He’s Entering the Arena of Heavyweights : Boxing: Former Culver City High, Oklahoma State and Cal State Long Beach basketball player to make professional debut on Monday night.

Mark Connolly isn’t too excited about giving interviews.

His manager Larry Williams doesn’t encourage it either. Especially in the days leading up to Connolly’s professional boxing debut Monday night at the Forum.

“Most guys would kill for an interview, but he’s a quiet and introspective person,” Williams said. “I don’t want to get him rattled for his health and sanity. After he gets a couple of fights under his belt and does OK, then I would be happy for us to sit down and talk. He would make a great story.”

A 6-foot-6, 235-pound former basketball player preparing for his first pro fight at 34 wouldn’t normally be mentioned in too many headlines.

But that’s not the case when your parents are Olga and Harold Connolly, gold medalists in the discus and the hammer at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Harold, an American hammer thrower and four-time Olympian, wore ballet shoes during the competition to improve his footing.

Connolly’s mother, then Olga Fikotova, a Czechoslovakian who competed in five Olympics, set an Olympic discus record.

Their Olympic Village romance attracted international attention. Harold crossed the Iron Curtain to marry Fikotova, a former member of the Czechoslovakian national basketball team, in Prague in 1957.

Olga competed in four Olympics for the U.S. and served as the U.S. flag bearer for the 1972 Munich Olympics. The two divorced in 1974 and Harold married Pat Daniels, a three-time U.S. track Olympian.

But Harold and Olga also created a shadow that Mark has never been able to shake.

“To have all this thrown at him has been very hard on Mark,” said Olga, who lives in Culver City. “You can be born with a strong physique and good health, but you can’t inherit athletic skills. You have to work awfully hard. It’s insulting and ridiculous. He’s tried to escape it, but it’s been tormenting him and he feels the need to go prove himself.”

The achievements of his younger siblings, 30-year-old twins Jim and Merja, certainly doesn’t help.

Jim was the 1987 NCAA champion in the decathlon at UCLA and was ranked fourth in the U.S. that year by Track & Field News magazine. Merja was an All-American on the Bruins’ 1984 national championship volleyball team played professional in Italy.

Mark demonstrated equal promise in basketball at Culver City High as a senior in 1977. He earned All-Southern Section honors and was selected The Times’ Westside Player of the Year after averaging 19.7 points and 16.5 rebounds.

Connolly went to Oklahoma State on a basketball scholarship, but back problems forced him to sit out a year after high school.

He didn’t start any games as a freshman, but became a part-time starter in his sophomore season in 1980. He started 14 of 25 games and averaged 4.7 points. Connolly dropped his weight down to 190 pounds before his junior season to increase his quickness.

“The coaches told me I’d lost too much weight--20 or 30 pounds--and I wasn’t as effective,” Connolly said in a 1982 interview. “I wanted to be quicker and worked on my outside game. They needed a (rebounder) underneath.”

He started only three games his junior year and his averaged dipped to 2.6 points. Discouraged, Connolly flunked out of school and transferred to Cal State Long Beach. After sitting out a season, he joined the basketball team as a walk-on in the 1982-83 season, but scored only 45 points in 22 games as a reserve.

After completing his collegiate eligibility, a boxing promoter approached Connolly at a summer league game at Loyola Marymount and suggested that he pursue a career in boxing.

Connolly played semi-professional basketball in Germany until he said his “career fizzled out” and he decided to take the promoter’s advice.

Connolly worked as a waiter and dabbled occasionally in boxing. He decided to move to Las Vegas to concentrate solely on boxing in 1987.

“I miss the beach and the weather but I tried driving to gyms in Van Nuys and downtown L.A. but (in Las Vegas) I can always find an abundance of heavyweights,” Connolly said. “What we’re trying to do here is focus on a disciplined lifestyle.”

Connolly advanced to the super heavyweight title bout in the 1990 U.S. Olympic Festival in St. Paul, Minn., and compiled a 15-5 record with six knockouts.

Now, Connolly is ready for a shot at the professional ranks. Or is he?

Three weeks ago, Connolly severed ties with trainer Cornelius Boza Edwards, who insisted the boxer turn pro.

“He tells me he’s not ready,” said Edwards, a former World Boxing Council junior lightweight champion. “His parents were superstars and he looks to it as a goal issue. His self-confidence wasn’t there.”

Connolly, however, said he made the change because he needed more individualized attention. Under Edwards, Connolly also trained with heavyweights Jesse Prieto (9-4-2) and James Broad (24-6). Connolly still trains in the Golden Gloves gym in Las Vegas, but now under the supervision of Kevin Brantham.

On Monday night, Connolly will fight Paul Griffin, 23, of Oxnard (0-1) in a four-round bout. The 6-foot-2 Griffin lost his debut against Andre Perry in May, but was 42-8 as an amateur.

Edwards doesn’t think Griffin should pose too much difficulty for the right-handed Connolly. Edwards says Connolly’s ability to throw a strong punch with either hand will give him a decided advantage.

Connolly, though, remains skeptical.

“I really say can’t what’s going to happen,” Connolly said. “There are a lot of guys who have dropped one or two fights in the beginning and gone on and done well. Hopefully I can do a better interview after the fight. The whole thing is confidence. It goes up when I’m winning.”