TAKING A FINAL SWING : Boxer Ivan Clark Isn’t Ready to Put Dreams in the Corner

Ivan Clark has a hard time explaining to people why, at 26, he’s still chasing this silly dream of his to make the U.S. Olympic boxing team.

He even asks himself sometimes, “Shouldn’t I be out in the real world providing for myself and helping to provide for my 4-year-old son instead of spending hours in the gym honing my skills for a dubious cause?”

In fact, last year Clark briefly gave up hope of ever making the team and gave a new career turn a try, working for Sony Corp. and Southwestern Cable as an installer. But he couldn’t let the dream go and soon returned to the gym, only more dedicated to to reach his goal.

Tonight at 7, Clark, a 165-pound left-hander with a 43-6 amateur record, will give his dream one last jab as he fights in the Amateur Boxing Federation regional championships at the Scottish Rite Temple.

The tournament, which ends Sunday, is only the second step in a long, involved process that will decide the Olympic boxing team. Even Clark acknowledges his chances of making the team are distant, but his road to the Olympics has been so long already, what’s another few miles?

His road began on the streets of Washington, D.C., where Clark first became interested in boxing.

“Coming up in Washington, you box all the time,” he said. “There weren’t gang stabbings or anything like today, it was one-on-one with your fists. I was undefeated.”

Clark took his undefeated record to the Navy, where he learned more about boxing fundamentals.

After his discharge from the Navy in 1987, he had visions of making the 1988 Olympic team.

But that all changed a month after Clark left the Navy. While Clark and his friend were driving home to San Diego from Los Angeles one night, his friend fell asleep at the wheel and crossed the I-5 center divider near Oceanside.

The next thing Clark knew, he was upside down in the northbound lanes with a truck headed right for him.

“The truck came so close, it blew us off the street a little bit,” Clark said. “The guy in the truck came back to help us and I was on my way to the hospital in a helicopter.”

Clark’s friend came out unscathed, but Clark wasn’t as fortunate. He tore nearly all the ligaments in his knee and broke his right foot in half. Pins were used to put his foot back together, but the surgery left him without an arch.

“I wasn’t supposed to walk again,” he said. “I was supposed to have a limp forever.”

And for a year and half, the doctors were right.

“I dragged that foot around, and I looked like a pirate or something,” Clark said.

But eventually Clark got rid of the limp and got back into the gym.

He was fighting out of Coons Gym with moderate success, but there was something stopping him from taking his talent to the next level--and it wasn’t his damaged right foot.

“I used to train so hard, but I was always tired in the fight,” Clark said. “I guess it was a combination of nervous exhaustion and the type of training I was doing.”

Trainer Hank Pniak, who first noticed the stamina problem, moved from Coons to Bates Street with Clark and began to change Clark’s workout. But more than anything, he took Clark’s mind off his problem.

“The whole thing was mental,” Pniak said. “He had the wind, it was just a mental block. He had a hard time lasting three rounds.”

Clark’s lack of stamina cost him an opportunity to advance to last year’s ABF nationals. He was disqualified for holding in the third round of the regional finals.

Shortly after the ABF disappointment, Clark lost a controversial decision and finished third at the national Golden Gloves championships. He figured the judges were trying to tell him something.

“We had come so far, but we still didn’t reach that goal,” he said. “We got a controversial decision. It was the boxer versus the brawler and the brawler won. I just got fed up.

“I was training so hard, but then after you lose, all you get is a trophy. The Olympics was 20 miles down the road. I said, ‘That’s it. I’ve got a kid to take care of.’ It was very, very discouraging.”

Pniak understood his boxer’s disappointment, but he knew Clark would never forgive himself if he didn’t take at least one more shot at the Olympics.

“I told him, ‘You’ll never have another chance at this,’ ” Pniak said. “I know it’s tough, but you have to give it a try. I’ve been there. You remember stuff like this more than anything else. You won’t remember the hardships. When you’re older, you’ll only remember what you didn’t do.’ ”

Clark finally gave in when Pniak gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Pniak bought Clark a car so he wouldn’t have an excuse to miss workouts at Bates Street, some three miles from his North Park apartment. He also offered financial support so boxing could be Clark’s full-time occupation.

But why was Pniak going to all this trouble for a 26-year-old amateur who had never proven he was anything more than a good street fighter?

“If he didn’t have it, I would have told him long ago to go get a job,” Pniak said. “But he’s so talented and he has so much going for him, that I feel he’s worth it.”

To reach the regionals, Clark won a decision at the districts in Oceanside last weekend. The competition will be better at the regionals with the best from Los Angeles and Las Vegas standing in Clark’s way from a trip to the nationals Feb. 24-30 in Colorado Springs.

But even if he advances past Colorado Springs, there are two more tournaments to win before he can secure a spot on the Olympic team.

“I’m in tuned to making the team,” Clark said. “If I do get a shot at one of the top guys, I hope I’m on that night.”

And if he’s not?

“I can sit down and tell my son, ‘If there’s something that you truly believe in, go for it,’ ” he said. “And if I don’t get the gold, I can tell him I was still up there trying.”