Main Event

Lynn Todd ducked a little to the right and gave her husband a poke. Not like one of those up in the ring, but Bill Todd still took notice.

“There’s no boxing going on,” Lynn asked. “What are you looking at??”

Bill’s face did the talking: “Aw, c’mon, Honey; what do you think I’m looking at?” He turned away and kept staring, up at the bikini-wearing card girl in the ring with a placard that could have read “Kiss Me” just as easily as “Round 3.”

“Uh-huh,” Lynn muttered, then followed with a smile. “Well, I guess it’s just part of the action.”

The Todds, both in their late 30s and from Newport Beach, had showed up for a recent five-bout card at the Irvine Marriott. The hotel has taken inspiration from Las Vegas casinos by offering the Battle in the Ballroom most months, usually featuring Southern California boxers.

It’s been a popular event--usually sold-out--and the Todds think they know why.

“It’s spectacle,” explained Lynn. “I enjoy [watching the fights], but I really enjoy the people-watching.”

Bill likes it for more basic reasons. “See how small this place is,” he said, gesturing around the Grand Ballroom. “Every seat is close to the ring. Vegas, you’re usually far way. The same at the [Great Western] Forum [in Inglewood]. But here you can see all the shots.”

As everyone settled into the next fight--a six-rounder between middleweights that turned into the night’s most competitive and bloody, with front-rowers raising their programs to keep from being sprayed--a study of the crowd showed that it takes all kinds. Couples such as the Todds, dressed in money, sat next to beer-draining fans in T-shirts.

Lynn Todd was in the most obvious minority. Boxing is a man’s world, with men outnumbering women about 10 to one at the Marriott, a fact that didn’t faze Todd or Isabel Hidalgo, 46, of Costa Mesa.

Hidalgo came with her boyfriend, Hector Librios, 53, of Anaheim. She’s loved boxing since her childhood, when her father managed a few fighters. He didn’t have any qualms about sticking her at ringside from age 10.

“I guess either he wasn’t thinking,” Hidalgo said, “or he thought it was something I should get used to. The violence never really bothered me. I’ve always seen it as good sport between men that are in great shape.”

With that, Librios brought up the latest development at the Marriott--female fighters. That night, a pair of female kick-boxers went at it for about a half-round before one had enough and walked out of the ring.

The crowd wasn’t sympathetic. They laughed loudly as the loser ducked into the dressing room, and so did Librios, who pointed out that the bout was atypical. He said the women tend to be very competitive, which makes their bouts more than novelty acts.

“Last month, the best [fight] was between two girls who went at each other from Round 1,” Librios said. “The crowd loved them.”