A Night for Seeing Stars Both Inside and Outside the Ring : Boxing: De La Hoya and three other undefeated fighters will reopen the Olympic Auditorium in grand style.

By TIM KAWAKAMI

March 5, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The building is 70 years old and Oscar De La Hoya is 21, but both are looking forward to making a fresh start tonight when the lights go up and the bell sounds.

Both have undergone renovations in the last four months: Since Nov. 1, the Olympic Auditorium has received $5 million in improvements after years of neglect; De La Hoya has absorbed and then tried to erase the stain on his pristine public image left by a bitter battle to separate himself from his former managers.

Tonight, De La Hoya makes his first world title challenge (albeit for a minor title) at the Olympic when he faces Jimmi Bredahl of Denmark, the World Boxing Organization junior-lightweight champion, in the featured bout on the Olympic’s first major card in nearly a decade.

In the co-feature, James Toney will defend his International Boxing Federation super-middleweight title against No. 1 contender Tim Littles.

All four fighters are undefeated.

De La Hoya, 11-0 with 10 knockouts, has had trouble in the past even coming close to the 130-pound junior-lightweight limit, but he surprised himself and his trainer, Robert Alcazar, with his quick weight loss during training the last seven weeks at Big Bear City.

Although De La Hoya has never fought at less than 131 as a professional, he was confident enough about his weight that he apparently did not rigorously protest the Bredahl camp’s request to have the WBO weigh-in moved from Friday night to this morning at 8 a.m., giving De La Hoya less time to recover if he has trouble making the limit.

“It’s weird, now that I’m at weight, I feel stronger than I used to at 136 to 140,” De La Hoya said. “I’ve been surprising myself and surprising everyone. I’m going to show that 130 is no problem for me, and I’ll probably stay at that weight for a long time.

“The time off came at a perfect time for me. I had a few problems with my managers, and the pressure was getting to me. I kind of had to refocus.

“Now I feel great. I don’t feel rusty at all.”

Promoter Bob Arum, whose 25-fights-a-year commitment to the Olympic enabled the old palace to reopen, promises an auditorium full of old fighters and celebrities tonight as he seeks to evoke a sense of the building’s glory days and of its potential future.

“What I remember about the Olympic is that I’d better put on a good fight,” said De La Hoya, whose father, trainer and grandfather all fought in the building. “The fans are all really knowledgeable fans, and they get mad if you don’t really get in there and fight.”

The last time De La Hoya fought was Oct. 30 in Phoenix, when he knocked out Narciso Valenzuela in the first round after being knocked down himself 30 seconds into the fight.

A few days before his next scheduled fight, Dec. 9 in New York, De La Hoya split from his managers and scuttled the bout. So, De La Hoya has fought less than one round since his August knockout of Angelo Nunez in Beverly Hills.

Half of De La Hoya’s $1-million purse from tonight’s bout will go toward his settlement with former managers Steve Nelson and Robert Mittleman. The $600,000 buyout will be completed when Nelson and Mittleman receive $100,000 from De La Hoya’s next purse.

Bredahl, 16-0 with five knockouts, has maintained a smiling confidence throughout this week in Los Angeles, and at Thursday’s news conference, he handed De La Hoya an invitation to Bredahl’s planned victory party tonight.

Bredahl, who trained for this fight in Houston, won the championship in September, 1992, but has fought only once outside Denmark and never before in the United States.

“I know he’s a good boxer, a good technician, but he has no power,” De La Hoya said. “I’m not thinking that I’m going to walk right through him, but he will not beat me.”

Bredahl’s camp will collect a purse of $300,000 for this fight.

With a national audience watching on HBO, De La Hoya said he knows he has something to prove in the ring--and outside it. For reasons beyond any belt, this might be the most important fight in his 16-month professional career.

“I want to show that (the management crisis) did not affect me whatsoever,” De La Hoya said. “I’m still the same person, I’m still the same guy that came out from the Olympic Games with a gold medal. Nice person and everything.

“Just because I split up from my managers, there’s been a few bad publicity things. But I’m sure that after a few fights, people will just forget about all that and remember again what Oscar was.”

De La Hoya and his camp concede that the WBO is not a major title, but stress it is only a starting point for him. Arum is setting up a potential showdown with Sylmar’s Rafael Ruelas, the newly crowned International Boxing Federation lightweight champion, possibly for next year.

“I understand certain organizations have more influence than others, but it all depends on who’s in there,” Alcazar said. “With Oscar representing (the WBO), they have the opportunity to be as big as the others.”

Still, De La Hoya said: “I see it as just another fight. It’s just my first fight at 12 rounds, and I’m defending my undefeated record.”

The card starts at 6 p.m.

Tonight’s Card

* Time: 6 p.m.

* Site: Grand Olympic Auditorium

* TV: HBO

PRELIMINARIES

HEAVYWEIGHT (6 Rounds)

* Mikael Lindblad (7-0, 4 KOs)

vs. Arturo Lopez (8-3, 6 KOs)

WELTERWEIGHT (8 Rounds)

* Skipper Kelp (18-1-1, 13 KOs)