Promoter Is Packing a Big Punch : Boxing: In his first effort at presenting a match, 25-year-old Steve Brooks adds class to the event, earning praise and a profit of $4,000.

Trying not to flinch against the hard blows the fight business inflicts, Steve Brooks 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.”

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