New Promoter’s Class Act Packs Wallop--and the House

Trying not to flinch against the hard blows the fight business inflicts, SteveBrooks presented his first boxing show last week in Long Beach. The young promoter made about $4,000, was praised by state officials and is looking forward to the next show in September.

“I’m real excited to get up and do it again,” said Brooks, 25, a former basketball player at Wilson High School. “I was expecting maybe 500 people, that would have been a decent showing.”

But a near-capacity crowd of about 800 turned out Aug. 15 for Boxing by the Beach in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. In a sport often known for seediness, Brooks is striving for class.

“This is not a low-life gym atmosphere,” he said. “We try to make sure that the ring girls are not too scantily clad, that napkins are laid out perfectly at the tables, bouncers are in tuxedo shirts, hostesses in evening gowns. No one sells T-shirts or hawks watches, and there’s no smoking in the ballroom.”

Taking over for Jerry Westlund, who had promoted seven boxing shows at the hotel, Brooks formed his own company, West Coast Pro Sports. He received his promoter’s license this summer.

“He’s gung-ho as hell about it,” Westlund said. “He’s as enthusiastic as anyone I’ve seen. I just hope he doesn’t get hardened.”

Westlund, who owns an auction company, said he left the boxing business because it was too time-consuming. And he had become hardened.

“It stopped being fun,” he said. “You get tired of dealing with these people. You deal with misfits and ex-felons. They lie, cheat and back-stab over a $20 bill.”

But Brooks disagrees with his longtime friend. “He paints too bleak a picture,” Brooks said. “The people aren’t misfits, they’re regular people. I think it will be an enjoyable task.”

To get started, Brooks sold three cars and “about everything else I had” to raise $15,000 required by the California State Athletic Commission as an insurance policy in case a promoter cannot pay a purse or judges. There were also city fees, advertising costs and office expenses.

He persuaded restaurants, car dealers, a beer company and a gym to sign on as sponsors.

“I’m not really experienced in boxing, but I enjoy sponsorship and promotion, trying to sell an entertainment package,” Brooks said. “It’s something a person my age normally doesn’t get to do.”

He believes his success will depend mostly on the quality of the fights.

“(Boxing fans) don’t come for ring girls or jazz bands, they come to see fights,” he said. “Give them five solid fights and a good sports atmosphere and they will come back.”

Yet, advertisements for his first show mentioned a “sizzling ring girl contest.”

“We sell the event, and they’re part of the event,” Brooks said of the young women who parade in bikinis around the ring and hold up cards indicating the round number.

Boxing by the Beach has always attracted an upscale audience. “We have our coat-and-tie crowd at the ringside tables,” Brooks said, “but I think the yuppie image is a little overrated. We cater to businesses but we’re also trying to bring in the real boxing fans.”

Brooks, who had been an assistant to Westlund, said Westlund erred by not making an effort to sell the $20 general admission seats. To get the fan involved “who doesn’t want to spend $40,” Brooks distributed 20,000 flyers and ran newspaper ads, a campaign that apparently paid off.

“We sold 300 general admission seats at the door last Wednesday night,” he said.

Westlund said that Boxing by the Beach was never intended for the “real” fight fans, which he characterizes as men who “chew cigars, spit on the floor and want a break on the tickets. We concentrated on selling the $40 and $75 seats because they are the first to sell.”

Tickets for Brooks’ Aug. 15 show were $75 (ringside), $40 (VIP) and $20. For the Sept. 20 show, he said they will be $50, $35 and $20--”a little bit more reasonable.”

West Coast Pro Sports is composed of Brooks and three assistants--his brother Craig; Katie Rowe, and John Hatten, a former Cal State Long Beach basketball player.

Brooks, who graduated last year with a business degree from Cal State Long Beach after playing basketball at Rice University and Long Beach City College, has a relaxed image that goes with the jeans and T-shirts he prefers.

“He’s a real complex person,” Hatten said. “He can be extremely outgoing, but he keeps to himself. He’s priority-oriented. We call him a flake because he won’t play basketball with us if he has something else he feels is more important to do.”

Brooks has discovered that his new business presents a myriad of priorities and problems.

On the recent card, he tried unsuccessfully to find an opponent for Mike Evans, a Long Beach heavyweight with a 19-4 record. “The state won’t approve a fighter they think won’t hold his own in the ring,” Brooks said. “We (called) Georgia, Washington and Utah, but we couldn’t find a fighter the state (California) would approve.”

A few days before the show, Brooks had said that Esias Zumudio, the North American Boxing Federation world flyweight champion, would be on the card. But an opponent for him could not be found either.

“We’ll have him next month,” Brooks said.

Many problems surfaced the day of the show, which caused it to start an hour late. There were no cards for the ring girls. A stretcher had to be borrowed from another hotel. The ring canvas had to be tightened. And a lot of people wanted to be paid.

“I think Steve was a little shocked about the pressure,” said Westlund, who was at the show to help him. “Everybody was on him for money before the fights.”

Brooks said he wrote checks all day--for the fighters, the ring announcer, the man who put up the ring, the doctor, judges, timekeeper. It seemed a never-ending list.

“I ran out of checks that night,” Brooks said. “I even had to ask my mom for some.”

All of these expenses, including $1,500 to the hotel, totaled about $13,000, Brooks said. He listed the gate receipts at about $17,000.

For a first-time promoter, it was a very good show, said Dale Ashley, assistant chief inspector with the state Athletic Commission. “I gave them a 9 1/2 as far as the show and the way they conducted themselves.”

That made Brooks happy and even more eager to start working on his next show.

He said that what he has learned most is that boxing is a hard business. “You have to find people you can trust,” he said. “You have to be careful who to take advice from. I had people walking out of the woodwork that night telling me what I should and shouldn’t do.”

Westlund understands.

“We came in gung-ho too, and then the 70-30 kicks in,” Westlund said. “The job of boxing promoter is 70% policeman and 30% baby-sitter. You have to make sure people aren’t stealing from you and make sure that they were going to do what they said they were.

“You keep a positive attitude, but the boxing world is just awful. I think Steve is a little naive. You get nickel-and-dimed to death. Guys will come up to you and say, ‘We’re here to do the gloves, give us 75 bucks.’ ”

But Brooks is undaunted.

“You have to treat a valet with as much respect as you do a major sponsor,” he said. “And the concierge sells tickets for you, so you can’t give him a hard time. You have to make people feel they’re appreciated. Maybe Jerry didn’t do that. That’s why I hope to stick around a little longer.”