Toughest Character of the Lot : Boxing a Kazandjian Vehicle For Success

Harry Kazandjian still sells luxury cars, just as he did a dozen years ago.

Still holds a second job too.

Once one of the most popular fighters on the local club circuit, Kazandjian is the manager of Danny Lujan, a 22-year-old junior welterweight from Salinas, Calif., who tonight will box at the Warner Center Marriott.

Kazandjian, who lives and works in Encino, spotted Lujan while attending fights at the Reseda Country Club more than a year ago. Boxing professionally for only the second time, Lujan impressively won a bout he was expected to lose.

Lujan’s opponent was Chuck Goossen, whose father, Pat, was one of the founders of Ten Goose Boxing. Because Ten Goose was promoting the fight card, Lujan was thought to have little chance.

But somebody slipped up on his homework, an error Goossen’s handlers sensed at the weigh-in when Lujan showed up with a nattily clad, well-organized entourage.

Turned out that Lujan was the architect of a fairly lengthy and impressive amateur record.

“They picked the wrong opponent,” Kazandjian said.

Lujan has won all five of his professional fights, including three by knockout. This is his first outing since signing with Kazandjian late last year, whose claim to fame on boxing’s business side is that he once managed junior welterweight contender Hector Lopez.

“He reminds me a lot of Hector,” Kazandjian said of Lujan. “He has all the ability, all the tools.”

And he has an early start, something Kazandjian lacked during his own fight career. Kazandjian, who never boxed as an amateur, made his professional debut at age 28.

By day he sold Rolls-Royces. By night, he was a club fighter.

Kazandjian lost his first bout, but was never again defeated in 10 outings on the Southern California undercard circuit.

In the early 1980s, Kazandjian, billed as “The Fighting Armenian,” was the first boxer the fledgling Ten Goose group signed to a contract.

The first--and the cheapest.

Dan Goossen, another of Ten Goose’s founders, paid $100 to Kazandjian’s former manager, the late L.C. Morgan, to secure the fighter’s services.

Pat Goossen, who trained Kazandjian for Ten Goose, recalls that both sides emerged from negotiations “acting like they pulled off the Brinks job of the century.”

Dan Goossen was happy because he purchased a good fighter at a bargain price.

Morgan was pleased because he never had a contract to represent Kazandjian in the first place.

“That was a lot of money for L.C.,” Kazandjian said.

Kazandjian was a trainer’s dream.

“Everything was, ‘Yes coach. No coach,’ ” Pat Goossen recalled. “I had to tell him to get out of the gym. He was a zealot when it came to working out.”

As serious as Kazandjian was while training, he was just as flamboyant outside the ring.

At weigh-ins, Kazandjian caused quite a stir when he showed up draped in diamonds and gold chains, and stepped onto the scales wearing leopard-skin bikini underwear.

“I told him he could have saved three pounds just taking off all his jewelry,” Pat Goossen said.

No less grand was Kazandjian’s entrance on fight night.

As owner of a limousine service, he arrived at fight venues in style.

“A lot of the other kids I fought used to come in the bus,” he said. “That was kind of a mental beating right there, before we even got into the ring.”

Already on solid financial footing, Kazandjian fought for the fun of it, and to continue a family tradition. Both his father and a cousin were professional fighters overseas.

“I used to fight all the time, in the streets, at home, with friends, relatives,” Kazandjian said. “I watched these other guys and said, ‘I’m going to give it a shot. I can do as well as they can.’ It worked out. I was fortunate.

“I learned a lot from boxing. You meet a lot of people, you make a lot of connections. Good and bad. You get rid of the bad and keep the good.”

Lujan, he believes, is a keeper.

*

The first bell tonight is at 7:30. Lujan will face Orlando Hollis (2-0, one knockout) in a five-round junior welterweight bout.

Abazz Abey (12-7, four knockouts) has replaced Pat Lawlor as challenger to Randy (Big Man) Smith (13-1-2, four knockouts) in a bout for the California middleweight championship. Lawlor is recovering from a nose injury.

In the co-main event, Hector Monjardin (15-5-1, eight knockouts) will meet former North American Boxing Federation champion Jesus Sarabia (19-4-3, 16 knockouts) in 10-round junior lightweight bout.

In a five-round heavyweight bout, Cleveland Woods (12-4, 10 knockouts) fights Larry Givens (3-31). Both were scheduled to fight opponents who scratched because of injuries.

Givens’ record is no misprint, although he has told State Athletic Commission officials that many of the losses were sustained by fighters using his name. He has faced notable heavyweights Tony Tucker, Tony Tubbs and Bert Cooper.

Alvaro Soto (6-0, three knockouts) will meet Ricardo Contreras (1-2) in a five-round bantamweight fight and Juan West (1-2), one knockout) will face Mario Moreno (1-3, one knockout) in a four-round welterweight bout.