BOXING / CHRIS DUFRESNE : Chavez Begins His Going-Away Party

Tonight marks the beginning of the end for the redoubtable Julio Cesar Chavez, who starts on the trail to retirement in Monterrey, Mexico, when he meets Tony (the Tiger) Lopez in a pay-per-view fight.

Chavez, in fact, has already ordered the party balloons and sent out the invitations.

It is rare in sport--especially in boxing--when an athlete gets to choose the time and place of his retirement.

Then again, Chavez is not your average palooka. An almost God-like figure in his homeland, the six-time world champion and current World Boxing Council super-lightweight champion from Culiacan, Mexico, now embarks on a seven-fight slugfest to the finish.

The first page of this final chapter will be turned tonight with Chavez’s 94th fight. It will end, if all goes according to plan, a year from now with a landmark 100th bout, a rematch against Frankie Randall, the man who dealt Chavez his only defeat.

For Chavez (91-1-1), this is about tying up bows and loose ends.

He has even offered to hang around for a 101st fight, against Pernell Whitaker, who fought Chavez to a 1993 draw in San Antonio, a match many thought Whitaker won.

“No. 101 will be to clear up all doubts,” Chavez said through an interpreter this week from Mexico. “I’m closing the book at 100, to redeem the loss to Frankie Randall. But I’ll fight Whitaker to clear the air, just for the fans.”

The Whitaker camp considers such talk bluster, claiming Whitaker would fight Chavez tomorrow in a phone booth. The hitch, claims Shelly Finkel, Whitaker’s manager, is that Don King insists that Whitaker fight a series of King’s boxers to get to Chavez.

“The bottom line is, Chavez doesn’t want to fight him,” Finkel said. “We said we’d fight all those other guys, but we want Chavez first.”

Orchestrated farewell tours are fine in other sports, but more of a risk in boxing, where one punch can ruin a caterer’s plans.

The worry is that Chavez might not have enough gas in the tank to survive until No. 100.

Once thought invincible, there have been chinks in the armor of late. Even some longtime supporters have come to doubt him. Chavez was 87-0--an early-career disqualification loss had long since been reversed--when he fought Whitaker to a controversial draw in 1993. Then he lost to Randall last Jan. 29, quickly followed by a May rematch in which Chavez was awarded a split-decision victory after an accidental head-butt by Randall had ended the fight in the eighth round.

Seven boxers stand in the way of Chavez and his date with destiny.

But do any of them fear Chavez as they once might have?

Lopez, a former three-time world champion, does not consider himself anyone’s party favor.

“I guess I’ll be finishing his tour for him,” Lopez said. “I’m here to do one thing. I’m not here to run from the man, I’m here to take something from him.”

Chavez denies that his skills have diminished. He says he will retire on his terms.

“People should stop talking about old men in the ring,” Chavez said. “Look at what George Foreman proved. He’s 46. I’m only 32.

“It is not that I am old that I will retire. I’m retiring because everyone has their own time, and I know when my time will come, and that is the end of ’95. I want to retire with my complete faculties intact. It is not because I am old.”

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Can Oscar De La Hoya save the Olympic?

It is a lot to ask of the one they call “Golden Boy,” yet promoters are hoping De La Hoya’s afternoon CBS fight today against Johnny Avila can provide the attendance jolt needed to revive what has been a disappointing first year of operation for the renovated Grand Olympic Auditorium.

The Olympic’s two-year contract with Top Rank, Inc., Bob Arum’s company, called for 25 cards a year, but the Olympic will fall well short of that.

Saturday’s card will be the 13th.

The Olympic has not approached its gala opening-night crowd of 4,060 last March, when De La Hoya also was the headliner. Only one card since has drawn more than 2,000. According to the California Athletic Commission’s figures, three of the 12 cards have drawn fewer than 1,000, with a low of 715 on Sept. 9.

Top Rank’s Todd duBoef said the De La Hoya fight will be a good barometer of the future of boxing in Los Angeles.

“Without doubt,” he said. “We’ll see if the spark is back. People always talked about the old Olympic, with (Carlos) Palomino and (Art) Aragon. I’ve got to believe De La Hoya or the Ruelas brothers have got to be in that same sentence.”

Promoters are perplexed because televised boxing continues to draw strong ratings locally.

