As 2002 draws to a close, Panama can look back mostly to a year of tragedy and disappointment on the boxing scene, with the brightest points dimmed by the injustices of the business dominated by Don King.

Surely the top story was the defeat and death of Pedro "Rockero" Alcazar. Had the young man undergone a CAT scan right after the fight he'd be with us today, and his death prompted discussions about boxing safety, but the money men don't want to foot the extra costs and nothing has been done.

The other main boxing story was Santiago Samaniego's victory over Mamadou Thiam in France last August, which won him the WBA Super Welterweight interim title. Of course, the true monarch of that weight classification is Oscar De La Hoya, but for the byzantine racket of competing boxing organization's professional rankings. Samaniego didn't even want to fight Thiam, but Don King let it be known, through Samaniego's uncle Roberto Durán, that he'd have no future in the sport if he didn't.

So will Samaniego get a title shot at De La Hoya in 2002? He has earned it, and Samaniego is good enough to thrash the popular Mexican-American athlete and wipe out all asterisks and words like "interim" and "disputed" from his title. However, De La Hoya is the big box office draw and Samaniego isn't well known to world audiences, so it seems that the money men will milk the De La Hoya reputation with some bouts against lesser athletes while Samaniego's appointment with greatness is delayed.

Colon's most ferocious woman, WIBA 140-pound class champion Ana Pascal, finds herself in a similar situation. American Christy Martin, a fine athlete and one of the few women who has name recognition in boxing, is the WBC champ in the same division and a member of Don King's stable of fighters. Martin has been milked in a series of mismatches, and Dutchwoman Lucia Rijker, a serious challenger, is now getting some big-time publicity demanding a shot at her.

Maybe that matchup between white hopes will catch the popular imagination. The injustice of it is that Pascal probably won't get to fight either Martin or Rijker anytime soon, even though she has earned that right in the ring.

A recent apparent injustice has turned into another shameful disappointment by Guillermo Jones, who has a long history of trouble keeping his weight under control. Last month Jones went to Sheffield, England, to take on hometown favorite Johnny Nelson for the WBO Cruiserweight crown. Jones passed the weigh-in, and dominated the bout, only to see Nelson retain the title by a controversial judges' decision that it was a draw. There was great popular demand for a rematch.

And then came the drug test results. Jones tested positive for the diuretic frusemide, which turns the draw into a disqualification and may mark the end of a talented but undisciplined Panamanian fighter's career.

The year ends on a hopeful note, however, as lightweight Miguel Callist is in training for a Februray 7 WBA title shot against Romanian Leonard Dorin. Though Dorin's no mere figment of promotional spin, Callist has it in him to be one of Panama's great world champions. It ought to be a great fight, and it may vault Callist to the pinnacle of this little country's big-time boxing scene.