BOXING / TIM KAWAKAMI : L.A. Now Viable Alternative to Las Vegas

So, now that Los Angeles’ brief run as boxing’s leading city has come, gone and produced a decent amount of cash, where does L.A. boxing go from here?

The Olympic Auditorium has reopened and is settling in for the long haul. The Forum still is churning out its own series of shows.

In the last three weeks, both arenas put on huge, big-budget cards--complete with million-dollar purses, three major titles in contention, the much-anticipated kickoff to Oscar De La Hoya’s HBO headline career, and the highest ticket prices this area has ever seen.

Both the Forum’s Feb. 19 show and the Olympic’s March 5 show had prices that topped at $250 and bottomed in the $40-50 range--Las Vegas casino fight prices.

The result? Lots of money and two major titles changed hands, and not as many tickets were sold as either operation had hoped.

The conclusion? Los Angeles, no matter how big the show, cannot sustain Las Vegas-level prices--but if the casinos won’t ante up $1 million-plus guaranteed site fees, the Forum or the Olympic are not money-losing alternatives.

For the Feb. 19 card, which featured the Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzalez rematch against Michael Carbajal and the Rafael Ruelas-Freddie Pendleton lightweight title bout, the Forum, which holds 16,000 for boxing, drew a paid crowd of slightly less than 10,000--producing a live gate of more than $400,000. Factoring in the revenue from the Forum’s Senate seats, the take was probably more than $500,000.

When De La Hoya won the World Boxing Organization junior-lightweight title over Jimmi Bredahl on March 5, the Olympic Auditorium, with a capacity of 7,600, drew a paid crowd of slightly less than 3,000--producing a $294,000 live gate.

Already, promoter Bob Arum is planning to bring both Gonzalez-Carbajal III and De La Hoya very soon to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The second Gonzalez-Carbajal rematch is tentatively set for late June, though there are several details to be worked out. De La Hoya’s first, and probably only, WBO junior-lightweight title defense is scheduled for May 27 at the MGM against WBO No. 1 contender Giorgio Campanella, on a card that will include Ruelas’ first International Boxing Federation lightweight defense and a title defense by IBF middleweight champion Roy Jones.

But Arum, who is promoting the Olympic revival and co-promoted the Carbajal-Gonzalez bout with Forum Boxing, says he is not finished bringing elite-level boxing to Los Angeles. He just has to make some adjustments, he says.

“Nobody can match Las Vegas,” Arum said. “There’s no city that really can. Ringside wasn’t the problem, it was the other ticket prices. Ringside sold out, practically.

“The bottom and the middle bottom sold pretty good, too, but middle really died. But you learn. . . .

“I’m going to find the niche here, for ticket prices and everything. My inclination is, on my next big event, we go like about $150 ringside, not $250. That makes better pricing for the rest of the house.”

Though Arum and the Olympic’s owners, Steve and Dennis Needleman, hoped for a full house for the reopening, even with a significant number of complimentary tickets handed out, the total attendance was 5,843. Tickets for less important shows such as last Saturday’s, featuring Zachary Padilla, were sold at prices ranging from $5 to $40.

Arum blamed himself for the low turnout March 5--for pricing the tickets so high for a fight that was broadcast live on HBO without a local blackout.

“Considering it was live television, I was quite pleased,” Arum said. “I think with more moderate prices, we’ll be fine.

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Busy, busy, busy: With the Olympic adding fights every other week into the mix, with the MGM Grand becoming the most active player in boxing, with a big heavyweight bout--Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer, April 22 at Caesars Palace--on the horizon, the sport is extremely active, but not exactly booming.

“Boxing is in a little lull right now,” said Marc Ratner, executive secretary of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. “There are a lot of fights and people are going to pick and choose who they’re going to spend their money on.

“I’d like to say we have big crowds here, well we had four title fights (March 4 at the MGM Grand) and we didn’t have 1,000 people paid. So that means it’s still the attraction that sells the tickets.”

In Las Vegas in the coming weeks those attractions include a bout Thursday at the MGM Grand when Terry Norris fights for the first time since his loss to Simon Brown. Then comes the real action: Caesars’ Holyfield-Moorer bout will be quickly followed by Don King’s huge four-rematch card May 7 at the MGM, featuring Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Frankie Randall, Norris vs. Brown, Gerald McClellan vs. Julian Jackson and Azumah Nelson vs. James Leija. That will be followed by the Jones-De La Hoya-Ruelas card in late May, followed by Carbajal-Gonzalez III.

Boxing Notes

Julio Cesar Chavez, speaking to reporters last week for the first time since he suffered his first knockdown and lost a split-decision to Frankie Randall Jan. 29, said he now acknowledges that he did not win that fight--despite his angry protests immediately after the decision was announced. “I’ve recognized that I lost the fight,” Chavez said through an interpreter. “I feel the knockdown is what made the difference.” Chavez, who readily admits he lost a degree of dedication going into the Randall fight, says the rematch May 7 will be entirely different. “I’ll prove it to everybody May 7. And then I expect to fight (Pernell) Whitaker and prove that one wrong, too. Things will be different.”

For the first time, Chavez, 31, has begun contemplating an end to his career--as long as he can do it on a high point. “What I’m looking at now is that I don’t want to continue in boxing for too long,” he said. “I want to continue for this year. I do promise that this year I have left in boxing I’m going to prepare myself well and train properly.”

Though nothing has been signed, the leading candidate for Rafael Ruelas’ first International Boxing Federation lightweight title defense May 27 is Carl Griffith. . . . Michael Carbajal is scheduled to fight for the first time since his loss to Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzalez in early April at Laughlin, Nev. . . . The latest agent-handler-attorney angling for a piece of the Oscar De La Hoya marketing pie? Leigh Steinberg, best known for his representation of NFL quarterbacks Troy Aikman, Warren Moon and Steve Young.

Boxing Calendar

Tonight: Melchor Cob Castro vs. Domingo Sosa, light-flyweights; David Sample vs. Kiri Rodriguez, lightweights. Forum, 7:15.