He’s a Hit Before Throwing Punch : Boxing: De La Hoya, drawing poorly in Los Angeles, is the toast of New York before tonight’s WBO title fight with Leija.

There is nothing that seems to excite New Yorkers as much as the premiere of a new play.

There is such a premiere tonight. And they are definitely excited.

A revival of “Golden Boy,” starring Oscar De La Hoya, will be playing one night only at Madison Square Garden, where De La Hoya will defend his World Boxing Organization lightweight title against Jesse James Leija.

With apologies to Clifford Odets, who wrote the original “Golden Boy,” De La Hoya, who seems to have made that nickname his personal property, has a new script as follows: Kid boxer rises from poverty, goes on to fame and fortune, revives boxing at Madison Square Garden, defends his title and his honor in a multimillion-dollar fight in the spring, then shocks the world with his retirement, becomes an architect and lives happily ever after.

At least that’s the script De La Hoya had in mind until he got here. Angry at his lack of acceptance in his own Latino community in his hometown of Los Angeles, De La Hoya has talked of quitting after a Feb. 9 date against Charles Murray in Las Vegas and a proposed May 6 showdown against Julio Cesar Chavez.

It’s not as if De La Hoya hasn’t proven his worth. At 22, he already has an Olympic gold medal, an unbeaten professional record, two World Boxing Organization titles and a dramatic, second-round knockout of Rafael Ruelas last spring in Las Vegas. But, when he fought in Los Angeles, De La Hoya drew a total of only 4,500 fans in two appearances at the Olympic Auditorium.

Although he had to settle for crumbs in Los Angeles, he’s already the toast of this town.

And he hasn’t thrown a punch.

De La Hoya’s image is everywhere in Manhattan, looking down from billboards, looking up from newspaper racks, and looking out from television screens.

Ticket sales have been going so well that the top balcony at the Garden has been opened, increasing capacity to 19,600. They have already sold 14,000 seats, more than triple what De La Hoya sold in his two Los Angeles fights.

Tonight’s match is certainly an attractive one. De La Hoya is unbeaten at 19-0 with 17 knockouts. Leija, a former World Boxing Council super-featherweight champion, is 30-1-2, with 14 knockouts. Leija beat Azumah Nelson to win the title in May of 1994, then lost it to Gabriel Ruelas in September of that year.

But there is more to this card than the Golden Boy.

A local fighter, Tracy Harris Patterson (54-3-1, 39 knockouts), the International Boxing Federation junior-lightweight champion and stepson of two-time heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson, will defend his title against Arturo Gatti (23-1, 20 knockouts).

And the Garden itself is drawing them in. Nearly a quarter of a century ago, it was the center of the boxing world when Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier met there in the first of their three famous battles.

But the lure of the money clanging in Las Vegas’ casinos pulled the center of the boxing world west.

Now, there is a move afoot, aided by more favorable tax laws in this city, to bring the big fights back.

Middleweight Roy Jones will be here in January and two-time heavyweight champion George Foreman in February.

It’s pretty heady stuff for a kid from East L.A. who may lose focus and become overconfident tonight, what with the banners around town proclaiming his arrival, the historic stage he’ll be on and the fact that Chavez will be seated ringside.

Then there is the fact that he had to struggle in the last few days to come in at the required weight of 135 pounds, making it right on the dot at Thursday night’s weigh-in. Leija weighed in at 134 3/4.

“Once I step inside the ring,” De La Hoya said, “I set everything aside. I cannot hear the crowd. I have that killer instinct. I know the guy is going to try to knock my head off and I have to do it to him first.”

Then again, maybe the big crowd tonight has nothing to do with De La Hoya, Patterson or the Garden. Maybe it’s a preliminary bout where Eric Esch, better known as the Butterbean, puts his 14-0 record, his 300-pound body and his role as boxing’s newest novelty act against Mitchell Rose, who is 1-6-1.

Now there’s an act that could set boxing in New York back for another quarter-century.