone. “He tried to give my whole ring away! He gave away things he had no right to give away!”

Bryant had access to the Sun World Athletic Club because that’s where he worked. Scovone says that Bryant was not an employee but that he came in and “did his own thing there.” As for their “co-promotional arrangement,” Scovone says that prior to the fight card, Bryant’s sole job was to find sponsors.

Apparently, he did more—and that included representing himself as Scovone’s partner in co-promotions. Bryant sent out handfuls of newspapers clippings, flyers and newsletters with the Sun World Athletic Club’s logo on them, chock full of information that included all the great fight cards they were planning for 2002—an impressive list that had at least two more pro events and half a dozen amateur tournaments that were to be promoted by he and Scovone under the auspices of the Sun World Athletic Club.

But even months before the Ruidoso card would happen, there was something ‘not right.’

At one point, this reporter received a call from Scovone explaining that Bryant was just helping out; that it was he—Scovone—who was the main promoter; Scovone, who should be listed on the website as the promoter on record. Still, the handwritten info packets continued to arrive from Bryant, promising great amateur tournaments and pro cards, with fighters on the line-up who’d not yet been contacted (Bryant was unwise in realizing just how small the boxing community is in NM, and between NM, CO and AZ.)

Bryant and Scovone’s business relationship might have been a bit fuzzy, but that is no longer the case:

“He is no way associated with me anymore,” says Scovone. “He is also not affiliated or associated with the Sun World Athletic Club or with any of the events I have planned for this year.”

More events from the Sun World Athletic Club?

Scovone says that even though he’s gotten a lot of the blame from the March 23^rd disaster—an event, he repeats, he thought was cancelled—he will continue to promote amateur tournaments through USA Boxing. In fact, there is a tournament scheduled for April 20^th, plus two more slated for May and July.

As for the question of whether these events will be sanctioned or thrown as smokers?

You can rest assured, say the officials of USA Boxing. The April 20^th date, as well as the May and July competitions, have already been approved.

As for Butch Bryant? It appears that he’s pulled one of those “disappearing acts” that on March 23^rd he’d accused of Scovone and Holland.

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