Boxer Wants to Prove He’s Not Just Another Pretty Face : Arena bouts: Englishman Hall gets the fight he needs Thursday.

He is not the marquee name and he is not scheduled for the main event. Instead, Allan Hall is just one of 16 names on a crowded eight-bout card Thursday presented by Arena Boxing at the San Diego Sports Arena.

But boxing insiders say Hall’s persona is so captivating that his future could be marked by bright lights, headlines, legions of adoring fans . . . even motion picture cameras.

“The kid has a lot of marketability,” said Jim Troy, the international sports consultant chiefly responsible from bringing Hall here from London for a six-round bout against Russell Mosley of Campo. “He’s very handsome, very articulate . . . he doesn’t look like a boxer. He’s very popular in England.

“In fact, Sky Television in England has approached us about putting him in some soap operas.”

With movie-star looks and a quick wit, Hall, 22, might be a potential heartthrob in his native land, but he could soon be changing his address. In an effort resurrect his stagnant boxing career, he has moved to San Diego for six weeks. If all goes well in the ring, Troy, president of International Communications Consulting, Inc., will try to move Hall here permanently.

With a 12-0 record and eight knockouts at 140 pounds, Hall has been one of England’s most sought-after junior welterweights since he defeated Skipper Kelp in an international amateur event in Finland in 1988 as a member of his country’s national team. Kelp is currently 17-0 as a pro under promoter Bob Arum.

Unfortunately for the Britons, there are not enough Kelps back home. Hall hasn’t trained in 10 months. It seems nobody in Britain has the guts to fight him. He has come here looking for a challenge, more victories and the chance to become a title contender. But he must first get out of the doldrums.

“I was living with my manager in London,” Hall said. “I couldn’t get anyone to fight me. It was me family’s reputation, I guess. They were asking for too much money. I was even fighting for nothing, just to let the other lad get some extra money. After a while, I wasn’t motivated; I couldn’t get into it.”

Hall scoffs at Troy’s talk of his good looks and high-profile prospects. That’s all hype. He doesn’t see himself anywhere but on the canvas or at home with his family in Darlington, an industrial city near the southern border of the County of Durham. Hall is one of eight children--seven of them boys, four of them boxers. Nicholas, 23, Simon, 19, and Michael, 17, like Allan, were national amateur champions in England.

They learned how to fight from their father, Alan, a former gymnast who never boxed but built a gym--complete with ring and speed bags--for his sons in the back-yard greenhouse.

“I’m just an average guy,” Hall said “I’m a shy person, very shy. (Television appearances) are not for me, yet. I’ll try and make it in boxing first. I don’t even like to have my picture taken . . .”

Hall’s opponent, Mosley, is a former member of the Terry Norris camp who trained under Abel Sanchez and was managed by Joe Sayatovich. He has a 5-7 record against some tough opponents. And although their six-round bout is part of the undercard--super-flyweights Miguel “Maquito” Martinez (21-4, 19 knockouts) vs. Henry Lopez (24-1) are featured in the 10-round main event--Hall’s bout is big news back home.

Nobody’s seen him, nor heard from him.

He hasn’t worked in a long time. His girlfriend, Esther Gilbert, gave birth to a son, Ryan Lee Hall, 18 months ago. Allan Hall was getting content restoring and reselling cars that insurance companies had totaled. It’s good money, he said. Plus everybody in the family is now driving “inexpensive expensive” cars.

But Hall is also ranked No. 4 by the British Boxing Board of Control. He is considered No. 9 in Europe. People want to see him box, so much that this fight will be televised (tape-delayed) in England, Spain, Puerto Rico and possibly France.

“When I rang my dad up and said I’m off to America, he was pleased, “ said Hall. “He’s come to all me fights. But lately he said he was just watching me waste myself away. It’s a new start. I haven’t done anything. I’ve not sparred in a long time. I used to spar with me brothers.

“But Nick packed it in (retired from boxing), Simon left home and Michael kept going down and training with the England squad. He just won a silver medal in the Junior Europeans in 135 pounds.

“I needed something like this. I was laying in bed Saturday and I got a phone call from (manager Frank Maloney). I told him three weeks ago I wanted to go fight in the U.S. or South America. He called and gave me three hours notice. He said, ‘Get your bags packed and get down to Heathrow.’ ”

Hall should benefit from having Maloney and Troy in his corner. Maloney also manages English heavyweight Lennox Lewis.

The only other time Hall was in the United States was two years ago, to train in Lewis’ camp before Lewis fought on the same card as Mike Tyson in Atlantic City, N.J.

“Lewis has said Hall could be world champ if he can get the work,” said Troy, who represents Arum, Dan Duva and Don King, among others. “But there are not a lot of junior-welterweights there. Here, there are a lot of Hispanics in that weight category.

“He’s a straight-up-and-down boxer, like most Englishmen. He’s a very good counter puncher. I think that style is very conducive to this market, because a majority of Mexican fighters come straight in, very macho, looking to go to war. He’s got very quick hands, and when he makes you miss, he makes you pay.

“You don’t see a lot of welterweights walking around with eight knockouts. You don’t see Meldrick Taylor or Pernell Whitaker knocking a lot of guys out.

“(Hall is) going to see a lot of different styles here and get some wins. Before his last fight, he didn’t even spar because they couldn’t find a boxer with the same style. He went in and knocked the guy out.”

Hall will have three fights during his visit, the others scheduled for July 4 in Mexico and July 26 at a site to be determined. Then he will return to England and vie for a British belt. He hopes to return to the U.S. with enough experience to go eight to 10 rounds. The first step toward that came Monday, when he walked into Murphy’s Gym downtown and trained for the first time in nearly a year.

There, he eyed his opponent, Mosley, sparring.

“It’s like make-or-break for me now,” he said, “but I’m confident. If I concentrate and everything goes right, he’ll be no problem. When I’m in the ring, I don’t quit.”

Notes

Five-time world champion Roberto Duran is expected to appear at the public weigh-in at 6 p.m. today in the Mission Bay room at the Princess Resort Hotel, 1404 West Vacation Road, and will be on hand for the fight Thursday. A party will be held at the hotel’s Barefoot Bar and Grill afterward. Junior-welterweight David Santos of San Francisco (17-1, 7 knockouts), who will fight Jarrocho Gonzalez of Tijuana (27-3) on the undercard, is one of Duran’s sparring partners.