THE FARCICAL world heavyweight title bout between Lennox Lewis and Oliver McCall in Las Vegas last Friday night once again brings boxing into disrepute. This same charge was laid at Wayne McCullough's door a couple of weeks ago when the young Irishman was critical of the WBC after his disappointing defeat by Daniel Zaragoza.

McCullough's outburst tails a long way short of what happened last Friday night and yet Oliver McCall seems to have avoided the wrath of Jose Sulaiman, the WBC chief who threatened to discipline McCullough.

McCall's record was bad enough already but when the referee was forced to step in and stop the fight in the fifth round, McCall was literally refusing to fight and was in floods of tears as a bewildered Lewis became world heavy weight champion.

There was a time when such a title could, honestly, be described as the biggest prize in sport. Sadly those days are gone. Really great boxers such as Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney and Muhammad Ali deserved such a prize and carried their titles with dignity. The sight of McCall in those final minutes was pathetic and deeply disturbing.

It was not so much that McCall was in a quite dreadful state for a man who was presumed ready to contest 12 rounds of heavyweight boxing it was, rather, that the people who should have known of his mental and physical condition, allowed him into the ring.

Without a shadow of doubt those people, headed by Don King, should be called to account for their behaviour. McCall was not in a fit state to have a sparring session with a flyweight let alone take on an 18 stone hulk in a 12 round heavyweight contest. The fight should never have happened.

Boxing doesn't need incidents such as this. It is difficult enough to fend off the ill informed attacks from the anti boxing lobby as things stand without the spectacle of a grown adult, in floods of tears, being made to look a fool.

It is not enough for the WBC to withhold the $3 million purse due to McCall. It seems to me that a very heavy fine and lengthy suspension on McCall and the same on those who batten off him, is the appropriate response.

If the fight game were to be cleaned up some of the people, most notably King, who were involved in the Las Vegas fiasco would be banned from the sport for life. That is unlikely to happen but the sport has been brought into disrepute in a way which cannot be overlooked.

One cannot but have some sympathy for McCall. In ways he can be seen as a victim of the sleazy world in which he plies his trade. He is a very sick man, who was out of control no more than seven weeks ago, when he went berserk in a hotel and threw a Christmas tree through a window.

How any of his handlers could possibly claim that he was in either the right frame of mind or in proper physical shape to take on a world title bout last weekend, is beyond belief. He has had three periods of treatment for drug addiction within the last two years and has had repeated problems with alcohol induced violence.

Boxing is dangerous enough for those who are at the peak of their fitness in mind and body without risking injury or death by getting into the ring in the frame of mind displayed by McCall. Nor does the continued arrogance of Prince Naseem Hamed enhance the image of the sport either. Without any doubt he is a very talented boxer, but he continues to irritate with the dismissive way he treats his opponents.

Last Thursday week in London in the head to head press conference which has become the norm, he taunted Tom Boom Boom Johnson in a most unpleasant manner. He spoke of Johnson ending up in a graveyard. The American responded by suggesting a "fight to the death, with no gloves and no referee."

It was a disturbing moment. Even allowing for acceptable hyperbole, it behoves boxers like Hamed, who has become a very rich young man, to realise that without credible opponents he would never have made a shilling.

It would be appropriate too, if they recognised the fact that young men like them have been crippled for life and some have died. Those young men deserve the decency of being remembered when boxing people come together.

Why this kind of talk is regarded as part of the hype when we had already been told that all the tickets had been sold, is difficult to understand.

The British Boxing Board of Control has a responsibility to its sport to tell its boxers to tone this down at least. What would be regarded as seriously provocative on the public street and would certainly earn the attention of the police, should not be part of any sporting occasion.

Giving the anti boxing lobby ammunition is not in the best interest of boxing. In that respect, last Thursday in London and last Friday in Las Vegas, has certainly brought boxing into disrepute.