BOXING / EARL GUSTKEY : Why Irvine Promoter Threw In the Towel

It was the greed that goes with the sport, Roy Englebrecht said, that drove him away from one of the most profitable little boxing venues in America.

It came as a surprise to many this week that Englebrecht, after only five shows, had packed it in as the promoter of the Irvine Marriott’s monthly boxing cards.

For seven years, Englebrecht had toiled as promoter Don Fraser’s event coordinator at the Irvine hotel. In a 1,400-seat ballroom, Fraser’s pioneering promotions gave boxing a look it never had before.

It was boxing in the suburbs. Many of the patrons wore coat and ties. Here, there were buffet lines, not hot dog stands. Ringsiders often sipped champagne.

Fraser, who retired last December, had hit the ground running in 1985 and there was never a slump. Sellouts were common, and a sellout meant about $30,000 gross.

In fact, Englebrecht said, business was never better. Season ticket sales recently reached 410, a record.

So what happened?

“It’s a very tough way to make a living,” Englebrecht said.

“It occurred to me awhile back that I’d gone two or three weeks without smiling once. I’m 46. I don’t need that stress. I felt like we were treating boxing people better than anyone, yet it wasn’t working both ways.

“We gave boxers and their managers a hotel room for the day, we fed them lunch after the weigh-ins . . . and I was getting calls from managers two days before a fight, threatening to pull out if they didn’t get more money.

“Fights were falling out at the last minute. It got to the point where, when the phone rang, I wondered how bad this news would be. That kind of emotional stress is foreign to me.

“So it was all of that, plus Ted Luckow and Jim Browning made me a great offer.”

In what Englebrecht said is a six-figure deal, he will serve as a consultant to the new promoters, Luckow and Browning, both of Newport Beach. Englebrecht said he also agreed not to promote boxing shows anywhere in Orange County for five years.

Englebrecht said his biggest problem had been budgeting time, money and energy for the California neurological exams, required of all boxers.

“If you book an out-of-state kid, you’ve got to bring him in here in advance so he can get his neuro, pay his transportation here and back, and then hope he passes the exam,” Englebrecht said.

“Then you pay his transportation all over again for the fight.

“It’s very tough being a promoter in California. I made money at it, but it’s so darn hard getting to that up side. . . . I just felt I was getting old too fast.”

Opinion Department: What ever became of Julio Cesar Chavez?

Of all the sins laid at the feet of his promoter, Don King, probably the most valid is King’s handling of Chavez.

Slightly more than two years ago, Chavez registered a spectacular victory over Meldrick Taylor, stopping him while Chavez was behind on points with two seconds left in the fight.

Chavez was once regarded by some as boxing’s most gifted performer. It would be hard for anyone to claim that for him now, because it’s been so long since he’s had a meaningful fight.

Instead of launching Chavez off the Taylor fight to multimillion-dollar purses, King has succeeded in making Chavez disappear. He achieved that by making Chavez an undercard fighter at Mike Tyson fights.

King can’t do that anymore, though, not with Tyson in prison.

Now, as King faces allegations by his former financial officer that he embezzled some of Tyson’s ring earnings, one of the sport’s great talents continues to languish.

A powerful boxing insider, requesting anonymity, has this explanation for Chavez’s inactivity: “It’s partly King not wanting to risk a Chavez loss and losing control over him, and partly Chavez’s fear of Jose Sulaiman (president of the World Boxing Council).

“It’s not King solo. Sulaiman wants control of Chavez, too.”

Boxing Notes

Van Nuys amateur heavyweight John Bray has won two decisions at the Ft. Huachuca, Ariz., Western Olympic trials and fights Marlin Simpkins of the Army in the final tonight. The winner qualifies for the U.S. Olympic trials June 10-14 at Worcester, Mass.

Bert Cooper, who came within perhaps a single punch of winning the heavyweight championship last November, has another drug rap hanging over his head. Cooper, who had Evander Holyfield hurt and down in their Atlanta match before the champion stopped him, was arrested this week in Chester, Pa., and charged with possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia. He admitted to cocaine addiction in 1989. “Thank God they caught him,” said his mother, Henrietta Cooper. “Maybe when he dries out, he will come back home to those who love him.”

Paid attendance at the Terry Norris-Meldrick Taylor fight May 9 at the Mirage’s 16,000-seat arena was 4,390, official figures show. Total attendance on fight night was announced as 7,000. Gross live receipts: $355,130.

Speaking of tumbling boxing arenas, the outdoor arena at the Mirage is coming down, too. A year-long circus will be held at the stadium’s site. If during that time the Mirage books an outdoor fight, a scaled-down, 8,000-seat version of the stadium will be put up where Mirage employees now park. . . . Light-flyweight champion Michael Carbajal of Phoenix has withdrawn from the undercard of the June 19 Evander Holyfield-Larry Holmes fight because of a hand injury.

Los Angeles heavyweight Tony Tucker was involved in an incident with the flight crew on a recent flight from Los Angeles to Dallas. According to Ring magazine, Tucker got into a beef about not wearing his seat belt, and the plane made an unscheduled stop in Phoenix, where Tucker was removed. Tucker’s manager, Jack Cohen, admitting there had been an “incident,” said the stop in Phoenix had been scheduled and that Tucker got off voluntarily.

Joe Sayatovich, manager of junior-middleweight champion Terry Norris, says welterweight champion Buddy McGirt turned down first $1.3 million, then $1.5 million and then a modified “winner take all” deal in which McGirt would have earned $1.6 million had he beaten Norris. Instead, McGirt chose to fight Patarizio Oliva in Rome June 25--for $200,000.