Daily News from New York, New York • 48

Wednesday, November 6, 1985 DAILY SPORTS NEWS 49 FAREWELL TO A KI NG-if By BUI GaMo FLOYD Mri PATTeRSOAl- WOM HEWVI0E16HT -nne HS 32 BOUT AT A6 21. -cJose torrS- W0A1 U6HTttfVV- 371? PPO BtftfTAT 1Q. US PMATO THEWJ Al THE HCiVBU26 WAS AJ0T ONLY 4AIS-MAK2 BUT F0XA16 ROVUTV Boxing stains Cus9 legacy 'E HAD no survivors." BSLL GALLO 1 -ui; JO. The last line of The New York Times obituary mum ICATZ Spinks aims to Pinklon Thomas, the WBC champion, was at the Holmes fight and yesterday he showed up at Spinks press conference. The man most likely to succeed as unified champion said he went up to Butch Lewis, Spinks' de-facto manager, at the victory party in Las Vegas after the Holmes bout and offered to get together.

Yesterday, as he recounted the encounter, Thomas looked down at the promoter. "You said, 'We got to milk this title a little said Thomas. The miniature version of Don King cracked up. "You know I didn't say that," Lewis said. "Yeah, and then you said you were going to bring back Gerry Cooney," said Thomas.

"Cooney?" said Lewis, who has been negotiating with Dennis Rap-paport, Cooney's manager. Cooney talks snagged However, it is nice to report, negotiations have not been too smooth. Rappaport reportedly is not only asking for parity of purse absurd since Cooney has (1) never beaten a Top 10 fighter and (2) has been retired for the most part since Holmes knocked him out 3Vz years ago but a piece of the promotion as well. Negotiations with Holmes, who is seeking a rematch, are not going much better, Lewis indicated. The promoter said he wanted Spinks to fight in February and mentioned Frank Bruno, the slow-moving Briton, and Marvis Frazier and Carl (The Truth) Williams as other possible opponents.

Eventually, Lewis told Thomas, they'll get around to the main man. Money comes first See KATZ Page 58 yesterday was somehow wrong. Cus D'Amato had no survivors? In boxing, a man is judged by his enemies and Cus had the most powerfulJBut they were all part of the family and, to the very end, the lovable curmudgeon was fighting them just as he was fighting pneumonia. When Jose Torres, one of Cus' true friends, first went to visit him at Mount Sinai Hospital, the old man looked up at him, smiled and said, "I'm not going to die.not here, I won't give my enemies the pleasure." Torres, the chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission and the man whom D'Amato managed to the light-heavyweight championship, said, "What was funny was that a lot of his biggest enemies called him every day." Boxing's death wish Cus D'Amato is survived by a sport that often does not seem intent on surviving itself. Consider a press conference at Luchow's yesterday that was attended by Torres and two-thirds of the world's heavyweight champions.

I could feel Cus rolling over in his grave and he won't be buried until tomorrow morning in upstate Catskill. Despite the sincerity of a Michael Spinks, it was bombast as usual, a reminder that Cus was the most straightforward guy in boxing. Dark clouds, disguised as representatives of the WBA, WBC and IBF, were reminders that Cus hated politics. As if three heavyweight champions weren't bad enough, Gerry Cooney's name was brought up. The occasion was that Michael Spinks, the latest entrant into the heavyweight picture, was relin- quishing his three world light-heavyweight titles.

Spinks was present in the ring six weeks ago, when Larry Holmes lost the big one. Spinks was smart; he did as little fighting, as possible and the old champion withered away. Spinks' performance was not a ringing endorsement of boxing. Now that he has the title or at least the IBF version of it he must decide what to do with it. A boyish modesty He brings to the title a boyish modesty that is especially charming considering his predecessor.

After listening to laudatory introductions describing him as role model, the refugee from the St. Louis ghetto grinned and beared it "I don't know what to say. I'm so proud I'm shaking out of my boots and there's not a fight going on," he said. "I've never had the opportunity to give up anything." He promised to "take on all corners, just as I did as a light-heavyweight," but Spinks' problem is that he no longer towers over the opposition. As a heavyweight, he is vulnerable to virtually anyone in the Top 20 and there aren't 20 heavyweights in the world who belong in the Top 20.

AS expected, Michael Spinks relinquished his three lightheavyweight titles (WBC, WBA and IBF) yesterday. Spinks, the newly crowned IBF heavyweight champion, took the mike at Luchow's restaurant and vowed that he would "defend my title proudly and not duck anyone." In making the official announcement. Butch Lewis, the promoter and adviser to Spinks, said, "We are ready to get down with the big boys now. We're serious," he added, directing his words to WrBC heavyweight champion Pinklon Thomas, who was seated in the audience. Thomas, obviously there to see if he could get something going with the new champion, was invited to the lecturn and made the most of it.

"As a light heavyweight, Michael was a great one," Thomas said, "but now that he's in with the big guys and I look for a unification. See GALLO Paga 53.