BOXING / EARL GUSTKEY : Lightweights Are Producing a Heavy Share of Excitement

The lightweight division, the one that gave boxing some of its most legendary names--Joe Gans, Battling Nelson, Ad Wolgast, Joe Rivers, Henry Armstrong, Carlos Ortiz and Roberto Duran--is shooting off sparks again.

Even as we begin a month when most everyone has heavyweights on their minds, the sport’s 135-pounders are producing the most excitement this side of Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe.

Moreover, much of the excitement is being caused by California lightweights and junior-lightweights, 130-pounders:

--Tony Lopez’s dramatic knockout of Joey Gamache in Maine last Saturday put the Sacramento boxer into the spotlight. For one thing, Lopez (41-3) is a champion again, having won the World Boxing Assn.’s slice of the lightweight crown.

--Rafael Ruelas (33-1) of Sylmar and Jorge Paez (41-4-4) of Mexicali, Mexico, both ranked in nearly everyone’s top 10, will fight next Friday night at the Forum in what could attract the largest Southland boxing crowd in years.

--Oscar De La Hoya, the only U.S. gold medalist at the Barcelona Olympics, will make his pro debut Nov. 23 at the Forum and will appear on televised cards Dec. 12 and Jan. 3.

--Miguel Angel Gonzalez (28-0) of Mexico City is the World Boxing Council lightweight champion. The Forum would like to match him with the Paez-Ruelas winner. And promoter Don Chargin would like to match him in Sacramento with Lopez in a unification fight.

--David Sample (19-0) of Las Vegas hasn’t broken through to the top echelon yet, but many expect him to. Sample is managed by Gladys Steele, wife of Nevada referee Richard Steele. Sample will fight Ken Baysmore in Washington, D.C., Nov 12.

--Genaro Hernandez (26-0) of Mission Viejo is the WBA junior-lightweight champion. He will pick up a $150,000 purse in Tokyo on Nov. 20 in his third defense, against Yuji Watanabe.

Hernandez, of Los Angeles, still hasn’t established himself here, more because of boxing politics than anything else. Three of his four title matches have been in Europe or Japan.

Hernandez’s manager, Nori Takatani, believes that Hernandez could move right into the spotlight with a Forum match with Rafael Ruelas’ junior-lightweight brother, Gabe, for the world championship.

--Junior-lightweight Australian Jeff Fenech fits into the puzzle almost anywhere. Chargin said that a Lopez-Fenech match would sell out Sacramento’s Arco Arena.

Probably the most action-oriented boxer in the group, Fenech would be a big draw against anyone in this group anywhere.

So would a Lopez-Paez rematch. When they fought Sept. 22, 1990, in Sacramento, they drew a California-record gate, $601,000, and an Arco crowd of 15,008.

“It would be another huge gate, if they fought again,” Chargin said. “It would draw 15,000 again. If Tony fought (Rafael) Ruelas at Arco, that would do about 10,000.

“Tony’s back in the driver’s seat with that win. If he’d lost to Gamache, he’d have had to take a long look at things. He’s 29 now, and I want him to earn the biggest purses of his career in the coming year. He got $315,000 for the Paez fight.”

Chargin added that Brian Mitchell, the former South African champion, plans to come out ofretirement soon and has already contacted Chargin about a third Lopez-Mitchell fight. But first, Lopez must face another South African, Dingaan Thobela (28-0), a mandatory defense Lopez inherited from Gamache.

Perhaps the most interesting California lightweight matchup would be a Rafael Ruelas-Tony Lopez main event at the grand opening of the new Olympic auditorium, tentatively scheduled for March.

The old fight palace at 18th and Grand has been undergoing renovation for a year, and 10,000 new theater seats are on order.

Said Dan Goossen, Ruelas’ promoter-manager: “Can you imagine--Rafael and Tony Lopez at the Olympic, on opening night? I get excited, just thinking about it.”

