BOXING / EARL GUSTKEY : Local Fighters Allegedly Denied a Forum to Display Their Talents

The Times’ investigation of alleged expense-check kickbacks at Forum boxing shows also turned up something else about Forum boxing--a smoldering resentment in Southland gyms.

Many say the Forum favors out-of-town or foreign fighters over local boxers. If you are good and you are from Los Angeles, some say, you are a longshot to fight at the Forum.

That opinion is shared by many, among them two of the most respected local boxing people, Bill Slayton of the Broadway Gym and Johnny Flores of the old Lincoln Heights Jail gym.

“There are kids in my gym right now who are good enough to fight in Forum main events, but the Forum would have to pay them $3,500 or $4,000,” Slayton said.

“But the Forum people would rather bring in a kid from Mexico, Puerto Rico or someplace because they can get them for $2,500. Also, they write foreign kids those big expense checks.

“Look at 1984. You had two Olympic gold medalists in this town, Henry Tillman and Paul Gonzales. Their first 10 pro fights should have been at the Forum. Go ask them how hard the Forum tried to sign them when they turned pro.”

Tillman and Gonzales said they never were contacted by anyone from the Forum in the months after the 1984 Olympics.

“That’s a damn lie,” said John Jackson, president for Forum boxing. “Tillman and his manager, Mercer Smith, sat in my office in 1984 and demanded $75,000 for his first pro fight. I told them it was out of the question.

“We talked to Gonzales’ people, too. It was the same thing--they simply wanted more than we were prepared to pay.”

As it turned out, Tillman and Gonzales had disappointing pro careers. But in 1984, no one could have foreseen that. It seems that the Forum easily could have developed the two gold medalists into box-office hits in Los Angeles, at least in the early stages of their careers.

Tillman was paid $20,000 for his first pro fight, in Houston. Gonzales also earned $20,000 for his first pro fight, at the Hollywood Palladium.

Gonzales has fought in recent years at the Forum, but only after his career had declined. Tillman has never boxed at the Forum.

Flores, a widely known boxing figure here since the late 1940s, also says the Forum favors out-of-towners. He says that if a local boxer does wind up on a Forum card, he almost always is matched against a tougher out-of-towner.

“The Forum could care less about developing local talent,” he said.

“They’re always looking for far-away guys, so they can write those big expense checks. It’s been going on for years. The Forum is the only boxing facility in America where almost always, the local kid is the opponent.”

In boxing, opponent refers to an overmatched fighter almost certain to lose.

Some local boxers have been developed into main-event Forum fighters. Paul Banke, onetime amateur from Azusa, became a world super-bantamweight champion at the Forum. He will headline the Forum’s card Dec. 7 when he fights Daniel Zaragoza.

Rudy Zavala, who lives in Costa Mesa, was a Rosemead boxer when he became a popular Forum super-bantamweight in the last year. But he left abruptly three weeks ago, signing a two-year deal with Las Vegas promoter Bob Arum.

And Forum boxing publicist John Beyrooty notes that nationally known locals Reggie Johnson, Genaro Hernandez, Derrick Kelly and Dave Dixon all were developed at the Forum.

“Our primary consideration in making bouts has always been to make competitive fights,” he said.

“Look at Dixon. We could easily have made him into a 20-0 heavyweight with the right kind of matchmaking. But we gave him tough bouts, and we even got him beat.”

Dixon, 10-1, lost a six-rounder to Tui Toia a year ago at the Forum.

In any event, Forum boxing has a problem. John Jackson should invite some Southern California boxing people to the Forum Club for lunch. And make it a long guest list.

John Bray was on the line, calling from Sydney, Australia.

“You should see what they’re doing to us down here, it’s a crime,” said Bray, the Van Nuys heavyweight on the U.S. team boxing at the World Championships of amateur boxing.

“Everyone’s getting robbed, including me and Oscar (de la Hoya, the East Los Angeles lightweight). And they’re twisting our words in the Australian media, too.

“We want everyone in the States to know how we’re getting (cheated) down here. I fought a guy I beat in the Goodwill Games a year ago, and they gave him the decision. I had him folded over in half with body shots, and they still gave it to him.

“Sean Fletcher (U.S. bantamweight) absolutely destroyed this Thai guy, and he lost a 33-9 decision.”

Are the controversial decisions in Australia Down Under at the worlds changing the plans of Bray and de la Hoya to compete in next summer’s Olympic Games?

“I’m going to compete in the Olympics no matter what,” Bray said. “We’re going to have the best U.S. Olympic team since 1976. Because of this computer scoring system, we’ll just have to knock people out, that’s all.

“We trained with the computer system in Colorado Springs and had no problems. Down here, it’s different.”

Joel de la Hoya, Oscar’s father, also said that his son’s defeat won’t change his plans to box in the Olympics.

Boxing Notes

Unbeaten Genaro Hernandez of Los Angeles knocked out Frenchman Daniel Londas in the ninth round for the vacant World Boxing Assn. super-featherweight title Friday night at Epernay, France. Hernandez, 25, is 24-0, with 13 knockouts. Londas, 37, is 55-8 with a draw. The title was vacated during the summer by American Joey Gamache when he was unable to make the weight limit after winning the championship from South African Jerry Ngobeni.

Simon Brown and Buddy McGirt will fight for the WBC welterweight title Friday at The Mirage, on Showtime. Also: Michael Nunn vs. Randall Yonker, in a super-middleweight bout. On Dec. 13, heavyweight contender Riddick Bowe vs. Mike Evans in Atlantic City, on TVKO (pay-per-view). Same show: James Toney vs. Mike McCallum and Charles Murray vs. Livingstone Bramble.

In Australia, they are saying the Jeff Fenech-Azumah Nelson rematch March 1 will sell out 42,000-seat Princess Park Stadium in Melbourne. They fought to a hotly debated draw last June in Las Vegas. . . . The boxer that former junior-lightweight champion Tony Lopez recently stopped in Sacramento, South African Ditau Molefyane, has been dominated in sparring sessions by Costa Mesa’s Rudy Zavala in recent weeks. Zavala will fight Dec. 19 on an ESPN card from Las Vegas.

The Athletic Commission staff has been holding up the manager’s portion of the $1,250 purse of Ghanaian lightweight Ike Quartey, who stopped Kelcie Banks in San Bernardino Nov. 2. After Quartey had won, the commission office in Los Angeles began receiving telegrams from the Ghana boxing commission, demanding to know who was falsely representing themselves as Quartey’s manager. Assistant executive officer Steve English learned that Frederick S. Burke of Bethesda, Md., is claiming to be Quartey’s manager. But Steven Kermah and Seth Asah, both of Los Angeles, are the California managers of record. The Ghana commission protests, claiming Quartey is managed by a Ghanaian. Quartey remains a hot prospect at 15-0.

Laugh of the week: The World Boxing Council notified everyone last week that it wouldn’t recognize the Evander Holyfield-Francesco Damiani fight as a title fight because Damiani, who later pulled out because of an injury, wasn’t ranked in its top 10. So had Holyfield chosen to fight overweight former champion Larry Holmes, 42, instead, it would have been OK with the WBC. The WBC ranks Holmes, who has looked awful in his recent comeback bouts, as the world’s ninth-best heavyweight.