Dixon Finds Support for His New Career : Boxing: Area boxer to leave the amateur ranks after seven years. He will make his debut Wednesday at the Sports Arena.

After seven successful years of amateur boxing, 24-year-old Larry Dixon could not put off a professional career any longer. So Wednesday night at the San Diego Sports Arena, Dixon will get on with his life when he takes on an opponent--to be determined--in a four-round welterweight bout.

Although Dixon probably has had the talent to turn pro for some time, he never had the support staff or the confidence until now.

“There’s a lot of money to be made here,” Dixon said. “There’s also no money to be made and you can get hurt at the same time. You can also be around the wrong people and that can get you in trouble.”

Dixon, a Patrick Henry High graduate, said he finally met the right person in David Love, a top-ranked middleweight in the late 1970s.

“Before I met David I didn’t have anyone I trusted enough to turn pro with,” Dixon said. “That he had a good track record also helped.”

Love had been trained by one of the best, Angelo Dundee, Muhammad Ali’s trainer. But since retiring, Love hasn’t had much to do with boxing.

In Dixon, Love found an amateur with a professional style and a willingness to improve. But before he and Dixon became partners, Love made sure his prospective student was willing to make sacrifices.

“The best part is, he made up his own mind to turn pro,” Love said. “That’s the person who should ultimately decide. Not his dad, not anybody else.”

If it were up to Dixon’s father, Larry Sr., the last thing his son would be doing is boxing.

“My thought is that Larry go to school and get in the business world,” said Dixon’s father, who is managing his son’s career. “When he does get hit and he loses, it hurts. I always told Larry you can get out of boxing.”

Dixon took his father’s advice when he was 10 and traded in his boxing gloves for a baseball bat and football helmet. Looking back, Dixon said he made the right move.

“I had a lot of fun,” Dixon said. “Maybe it was meant for me not to box. I played baseball. We almost went to Williamsport (Pa.). That was something I’ll never forget.

“Boxing, even on the amateur level, you give up a lot. So I don’t know what kind of person I would be if I was giving that up.”

After suffering injuries in football and baseball, Dixon figured he might as well get hurt in a sport he loved. So he returned to boxing at 17.

It turned out to be the right move. Dixon quickly moved up the amateur rankings and eventually became a member of U.S. national boxing team. In 1989, he was ranked third nationally in the 139-pound division.

One problem, Dixon kept running into Glendale’s Pepe Reilly in Olympic qualifying bouts. He lost close decisions to Reilly, the 1992 U.S. Olympic representative in 1991 and 1992. The last 3-2 decision, in the Golden Gloves Southern California Regionals, persuaded Dixon to leave the amateurs.

“It was pretty bad when Pepe came up to me after the fight and told me he thought I won,” Dixon said. “That made me think what am I doing this for. What am I practicing for? It took me a while to get over that mentally.”

But Dixon eventually got over it and now he’s preparing for his first professional fight by sparring with cruiserweight Orlin Norris, who weighs 50 pounds more than Dixon and has had 36 professional fights.

“You can call it sparring, I think he’s playing with me,” said Dixon, who trains at Irish Spud Murphy’s Gym. “I’m learning a lot. Hopefully, I’m helping him out a little bit.”

And hopefully, seasoned boxers like Norris can help Dixon out, too.

“I watch and listen,” Dixon said. “Everybody has a story to tell that I can learn from.”

But at 24, it would appear Dixon would have to speed up his learning process. Terry Norris was a world champion at 24. Meldrick Taylor was a world champion at 21 and now at 25, his boxing career is apparently history.

“I don’t know if it’s all about age now as much as it is being mentally ready and dedicating your life to the sport,” Dixon said. “At 22, I was not ready to be a pro.”

He acknowledged he was almost ready to heed his father’s advice again. A mysterious kidney and spleen ailment made Dixon wonder if boxing was worth all the health risks.

“My father never liked me boxing, but he’s always in my corner,” Dixon said. “If I decided right now, “Dad I don’t want to box,’ he’d be real happy. He knows the aspects of boxing and I don’t blame him.

“When you get something in your blood, it’s hard to get rid of it, no matter what everybody tells you.

“The beauty of the game itself is what I love. The one-on-one combativeness and the sport of figuring someone else out. Maybe I’m living on a dream, but maybe it will be different for me.”

Love predicts that it will be.

“Larry’s probably not going to be a four-rounder very long,” he said. “He’s got a lot of good skills. He can go to the top with what he has. He has good stamina, good shape, he can punch. Now it’s just a matter of accompanying that with good defense and good movement. You’ll see Larry up at the top in two years easy . . . at the rate he’s going now.”

Abel Sanchez, who trained Orlin and Terry Norris and has been watching Dixon in the gym for years, agrees with Love.

“From all indications, he’s going to be a pretty good pro,” Sanchez said. “I look for him to be an undefeated kid for 15, 20 fights. I think he’s as good a prospect as (amateur Robert) Allen is. He seems to have the determination, the grittiness, to be a good one.”