He Wanted to Be Forum Headliner but Says He Wouldn’t Pay for It

After one dream died in 1984, when he failed to make the U.S. Olympic boxing team, Ricky Romero worked up another.

He decided to turn pro and longed to see his name on the Forum marquee, to be a Forum headliner.

About a year and a half ago, Romero’s second dream died. He retired from boxing with a 19-1 record. At one point in his career, he was the state flyweight champion.

But he never fought at the Forum.

Romero, 28, is a carpenter in Temecula. Recently, he talked about his career.

“After a couple of years went by and I was fighting in Carson and San Diego, I asked my manager why I couldn’t fight at the Forum, and he told me. He said we’d have to pay to get on their shows, and we agreed we’d never do that.

“He said there was a ‘little clique of people’ we’d have to deal with. They offered us a $1,000-purse once, providing we kicked them back $200, but we wouldn’t do it. I felt like I was a local boxer (having grown up in Torrance). . . . they should have been paying me.”

Forum officials deny that anyone has to pay to get on a card.

Romero continued boxing, but with much less enthusiasm, he said. His last fight, in April of 1990, was in Torrance. At the end of his career he was boxing in Lancaster, San Diego, Alpine, Hollywood and Redondo Beach.

“The thing that hurts the most is the flyweights I see getting main events at the Forum, guys I know I can beat. You know that Ysaias Zamudio, the guy from Blythe who fights at the Forum all the time?

“Zamudio got an NABF title fight with Javier Diaz (at Stateline, Nev.). Give me a break. I beat Javier Diaz twice, and in one of them he outweighed me by seven pounds.”