BOXING / TIM KAWAKAMI : This Grand Experiment No Longer Hanging on the Ropes

It was a recipe for big and boundless things: Boxing needed a new home, and the newest major hotel-casino on the strip needed an identity.

Back in January, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas catapulted itself into boxing with an almost unlimited supply of cash, an uncynical, sometimes less than logical, belief in the greater merits of boxing, and a 15,000-seat arena that needed to be filled as often as possible.

Nine months later, after some painful experiences, chaotic moments and bruising negotiations with the likes of Don King and Bob Arum, the MGM Grand is wiser, a little less free with the cash, but still gobbling up every big fight that surfaces.

In one two-week span in November, the MGM Grand Garden arena, site of the Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor card last week, will be the scene of two major attractions, the Michael Moorer-George Foreman heavyweight title bout and, in the most anticipated fight of the year, Roy Jones vs. James Toney.

But as its influence over boxing continues to wax in the midst of waning interest across the country, some wonder if the MGM can continue its pace.

“I’m glad they have the staying power to overcome a couple of things that didn’t turn out well in the beginning,” said Dan Duva, the only one of the three major promoters who has not brought fights to the MGM. “I was concerned they wouldn’t.

“But everyone knows they’re not going to show a positive bottom line for the first year, and it’s obvious they didn’t intend to do that. Now the test is, ‘OK, we’ve invested all this money in this sport, now let’s justify this investment by turning it into something profitable.’

“So the pressure’s on now.”

Others have tried to cash in on the fight game. In the mid-’80s, Donald Trump took most of the top fights to Atlantic City. And in Las Vegas, Steve Wynn went after big names, hoping to give his new Mirage hotel-casino a publicity boost--and got burned by Buster Douglas and Michael Nunn.

Through the years, the most consistent site for top boxing has been Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, which still is involved in the heavyweight picture. But, one by one, boxing’s harsh wind, and boom-or-bust economics, has blown each back to lesser roles.

Which leaves the MGM with its massive advertising budget, the only major indoor arena at a casino and the 40,000 people walking through the doors every day.

The MGM has put on nine fight shows already this year, will have the two in November and has plans for two or three lesser cards before 1994 is done.

“I don’t think I am, or the hotel is, God’s gift to boxing,” said Dennis Finfrock, the hotel-casino’s vice president for special events and its main boxing executive. “But we’re doing our part. We wanted to be players, and we are that. We know that boxing is a very, very precious commodity in the casino business.

“We still have a long way to go to establish ourselves as the very best ever in boxing. But we think we’ve taken some giant strides in nine months.

“And we’re real proud of this fall lineup. It’s probably one of the strongest in the history of the game, three mega-fights, all in a row. We’re proud of that.”

The MGM angered the other Las Vegas casinos right off the bat by scheduling its first card, Julio Cesar Chavez-Frankie Randall, the day before the Super Bowl and not long after Barbra Streisand’s concert on New Year’s Eve. These are two events when the casinos in town are certain to be packed, anyway, and when a major fight causes only confusion, rather than more cash in the coffers.

That triggered a boycott of MGM fight tickets by other casinos that only recently has been called off.

“Boxing’s tough,” said Finfrock, a self-described boxing fan, who got his first taste of notoriety, after a successful run as the Thomas & Mack Center’s manager, when he was the interim athletic director at Nevada Las Vegas during the height of the Jerry Tarkanian vs. then-school president Robert Maxson controversy.

“There are millions of dollars at stake,” he said. “The promoters out there are well established and entrenched, they have their own stables of fighters and their own way of doing business.

“I think now what you’re seeing is that the other properties have pulled their horns in a little bit, they’re letting us take the fights and seeing what happens.”

Although the MGM has apparently broken at least even with its recently completed three-fight Chavez deal with King, it lost substantially in its two non-Chavez King cards last spring. It also took hits in its first Oscar De La Hoya card, May 27, and a few other shows.

“At first, they started out making ridiculous deals,” said Arum, who promoted the May 27 show, a profitable James Toney and De La Hoya-headlined card in July, and who is bringing both November shows to the MGM.

“Dennis’ strength is that he is a good arena guy, and he really loves boxing. Now that he understands the business aspect more than he did when he first came on board, he’s not going to make wrong decisions. They lost money on my May 27 fight because they were so over anxious to get Oscar.

“After that I thought, ‘Look, everybody can try to keep busting these guys’ guts, but unless you show them a way that it can be profitable, they won’t do it much longer.’ Since then, we’ve arrived at a way where I get paid based on what the gate does, not what we hope for it to be, so they’re essentially risk-free from now on.”

Arum says that because of the Grand Garden’s street accessibility--other casinos can bring their top customers straight to the doors of the arena without having to take them through the MGM casino--the other casinos are happy to let the MGM have the major shows.

Arum and Duva both disagree with one aspect of the MGM’s optimistic, long-range plans--its desire to acquire its own stable of house fighters. Why get entangled in too many levels of an already-complicated situation?

The MGM already has signed awkward Cuban emigre Jorge Luis Gonzalez, a heavyweight who Finfrock, against the second-guessing of almost everybody else in the boxing community, thinks has a solid future. But Finfrock, a former UNLV wrestling coach, is steadfast.

Notes

Negotiations have brought both sides on the verge of signing for a third match between Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzalez and Michael Carbajal on Nov. 12, but the deal has been stalled by promoter Don King’s inability to find an appropriate site for that date. With Las Vegas already booked for November, and both fighters looking to make close to $1 million for the bout, King has unsuccessfully sought a lucrative site fee from other locations. Without a site guarantee, the card--which is supposed to include title defenses by Terry Norris and Genaro Hernandez--probably will be too expensive to put on and might have to be delayed until next year.

“We’ve scheduled Chiquita to fight in November, either against Carbajal or somebody else,” said Forum boxing’s John Jackson, who is acting as Gonzalez’s negotiator. Jackson said the Nov. 12 date will either become reality or be canceled next week, when King gets back from London, where his Oliver McCall challenges Lennox Lewis tonight.

Medication appears to be breaking up what was diagnosed as a blood clot near the brain of World Boxing Organization junior-welterweight champion Zack Padilla, but further tests are scheduled. “As far as him boxing again, that’s his decision,” said Victor Valenzuela, who with Rudy Ayon manages Padilla. Top Rank, Inc., Padilla’s promoter, has told Padilla that he should take as long as he needs to decide whether to retire or continue fighting. A California State Athletic Commission member told Padilla’s camp that the commission will wait until Padilla is fully treated before it takes any action.

Calendar

Tonight: Robert Garcia vs. Bobby Brewer, featherweights; Grand Olympic Auditorium, 6:30.

Monday: Mantecas Medina vs. Jose Martinez, featherweights; Alfred Ankamah vs. Eduardo Jacquez; Forum, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday: Hector Monhardin vs. Raul Contreras, junior-lightweights; Sextoy Stewart vs. Joe Manzano, bantamweights; Huntington Park Casino, 8 p.m.

Thursday: Rudy Zavala vs. John Roby, junior-featherweights; Irvine Marriott, 7:30 p.m.