BOXING / TIM KAWAKAMI : Despite Hard Work, Too Many Shots Have Stopped Padilla

Take a rest? Zack Padilla had already taken a self-imposed three-year break from boxing, so once he got back in, he was in for good, every day in every way.

Rest on his laurels? He won a title in June last year, and went back into the gym shortly thereafter.

Back off and take it easy? Sometimes it seemed that Padilla was trying to make up for his three-year sabbatical all at once. If he ever took a backward step during a professional bout, it was neither recorded by video nor noticed by those who watched him fight.

Then he would jump back into seven-, eight- and 10-round sparring sessions with lightweight prospect Shane Mosley as quickly as his body would allow.

Padilla was preparing for a hoped-for fight with Pernell Whitaker, considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and the gateway to riches Padilla had, as yet, not experienced.

“Zack is a down-to-earth person,” Mosley said. “He doesn’t let stardom get to him like: ‘I’m the champion, I don’t have to do this.’ He realizes what it took to get him the title, and that’s what it takes to keep him there. One thing: hard work.”

But Tuesday at the Azusa Boxing Club, Padilla’s body finally wouldn’t allow it any more.

Although suffering from severe headaches since his last bout, a 10-round technical knockout of Juan LaPorte on July 24 to retain the World Boxing Organization junior-welterweight title, Padilla was sparring with Mosley, who will fight at the Grand Olympic Auditorium next Friday.

After five rounds at their usual, fast pace, Mosley noticed that Padilla looked woozy.

“When I spar with him, he’s usually attacking me the whole time,” Mosley said. “And when I came out for the sixth round, I feinted at him, and instead of doing what he usually does, rock back and throw punches, he kind of flinched and wobbled. I thought, ‘Wait a minute, that’s not Zack.’

“He just kind of looked at me, was about to continue, thought about it and said, ‘Naw, I’m not feeling good. I feel kind of dizzy.’ And we just stopped right there.”

The 31-year-old Padilla went to a hospital, where a blood clot was discovered near his brain. Although his life is apparently not in jeopardy, he has told friends he probably will retire from boxing.

Even if he doesn’t retire, state boxing officials have said they would be unlikely to allow him to fight again.

Padilla has a 22-1-1 record, which is not very many fights, but has taken more shots per bout than most boxers. In one computer-tallied fight, Padilla and Ray Oliviera threw a combined 3,024 punches in 12 rounds, a PunchStat record.

The LaPorte fight was brutal, with both men landing heavy blows every round. LaPorte lost when he couldn’t answer the bell for the 11th round.

“I don’t think it was from the sparring, just from the fights he’s had,” Mosley said. “The accumulation of fights. Especially the one with Juan LaPorte. He’s just had a lot of tough fights and I guess he has to give his body time to heal.”

Said former world bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval, a close friend of Padilla’s: “It could be a sign that says, ‘Hey, you gave it a good run, it’s time to move on.’

“Some fighters never seem to understand. They go on and go on and go on and wait for a tragedy to happen.”

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Although saddened by the development, most were not surprised or particularly alarmed. They know boxing is violent, that the object is to avoid getting hit as well as to hit one’s opponent.

“Zack Padilla was known to fight brutal fights,” said Ignacio Beristein, trainer of Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzalez and many others. “He would take a lot of punishment and he would always go in there using force and without technique. He would go in there and fight--land punches and receive punches.

“Maybe he’s paying the consequences right now because he’s had too many wars, like with (Carlos) Bolillo Gonzalez (to win the WBO title) and some other fighters who really put some hands on him.

“Maybe his trainers or his manager, what they should have done was teach him, instead of always using force, to try some other technique that would allow him to avoid getting hit as much as he was.”

Genaro Hernandez, World Boxing Assn. junior-lightweight champion, agreed.

“In every fight, he gets hit a lot. He doesn’t make any body movement or stuff like that,” Hernandez said. “It’s obvious it’s going to catch up to you sooner or later. Eventually, it caught up to him.”