Boxing Notes

The Forum will have three boxing shows in 18 days, beginning with next Friday’s long-awaited Rafael Ruelas-Jorge Paez lightweight feature. On Monday, Nov. 9, unbeaten Mexican junior-welterweight Carlos Gonzalez (33-0 with 30 knockouts) will fight Lorenzo Smith (20-0-1) of Chicago. The Nov. 23 headliner is Olympian Oscar De La Hoya, who will turn pro in a six-rounder against LeMar Williams (7-2-1) of Erie, Pa. The Forum’s last 1992 show will be a Dec. 7 match between WBC light-flyweight champion Humberto Gonzalez and Melchor Cob Castro. . . . The Ruelas-Paez bout, originally scheduled for Oct. 19, was postponed when Paez was injured in a motorcycle accident. Tickets sold for that date will be honored at the gate next Friday. . . .

The Superior Court trial of boxer Dio Colome vs. the State of California went to the jury Friday. Colome is seeking $25 million for lost boxing purses and the emotional distress of having failed a 1988 state-required neurological exam. Improper administration of the exam, he claims, contributed to the termination of his boxing career.

One reason Riddick Bowe’s manager, Rock Newman, selected Sun River Resort in Oregon as a training site for Bowe’s match with heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield on Nov. 13 is solitude. But the other day, a Bowe camp spokeswoman said, 400 showed up to watch Bowe spar. One spectator, Craig Marx, said he had hitchhiked 360 miles to see Bowe. He watched Bowe work out for two hours, then stuck his thumb out and headed home--but only after he was photographed with the challenger.

A surprise name on the U.S. boxing team roster that will meet a Russian team Nov. 13 and 17 at Tallahassee, Fla., and Hershey, Pa., is that of Pepe Reilly of Glendale. Reilly, a 21-year-old Glendale Hoover High graduate, was the welterweight on the U.S. Olympic team last summer and was eliminated in the quarterfinals. Reilly and his father, Fred, found offers to turn pro underwhelming, so the boxer will remain an amateur for the time being. Julian Wheeler, the Olympic team featherweight who was eliminated during the preliminaries at Barcelona, is also on the USA-Russian team.

Meanwhile, Fred Reilly is working on an effort to allow U.S. boxers’ personal coaches work in the corners at future Olympics. Reilly and other coaches were unhappy with both the administration and the coaching staff of the U.S. effort at Barcelona and want major changes before the Atlanta Olympics. “When I work with my son in his corner, he wins,” Reilly said. “There is no reason why some sort of floating credential system can’t be put in, so that these kids’ coaches can work their corners. There was no scouting at all at Barcelona--some of our kids were going into bouts not even knowing if their opponent was right- or left-handed until the bell rang.”

Mike Tyson has not asked to go to his father’s funeral, but would not be allowed to anyway, according to published reports out of Plainfield, Ind., where Tyson is serving a prison term for rape. Jimmy Kirkpatrick, who was married to Tyson’s late mother, Lorna Tyson, died Tuesday in Brooklyn at 68. “Mike was informed Wednesday by the prison chaplain of his father’s passing,” Indiana prison spokesman Kevin Moore said, in an Associated Press dispatch. “He was distraught and upset. However, he will not be able to attend the funeral. We do not send offenders out of state, especially considering his crimes.”

Coming fights: Junior-featherweights Jesus Poll and Jesus Salud Nov. 11 at the San Diego Sports Arena. Tony Tubbs vs. Mike Gans at the Hollywood Palladium Dec. 9, subject to commission approval. . . . Some of the items scheduled to go on the block at an auction in Lindenwold, N.J., Nov. 20: A ticket to the 1919 Jack Dempsey-Jess Willard fight, bidding to start at $225; the X-ray of Muhammad Ali’s jaw, showing where it was broken by Ken Norton in 1973, $50; Floyd Patterson-Ingemar Johansson program from their first fight, autographed by Patterson, $195; program from Dempsey’s second fight with Gene Tunney, with “some wear and dirt stains,” $495.

Bob Arum’s pay-per-view card at Phoenix on Dec. 12 will have Michael Carbajal vs. Robinson Cuesta, Scotty Olson vs. Jose Luis Zepeda, Tommy Morrison vs. Marshall Tillman, and Oscar De La Hoya vs. an opponent to be determined. . . . HBO’s delayed telecast of Lennox Lewis vs. Razor Ruddock from London tonight will begin here at 7:30. Only 4,000 tickets had been sold by Thursday for the fight, which will be held in the 17,000-seat Earl’s Court. Ruddock is a 2-1 pick in London betting shops. . . . The World Boxing Hall of Fame induction banquet is scheduled for Nov. 7 at the Los Angeles Marriott, 6 p.m.