U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES 1991 : BOXING : Three Fight at Home to Earn a Trip Overseas

The deepest, most competitive amateur boxing tournament in California since the 1988 Olympic trials will begin today at Loyola Marymount.

Forty-eight of the best U.S. boxers will be seeking 12 Olympic Festival titles.

The semifinal sessions at Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion today and Sunday will start at 1 p.m. The finals will be at the Forum Tuesday night at 7.

For three Southern California boxers who hope to use a Festival title as a springboard to the World Championships, Nov. 13-25 in Sydney, Australia, and then the 1992 Olympic Games at Barcelona, Spain, the Festival is their first opportunity to compete in the Southland in a major event.

“I’m excited. It’ll be the first time my family, friends and neighbors won’t have to watch me box on TV,” said Oscar de la Hoya of East Los Angeles, a national champion and potential Olympic gold medalist. De la Hoya, 18 and a recent graduate of Garfield High, is a lightweight (132 pounds).

Two other prominent Southland boxers are heavyweight (201 pounds) John Bray, a 21-year-old part-time private detective from Van Nuys; and light-welterweight (139 pounds) Shane Mosley, 20, of Pomona. Both are national champions.

Boxers who win Festival championships Tuesday night will have an option. They would be qualified for both the Pan American Games Aug. 2-18 at Havana and the World Championships.

“I don’t know anyone who wants to go to Cuba,” Bray said. “Australia is just a better trip, and there’s that $2,500 we could win. Also, there’s a weeklong training camp in Hawaii on the way to the worlds. It’s tough to overlook that.”

Super-heavyweight Larry Donald, another national champion, also indicated that the U.S. Pan Am Games boxing team will be the junior varsity.

“I’m going to Australia,” he said.

Why not both?

“A boxer could do both, but because both competitions involve lots of lead training time, we’d prefer they didn’t,” said Bruce Mathis, associate executive director of the USA Amateur Boxing Federation. “We’d rather they choose one or the other. Also, the kids have already trained very hard in several other competitions this year.”

De la Hoya will be the spotlighted performer today when he boxes Dezi Ford of Alliance, Ohio, in his lightweight opener. Ford is the only boxer in the 132s that de la Hoya has never faced.

De la Hoya has been a prominent amateur since 1988, when he won a national junior championship at 15. He was a Golden Gloves champion in 1989, a two-time national champion, an Olympic Cup champion and a Goodwill Games champion. Moreover, he has beaten tough Eastern Europeans and Cubans along the way.

His record is 205-4 and he hasn’t lost since a 3-2 junior Olympic decision in 1987. Last month at Ft. Bragg, N.C., he won, 3-2, over veteran Cuban Julio Gonzalez. In that dual meet, the United State tied the Cubans, six bouts to six, after a losing streak dating to 1978.

The 5-foot-10 de la Hoya, tall for a lightweight, has knockout power in both hands and is a superb body puncher. He has been coveted by pro boxing trainers for two years but insists he won’t turn pro until after next summer’s Olympics.

Mosley, who will box Steve Johnston of Colorado Springs, Colo., in Sunday’s session, has been a big winner since 1989, when he won his first of two national titles. He earned a bronze medal at last summer’s Goodwill Games. He is a busy, quick counterpuncher.

Bray, who boxes today, won 1989 and ’91 national titles. He also has frustrated USA/ABF coaches with inconsistent performances. Some, such as three-time U.S. Olympic coach Pat Nappi, call him hard to coach.

“Bray is sometimes set in his ways,” Nappi said. “He trains with a lot of pro people, and when we get him in training camp, we have a hard time undoing him.”

Said longtime Southland amateur coach Larry Ramirez: “Bray has a world of potential, but he’s never worked as hard as he should.”

A fourth Southland national champion, Pepe Reilly of Glendale, who would have been a favorite here, is sitting out a nine-month suspension. Reilly won the welterweight title last March in the National Championships but then tested positive for steroid use.

His appeal was to be heard tonight by a USA/ABF board.

Probably the Festival’s most decorated boxer is light-flyweight (106 pounds) Eric Griffin, 23, of Houston. He is the reigning U.S. champion but has been winning major events since 1982. He has won two U.S. Golden Gloves titles, a 1990 World Cup championship and the ’90 Goodwill Games title. He was a Sullivan Award finalist last year.

Another Festival favorite from Houston is light-middleweight (156 pounds) Raul Marquez, 20, who will fight Kevin Bonner of the Army Sunday. USA/ABF coaches like Marquez’s chances of winning here and continuing all the way to Barcelona.

Donald, the Cincinnati super-heavyweight who will meet Samson Pouha of Kearns, Utah, Sunday, is a classic stand-up boxer in the style of Muhammad Ali.

“We all expect big things of Larry because he has natural ability and he works hard, with lots of discipline,” Ramirez said. “He’s got good feet and he’s basically a pure boxer. But he also has a very good overhand right.”

Donald, 6-3 and 217 pounds, is 24, but didn’t begin boxing seriously until he was 21. Since then, he has won two national Golden Gloves titles, a Goodwill Games silver medal and a national championship.

Boxing Schedule Today (First bout, 1 p.m.)

106 pounds--Eric Griffin (Houston) vs. Dan Davis (Philadelphia); Bradley Martinez (Rapid City, S.D.) vs. Orland Malone (Wesminster, Colo.).

119--Sergio Reyes (Camp Lejeune, N.C.) vs. Simon Fletcher (U.S. Navy, Norfolk, Va.); Francisco Gonzalez (Baytown, Tex.) vs. Aristead Clayton (Baker, La.).

132--Oscar de la Hoya (East Los Angeles) vs. Dezi Ford (Alliance, Ohio); Patrice Brooks (St. Louis) vs. Teddy Randolph (U.S. Marines, Camp Lejeune, N.C.).

147--Timothy Vance (U.S. Army, Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.) vs. Ross Thompson (Las Vegas); Patrick Byrd (Flint, Mich.) vs. Mark Lewis (Sacramento).

165--Chris Byrd (Flint, Mich.) vs. Frank Vassar (Spokane, Wash.); Ron Simms (U.S. Air Force, Kelly AFB, Tex.) vs. Michael DeMoss (U. S. Marines, Camp Lejeune, N.C.).

201--John Bray (Van Nuys) vs. Shannon Briggs (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Javier Alvarez (San Antonio) vs. Melvin Foster (Washington).

Sunday (First bout, 1 p.m.)

112 pounds--Tim Austin (Cincinnati) vs. Lee Rodriguez (Denver); John Herrera (Corpus Christi, Tex.) vs. Jermaine Fields (Washington).

125--Ivan Robinson (Philadelphia) vs. Fernando Sanchez (Las Vegas); Ken Friday (U.S. Air Force, Offutt AFB, Neb.) vs. Julian Wheeler (U.S. Navy, Virginia Beach, Va.).

139--Vernon Forrest (Augusta, Ga.) vs. Therronn Millett (St. Louis); Steve Johnston (Colorado Springs, Colo.) vs. Shane Mosley (Pomona).

156--Raul Marquez (Houston) vs. Kevin Bonner (U.S. Army, Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.); Julian Blair (Miami) vs. Ravea Springs (Cincinnati).

178--Terry McGroom (Chicago) vs. John Ruiz (Chelsea, Mass.); Richard Bonds (Ripley, Tenn.) vs. Denard Trapp (U.S. Army, Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.).

201+--Larry Donald (Cincinnati) vs. Samson Pouha (Kearns, Utah); Archie Perry (U.S. Marines, Camp Lejeune, N.C.) vs. Edward Escobedo (McKinney, Tex.).