BOXING NOTEBOOK / DAVE McKIBBEN : Lesser-Known Fighters Top Card

A Francisco Segura-Narisco Valenzuela headline bout is probably not what local promoter Scott Woodworth had in mind when he announced four months ago that a new era in big-name boxing was about to begin at the Sports Arena.

But Segura and Valenzuela, both unranked junior lightweights and relative unknowns to local fight fans, will top tonight’s six-bout card beginning at 7 p.m. Segura (19-5, with 10 knockouts) hails from Coachella and Valenzuela (34-10-2 with 23 knockouts) is from Tijuana.

Segura’s most noteworthy victories came during his amateur career, when he beat Olympians Todd Foster and Kelcie Banks. Valenzuela, 26, has fought former world champion Tony Lopez and highly ranked Rafael Ruelas, but he lost both bouts.

Despite both fighters’ lack of name recognition, Woodworth contends that the Segura-Valenzuela fight will be “a war” and that there is enough San Diego flavor on the undercard to create local interest. Local boxers Paul Vaden, a middleweight who is undefeated in 11 bouts, Tony Gonzalez and Lee Tonks are scheduled to fight.

Woodworth said he had sold 425 tickets as of Tuesday afternoon, similar to the sales pace before last month’s Sports Arena card, which ended up drawing 2,100. But that bout featured ranked junior featherweights Jesus Salud and Rudy Zavala in the main event.

Even Woodworth acknowledged that the walk-up attendance that boosted the July event may not be there tonight because of some cross-town competition: the Charger-Ram game also kicks off at 7 p.m. at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

But crowds of even 2,100 fans are less than what Woodworth and Sports Arena General Manager Richard Esquinas envisioned when they began their monthly shows seven months ago. In April, they brought in well-connected World Boxing Assn. attorney Jimmy Binns to help line up crowd-pleasing matches with top-ranked fighters.

While Binns has helped open lines of communication between Woodworth and prominent WBA promoters and managers, the connections have yet to pay off for Woodworth and San Diego boxing fans.

Woodworth sees the Forum in Inglewood drawing about 6,000 for a Jorge Paez-Brian Brown fight and he wonders why he can’t do the same.

“I’m really surprised it’s taken this long to (attract) the core,” Woodworth said of San Diego’s boxing fans, the bulk of whom he believes are dormant.

But even though his crowds are ranging from 2,000 to 2,500, Woodworth said he is happy because his base is increasing monthly and the Sports Arena is not being hurt financially.

Woodworth promises that his bouts will soon be more appealing. He is trying to land a title bout pitting Orlin Norris of San Diego and Bobby Czyz of Montgomery Township, N.J. for Czyz’s WBA cruiserweight championship. He’d also like to host a bout between Puerto Rico’s Wilfredo Vazquez and San Diego’s Jesus Salud for Vazquez’s WBA junior featherweight title.

But neither fight is a sure thing. The Norris-Czyz purse bid, the amount that a promoter must pay to land the bout, was too high ($200,000) for Woodworth to pay and the match-up is as yet unscheduled.

“That’s kind of steep,” Woodworth said. “That’s just real risky. We would have to draw 5,500 to 6,000 fans to break even.”

Reportedly, Binns has helped drop the purse bid to $150,000. Cedric Kushner, Norris’ promoter, is still working on bringing the fight to San Diego.

It is also possible that Czyz will vacate his WBA title to avoid defending against Norris. Reports have Czyz fighting World Boxing Council champion Anaclet Wamba or International Boxing Federation champion Alfred Cole. In either case, Norris, the WBA’s No. 1 contender, would fight the second- or third-ranked contender for the title.

A Salud-Vazquez fight in November is being held up by Vazquez, who is mulling over an offer to fight Thierry Jacob of France. Binns is helping Woodworth in negotiations to host the bout.

Supposedly, Binns’ connection with the WBA was going to help bring fights such as Vazquez-Salud and Norris-Czyz to the Sports Arena. But his involvement has yet to produce concrete results.

Although he is not naming names, Woodworth said his September card will include all heavyweights, including one bout featuring a boxer ranked in the top 10 by the WBC and WBA.

Vaden, who graduated from Patrick Henry High, has been a regular boxer on Sports Arena cards but has taken the last two months off to rest his ailing hand and to reorganize his management team. Former Charger Ernie Wright has left Vaden’s group, Ultimate Sports Associates. Vaden is now being managed by Bob and Derrick Fox and trained by Abel Sanchez and Maurice Betts.

Vaden said Sanchez, who trains Terry and Orlin Norris, and has given him a new outlook on boxing.

“I feel like an excited student,” he said. “I’ve been learning a lot. He’s giving me a confidence to not leave so soon after throwing combinations.”

Since turning professional almost two years ago, Vaden has been attempting to lose his amateur style.

“Things are slowing down for me inside,” Vaden said. “I’m following through more with my right hands and my stance is also different.”

Undefeated middleweight Roy Jones was close to signing for a fight with WBA middleweight champion Reggie Johnson, but the bout was called off when No. 1 rated-WBA contender Lamar Parks decided to take his mandatory title shot against Johnson.

If a Jones-Johnson bout had been held in California, Woodworth said he would have owned the promotional rights. Woodworth contends Jones still owes him a fight from 1990, when Jones pulled out of a scheduled fight because of an apparent sore throat. Rich DeCuir, executive officer for the state athletic commission, backed Woodworth up and said Jones would have to honor or buy out his $10,000 contract with Woodworth before he signed with any other promoter.

Stanley Levin, Jones’ adviser, doesn’t agree.

“We have no contract obligations to anybody, anywhere,” said Levin, who is based in Pensacola, Fla. “That contract called for a particular opponent on a particular night.”

The dispute might not amount to anything, unless a rumored Jones-Terry Norris fight takes place in California.