Historic Ventura Theater Latest to Throw Hat Into the Ring

The Ventura Theater will become home to professional boxing April 17 for the first in a series of monthly fight cards to be staged at the 69-year-old auditorium.

Robert Valdez, an Oxnard promoter with a history of presenting amateur bouts, said he has agreed to a one-year contract with the theater to present bouts on the third Thursday of every month.

Programs typically will have five fights, including a women’s match and a 10-round main event. Ticket prices will range between $25 and $35, Valdez said.

Matchups for the debut program will be announced within a few weeks. Valdez said he is working with Tom Brown, a matchmaker with Top Rank, and is negotiating with a local cable network to have the programs televised.

“We’re hoping to come in here and put on a decent show so that we can bring some state championship fights here,” Valdez said. “When we’re done renovating, it’s going to be a classy boxing arena.”

Seating capacity of the theater, which opened in 1928, will increase for boxing from 1,200 to about 1,300, manager Steve Schoenberger said. The ring will be positioned in the middle of the hall with temporary grandstands positioned on the stage.

Valdez said the presentation will conjure comparisons to the Reseda Country Club, which resumed hosting monthly fights in November after a three-year break. Schoenberger said the program will be billed “Battle by the Sea.”

“We’re going to try and make pro boxing big in Ventura,” Schoenberger said. “We’ll do it until it decides it doesn’t work anymore.”