Boxing : Gonzales Is Making Up for His Late Start as a Pro

Paul Gonzales, who dropped out of sight for a year after achieving his Olympic glory, is apparently making up for lost time.

The 1984 Olympic gold medalist, who didn’t turn pro until last August, will fight for the third time as a pro Feb. 2 at the Hollywood Paladium in a 12-rounder for Alonzo Strongbow’s North American Boxing Federation flyweight title.

That fight will be televised by CBS, which has already done two of Gonzales’ fights and which clearly is planning to do more. CBS has always liked the little guys, making boxing stars out of lightweights such as Ray Mancini and Aaron Pryor when the heavyweights were still commanding attention. But CBS must expect an even bigger star from a smaller guy because it has reserved three of its 12 TV dates in 1986 for the East Los Angeles kid.

Presuming he beats Strongbow, Gonzales will next be seen April 5 and then again June 29, possibly for a world title, which would probably make him the first boxer from the 1984 Olympic team to fight for a title, even though he was the last of them to turn pro.

If it seems that CBS, not to mention Gonzales, is rushing it, remember that Pete Rademacher made his pro debut after the 1956 Olympics by challenging Floyd Patterson for the heavyweight title. Of course, Rademacher was knocked out, but that’s another story.

Boxing Notes Oscar Muniz, whose moment of glory seems to have been his victory over bantamweight champion Jeff Chandler in a nontitle fight more than two years ago--he later lost when he fought Chandler for the title--will reach somewhat more modestly for the vacant state title Monday. He will fight Georgie Garcia at the Irvine Marriott. . . . Middleweight Michael Nunn continues his busy schedule with a fight a month, beginning with a Jan. 28 date at the Country Club. Nunn, an Olympic alternate from the 1984 Games, will headline that card against Oscar Saucedo. On the same card in Reseda will be a bantamweight bout between local Frankie Duarte and Pedro Gonzalez. Nunn will be back in action Feb. 10 against Charles Carter in a main event at the Forum. Then, March 9, he will fight on an NBC-TV card. He’ll support the John Collins-Robbie Sims fight in a bout with Carl Jones. Nunn is 11-0 but, more important to his career, are his nine TV fights. Local promoter Dan Goossen, along with Bob Arum, who controls the middleweight division, is behind all this.

Don Chargin and Babe Griffin will promote a nontitle fight featuring World Boxing Council lightweight champion Hector Camacho and former title-holder Bobby Chacon in Sacramento come March. Chacon, whose entanglements with the law grow increasingly complicated, was mentioned as an opponent for Olympic medal winner Pernell Whitaker. But ABC was afraid that Chacon, who has a probation violation hearing pending, might not be available. . . . Friday, the State Athletic Commission announced, as expected, that promoters would be assessed $1 per ticket sold to pay for mandatory neurological examinations for fighters. The assessments will go into effect Feb. 1. The examinations will be required as of July 1. . . . In other commission news, Jerry Nathanson was re-elected chairman.

Missing in inaction for more than a year, Jaime Garza will resume his career Feb. 24 at the Irvine Marriott. Garza had skyrocketed to the WBC super-bantamweight title, going 40-0 with 38 KOs. Then in his first defense he was flattened by Juan Meza and that was the last anybody heard of Garza. But now he’s finally back with his manager, Bennie Georgino, and in training. Throughout all of this, Garza has remained in the top 10 in both the World Boxing Assn. and World Boxing Council rankings.