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Hollywood Palladium to put on Austin Trout-Joey Hernandez fight

Boxer Austin Trout attends The 2013 ESPY Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live.

Boxer Austin Trout attends The 2013 ESPY Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live.

(Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images)
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Boxing and Hollywood have been linked for a long time, not only in film, but in the memorable bouts staged in the city.

The relationship will be rekindled Tuesday night at the Hollywood Palladium, when former super-welterweight world champion Austin Trout meets Joey Hernandez.

The Premier Boxing Champions card is the company’s first broadcast on Fox Sports 1, which plans to televise three Tuesday night fights per month.

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The Palladium, a concert venue with a seating capacity of 1,950 for boxing, will be part of the national rotation of FS-1 shows, a Premier Boxing Champions spokesman said.

Former Times publisher Norman Chandler funded the construction of the Palladium in 1940 and it became home to frequent big-band shows with occasional boxing matches, including a 1985 card that featured Olympic gold medalist Henry Tillman.

Opened in the 1920s, Legion Stadium, a bowl that could accommodate 6,000, hosted weekly Saturday night boxing cards in the 1950s that drew Hollywood elite and an American Legion band.

Hollywood is also home to Wild Card Boxing Club, where Manny Pacquiao trains.

Bigger Southland fights are now usually staged at Carson’s StubHub Center, where Trout (29-2, 16 knockouts) won the World Boxing Assn. 154-pound belt in 2012 with a unanimous decision over Delvin Rodriguez.

The left-hander followed that with his most impressive victory to date, a December 2012 decision over Miguel Cotto at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Trout, however, was then beaten consecutively in 2013 by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Erislandy Lara.

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Trout, who’ll turn 30 on Sept. 18, has won three consecutive fights against lower-tier competition since, and now meets Hernandez (24-3-1, 14 KOs), who has lost two of his last three bouts.

“It’s an honor and blessing to fight in such a historical place,” said Trout, who has aligned with Washington-based trainer Barry Hunter. “California has always shown a lot of love for me and Joey Hernandez is going to bring the fight, so I’m excited.

“A win will propel me to the next tier. After Joey, my hope is to get a title shot.”

Titles are there for the taking. The super-welterweight belt is vacant in the World Boxing Organization, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. has WBA and World Boxing Council belts, but won’t likely fight at 154 again.

Trout said he has sought to complement his defensive style.

“I’ve had versatile sparring partners and had to put myself through the ringer just to survive the sparring,” Trout said. “Having my defense intact while being aggressive is what I need to do. When I would try to walk someone down, it’d seem like my defense would go out the window and I’d get hit with anything I’d walk into.

“Now, it’s a more tactical, efficient way. Defense and boxing got me here. Now we’re trying to be sure we can do the most things we can to get a win.”

The FS-1 broadcast begins at 6 p.m. with a super-featherweight bout between Jorge Lara (27-0-1, 19 KOs) and Jesus Rojas (21-1-1, 15 KOs).

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