BOXING / RICK TOSCHES : California’s Ailing Economy Almost Swallowed the Sport

The economic quagmire that has swallowed up thousands of jobs in California nearly gulped down an entire sport this week: boxing. Only a successful last-minute appeal to state legislators prevented the nation’s busiest boxing state from shutting down professional fights.

Bill Eastman, the police chief in Pleasanton and the Athletic Commission’s chairman, along with Executive Officer Richard DeCuir, persuaded the Senate Budget Committee and the Assembly Budget Committee to provide $200,000 in additional funding to keep the struggling Athletic Commission in business for the next three years.

DeCuir had said that without the emergency funding, boxing could have been halted in California by midsummer.

The long-range goal, according to DeCuir, is to make the Athletic Commission self-sufficient with revenues generated from the more than 125 boxing shows it sanctions each year. A potential new source of income is a proposed cable-TV tax--to be paid directly to the Athletic Commission--on all pay-per-view boxing telecasts shown in California, regardless of where the fights are held. Such a tax, DeCuir said, would solve nearly all of the Athletic Commission’s financial problems. A decision by legislators on that proposal is pending.

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A blockbuster fight matching two Californians--WBC junior-middleweight champion Terry Norris of Campo, Calif., and WBA middleweight champion Reggie Johnson of Long Beach--is in the works and could happen as early as July, according to Dan Goossen. He should know. He’s the promoter for Norris and Johnson.

First, Johnson must get past tough Jorge Castro of Argentina on May 4. If he does, the fight against Norris is locked up. It would be televised on HBO. No site has been chosen.

“The original direction we wanted for Terry was to push immediately for a $10-million showdown against Julio Cesar Chavez,” Goossen said. “We wanted Terry to go down in weight before going up to middleweight. But when Chavez’s people wanted no part of that, then we decided to bring Terry into the middleweight division and show his supremacy there.”

Why not match Norris against WBC champion Julian Jackson or the IBF title-holder, either Roy Jones Jr. or Bernard Hopkins, who will fight for that vacated title on May 22? Because Don King controls Jackson and Bob Arum has promotional rights to likely IBF champion Jones, and Goossen, who has had problems dealing with both King and Arum, would rather take a Mike Tyson right hand to the chops than have to deal with them again.

So in the Norris-Johnson match-up, he will lose one champion, but the winner emerges as a boxing giant. If it is Norris--and not everyone would pick him to beat the slick, harder-punching Johnson--he would then crash-diet his way back to the welterweight division where Chavez would probably be fighting and force a fight with the great Mexican champion. If Johnson wins, he and Goossen then bring tremendous leverage into negotiations with King and Arum for middleweight unification bouts.

Johnson, with a victory, could also move into the super-middleweight division and challenge the names there, including former IBF middleweight champion James Toney and former Goossen fighter Michael Nunn, who left the Ten Goose Boxing Club because of a contract dispute several years ago.

“Johnson against Nunn,” Goossen said. “That would be nice.”

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Oscar De La Hoya, who ran his record to 6-0 with a victory over Mike Grable this week in Rochester, N.Y., suffered his first serious cut. But not in the fight. Grable hardly touched him. De La Hoya cut his lip two days before the bout when he ran into the edge of his hotel door.

“I came out of my room and I was in such a hurry, I opened the door halfway and banged into it,” said the 1992 Olympic gold medalist. “I was worried. It actually split my lip open.”

If only Grable had been as good as the door. De La Hoya battered him almost at will, knocking him down twice and forcing a standing-eight count in the final round. The lopsided decision, however, marked De La Hoya’s first pro fight that went the distance.

A frantic schedule of as many as two fights a month could bring De La Hoya into a title fight near the end of the year, with WBA lightweight champion Tony Lopez of Sacramento a probable target.

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Pepe Reilly of Glendale, the 1992 U.S. Olympic team member in the welterweight division, fights for the second time as a pro on April 24 at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas against an opponent to be determined. The fight will be on the undercard of the Roger Mayweather-Zack Padilla WBC junior welterweight title fight.

Reilly was impressive in his pro debut March 14, knocking down Mark Fornelli in the first round and then stopping him with five seconds left in the round.

Boxing Notes

WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis of Britain and countryman Frank Bruno have agreed to fight in September in the most lucrative bout in British history, with gross revenues projected at more than $27 million. Both, however, must win their next fights: Lewis in a title defense against Tony Tucker on May 8 and Bruno against Carl Williams on April 24.

Lewis laughed at rumors that he had agreed to a bout against Mike Tyson if Tyson were freed from prison on appeal of his six-year sentence for rape. According to Lewis’ manager, Frank Maloney, the rumor was started by Don King. “The last thing (Lewis) needs is any more of King’s rantings and ravings,” Maloney said.

Good news: The IBF has passed legislation requiring all fighters in championship bouts to set aside 2% of each purse for a pension fund. Bad news: The limit is $30,000 annually, roughly what Roberto Duran can spend on a good afternoon.