Does Hernandez believe aggressive, daily sparring sessions are harmful?

“We try just to go and work out, not to go in there and make it a war zone,” Hernandez said. “This is a school to us . . . we’re there just to learn.

“The people that come and work out with me, if they come out and try to hurt me, I lay a couple of shots in there. That way I can show them, ‘Hey, I’m not going to take anything from you.’

“But after we work out, I tell them, look, we’re here to work out, not to kill each other. You try to kill each other up in the real ring, when you’re going to make some money. You’re not getting paid here, so take it easy.”

The irony, according to Mosley, is that Padilla was trying to change his style in preparation for an eventual bout with Whitaker. He was attempting to learn how to play defense.

“He was getting ready to fight Sweet Pea, and he was practicing different things, keeping his hands up higher than he used to, and I think he was getting his mind set for that,” Mosley said. “That’s really why he came to the gym earlier than usual (after the LaPorte fight), to work on that.”

Boxing Notes

Although one executive at Top Rank, Inc., has said that Oscar De La Hoya vs. Paul Gonzales would be an exciting fight to promote, Top Rank President Bob Arum isn’t thrilled by the prospect. “It wouldn’t be a good fight,” Arum said. “I’m not taking it seriously at all. I think it’s all bull.”

De La Hoya, angered by the recent harsh words directed at him by Gonzales, who preceded De La Hoya as an East Los Angeles-born Olympic gold medalist, directed trainer Robert Alcazar to see if Gonzales was serious about fighting him. More than a fight, sources close to De La Hoya said, he thinks he deserves an apology from Gonzales, who is nine years older, recently retired, and was at his best at 112 pounds. De La Hoya is fighting in the 135-pound division. “This is just a personal thing,” a source said. “These two guys used to be friends. They should talk and get past this.”

De La Hoya is scheduled to fight on Oct. 8 at the Grand Olympic Auditorium against an opponent to be decided upon--it definitely won’t be Gonzalez, Arum said, because he knows CBS matchmaker Gil Clancy would reject that fight--and possibly again on Nov. 18 on the Roy Jones-James Toney undercard. Neither bout, as of now, is scheduled to be for De La Hoya’s World Boxing Organization lightweight title.

An interested bystander is Genaro Hernandez, a champion in his prime who has been seeking to fight De La Hoya for more than a year. “That fight would be a disgrace to boxing because in reality Paul Gonzales, he’s a flyweight,” Hernandez said. “He’s a friend of mine. I would hate to see him get up in the ring and get hurt. (Top Rank executive Dan) Goossen came out and said it would be a terrific fight. It will not be a good fight, everybody knows that. Paul Gonzales, his time is through.”

Two of L.A.’s most talented young featherweights, 22-year-old Arnulfo (Chico) Castillo and Robert Garcia, 19, kept their records perfect last week and are heading for an eventual showdown. Garcia (15-0, 12 knockouts) defeated veteran Frankie Avelar last Saturday at the Olympic in two rounds, then was on hand for Castillo’s fifth-round technical knockout over Francisco Valdez Monday at the Forum. Castillo is 14-0 with nine knockouts. Garcia’s next fight will be on Sept. 24 at the Olympic. . . . Also on that card will be junior-lightweight Pepe Reilly, who showed off his new overhand right in his last bout at the Olympic. “Yeah, it’s kind of my secret weapon,” said Reilly, who has always been known for his left hook. “I never used it much, but now I’m using it in combination with my left hook to the body. If one doesn’t get there, the other will.”

Calendar

Wednesday: Rafael (Bazooka) Limon vs. John Armijo, junior-welterweights; Huntington Park Casino, 7:30 p.m.

Friday: Danny Romero vs. Manuel Jesus Herrera, flyweights; Shane Mosley vs. Louis Ramirez, lightweights; Grand Olympic Auditorium, 5:30 p.m.