This Sport Appears to Have Fighting Chance in Orange County

Beginning with tonight’s Irvine Marriott card, Orange County will host three boxing shows in the next nine days. This from an area not known as a boxing hotbed.

Two years ago, the county struggled to support one fight a month--the Marriott show--and the state wasn’t doing much better. Every time you looked another promoter was going out of business. But now Marriott shows are near sellouts every month, Forum crowds are up and the Pond is staging four fights in the next six weeks and two in the next nine days.

“I’ve noticed it a lot more on network television,” said Pond spokesman John Nicoletti, who is co-promoting Monday night’s fight with Forum Boxing. “Everybody has a Monday night, Tuesday night or Saturday night boxing on television. Obviously some interest has been rekindled in the sport.”

Richard DeCuir, executive officer of the California State Athletic Commission, said numbers show boxing is indeed making a comeback.

“With two months left in the fiscal year, we’ve already equaled the number of boxing events [84] in all of last year,” DeCuir said.

Why the upswing?

“The whole resurgence of [Mike] Tyson did not hurt,” DeCuir said. “That brought some interest back. In particular, I think you notice the Forum and most of California seeing a lot of better lighter weight fighters getting more exposure. . . . Chiquita Gonzalez, [Marco Antonio] Barrera, Genaro Hernandez, Oscar De La Hoya [Julio Cesar] Chavez and even [Jorge] Paez.”

DeCuir noted that 20% of the national pay-per-view market is in California. But not only are the state’s residents watching boxing on television, they are going to see it live. In March, 17 boxing shows were staged in the state.

“Boxing’s still a risky business,” DeCuir said. “It’s based on live gate and television. But I have only seen one or two promoters with financial problems in the last year. I don’t know if they’re getting smarter, or we’re making it easier to do shows.”

Indian reservations are also getting in on the boxing boom. Reservations in Redding, Indio and El Cajon are the latest to stage shows. In addition to the Pond, another new boxing venue is the Pyramid at Long Beach State, which hosted its first fight last month and is set to begin a monthly card in May.

The Pond had not hosted a boxing show until March 1995, when more than 12,000 watched a pay-per-view event that included three title fights. Its success convinced Forum Boxing and the Pond to team up for monthly shows, and it also helped the Pond secure the May 4 pay-per-view show promoted by Forum Boxing.

The Forum’s HBO card with Barrera and Kennedy McKinney in February has reportedly resulted in the Forum securing four future HBO fights.

“Every year since ‘90, boxing’s been on the downswing,” DeCuir said. “You never know what’s going to happen next year, but boxing interest has really picked up this year.”

Roy Englebrecht, who promotes the Marriott shows and will be co-promoting the Pyramid shows, said he’s concerned that boxing could over-promote itself.

“You can over-saturate to a degree,” he said. “There’s only so many dollars out there. But I also think all the competition helps us. We need to do better shows at Irvine and Long Beach because [promoter] John Jackson is doing better shows at the Forum.”

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Tonight’s 7:30 show at the Marriott features Huntington Beach junior bantamweight Johnny Vasquez (8-4 with five knockouts) against Tijuana’s Martin Solorio (8-4-1) in a 10-round bout.

Vasquez, who is trying to get a shot at the state title, was supposed to fight last month but came down with bronchitis.

In the six-round semi-main event, junior featherweight Oscar Saenz (10-4, eight knockouts) will fight Marius Frias (7-3-2) of El Centro. Also on the six-bout card is Pacoima’s Sergio Macias (8-3) against Imperial Valley’s Andres Arellano (10-3).

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The Pond is billing its Monday night fight as “The Night of Future Champions.” Bantamweight Juan Manuel Marquez (14-1) of Mexico City, junior featherweight Nestor Garza (19-0) of Reynosa, Mexico and middleweight Victor Maciel (13-0) of Sonora are being featured in three 10-round bouts.

Marquez, who has 11 knockouts in his 14 victories, is fighting Julio Gervacio of (30-4-2) of Puerto Rico. Garza, a stablemate of Barrera, the world junior featherweight champion, has 18 knockouts in 19 fights. He has 10 first-round knockouts and four second-round knockouts. Garza, only 19, will be fighting journeyman Francisco Soto (15-13-2) of Durango, Mexico. Maciel meets Moises Rivera (13-3) of Puerto Rico.

The undercard begins at 7:15. The Prime Sports telecast begins at 8 p.m.

The first monthly card co-promoted by Forum Boxing and the Pond drew 2,555 in February. Nicoletti said ticket sales are ahead of where they were for the February show.

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Ticket sales for the Pond’s May 4 pay-per-view show are going well, but it will be hard to outdraw the “Mucho Machismo” show in March 1995 that drew more than 12,000. To entice more fans to attend the May 4 event, the Pond is blacking out its pay-per-view telecast in Anaheim, closed circuit television in Orange County and the satellite telecasts in the 714 area code.

The card is headlined by Barrera (40-0), who makes the sixth defense of his World Boxing Organization junior featherweight against former WBO champion Jessie Benavides (40-4-1). The other title being contested is the International Boxing Flyweight crown. Mark (Too Sharp) Johnson (28-1) of Washington, D.C., takes on Francisco Tejador (43-4) of Colombia for the vacant title.

All boxers involved in the May 4 card will take part in a free public workout Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Pond.

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The Pond is also the only venue in Orange County showing the June 7 Oscar De La Hoya-Julio Cesar Chavez fight on closed circuit. The Pond will be offering free $12 tickets to its bimonthly Monday fights to those attending the Chavez-De La Hoya closed-circuit telecast. Tickets for the closed-circuit event are $30 and $35.