The undercard for the recent Riddick Bowe-Larry Donald fight in Las Vegas, promoted by Forum Boxing and televised by Channel 9, got an outstanding 6.8 rating.

Steve Needleman, owner of the Olympic, said boxing’s popularity has not translated to live gate.

“TV dictates boxing,” Needleman said. “Live gate is secondary to pay-per-view, secondary to Las Vegas wanting gamblers to come in. Live gates on boxing, nationally, are down. We are not drawing crowds like we or Top Rank expected. But I don’t think anywhere in L.A. are they drawing what was originally anticipated.”

Though it’s obvious the Olympic will not reach 25 bouts this year, Needleman said the terms of the contract with Top Rank are negotiable.

He also said he expects a crowd of 2,500-3,000 for today’s fight.

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News flash: Roy Jones Jr. is moving up to light-heavyweight.

Don’t worry, James Toney, it’s only in a movie.

Jones, the International Boxing Federation super-middleweight champion, was in Las Vegas this week to shoot his scenes for “The Watcher,” in which he plays Sonny Washington, light-heavyweight champion of the world.

Toney, of course, is moving up to the light-heavyweight division after his super-middleweight loss to Jones in November.

Off screen, Jones says he would be willing to fight Gerald McClellan, the WBC middleweight champion, as long as terms don’t include any long-term relationship with King, McClellan’s promoter.

“If he gives me a decent offer, no ties, bring it on,” Jones said of King. “A one-fight deal.”

Jones, 25, also suggested he was going to bounce between the 160- and 168-pound divisions, and plans to reclaim the IBF middleweight crown he relinquished to fight Toney.

But don’t expect Jones to relinquish his title as one of the least active champions.

“Would you rather see me fight 10 times this year and be done, or perform for the next four or five years?” he asked.

Boxing Notes

Bowe-Donald III: Criminal charges have yet to be filed against heavyweight Riddick Bowe for punching Larry Donald twice in the face at a news conference at the Forum on Nov. 28 to promote their Dec. 3 fight. Donald filed a civil suit against Bowe in Los Angeles Superior Court on Dec. 2. Bowe was served papers after his 12-round unanimous decision over Donald at Caesars Palace. Roderick J. Lindblom, Donald’s attorney, suggested criminal charges would be forthcoming.

Late in the week, though, neither the Inglewood city attorney’s office, which would handle the case if it were a misdemeanor, or the L.A. District Attorney’s office had received the case. “If it were filed as a felony, it would likely be filed in this office,” Irwin Bloom, a deputy D.A. in the Inglewood office, said. “I have not heard of it being filed. It could still be under investigation.”

Lindblom said early this week that he wasn’t sure what criminal action, if any, might be taken. He said Donald was taking time off to reassess the situation.

The deal is done: Bowe (35-1, 29 KOs) will fight World Boxing Organization champion Herbie Hide (26-0, 25 KOs) at the MGM Grand on March 11 in an HBO telecast.

Look for Pernell Whitaker, World Boxing Council welterweight champion, to fight three times in 1995, beginning in March, manager Shelly Finkel said. Whitaker may fight Julio Cesar Vasquez, the World Boxing Assn. junior-middleweight champion, or make a mandatory defense against Gary Jacobs, the WBC’s No. 1 welterweight contender.

Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzalez, 28, hinted at retirement after his Nov. 12 victory over Michael Carbajal, but that seems unlikely now. Expect one of three options: 1--Gonzalez defends his WBC and IBF light-flyweight championship against undefeated Ricardo Lopez, who wants to move up from strawweight. 2--Gonzalez moves up to 112 pounds to fight WBC champion Yuri Arbachakov, a Russian based in Japan. 3--Gonzalez tries to unify the 108-pound division by taking on Leo Gamez, the WBA champion.

Don King still hasn’t found a home for the WBC heavyweight title match between Oliver McCall and Larry Holmes. King said he is negotiating with three Las Vegas hotels--MGM, Caesars Palace and the Mirage--for the Feb. 18 or March 11 bout. Spain also remains a possibility.

Calendar

Monday: Carlos (Bolillo) Gonzalez vs. Wilber Kiggundu, welterweights; Jorge Barrera vs. Narciso Rodriguez, flyweights; Miguel (Maikito) Martinez vs. Ventura Piedra Mendivil, light flyweights. Forum, 7:15 p.m.