Right Hook Radio

Does Mike Tyson have a future in boxing? Is Oscar De La Hoya, East L.A.’s “Golden Boy,” overrated? When will Pomona’s “Sugar” Shane Mosley and Oxnard’s Fernando Vargas gain national prominence?

For Southern Californians who want to know, tune in to Steve Kim’s weekly radio show devoted to “the sweet science” of boxing. Since June 1997, with just a brief hiatus, Kim, 27, has hosted “The Main Event,” airing Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on XTRA (1150 AM). It’s one of only two boxing talk shows in the nation.

“I try to make the show sound like a good conversation in a dark bar,” says Kim. He also brings the sport’s most knowledgeable voices into the studio, including heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield, HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant, top promoter Bob Arum and Boxing Flash columnist Bruce Bebb.

A casual fan until he fell in love with the sport after he hosted a late-night boxing show for another radio station, Kim has immersed himself in the history and lore of the fight game. He peruses boxing magazines and Internet sites; watches bouts at the Great Western Forum, the Irvine Marriott and the Country Club in Reseda; travels to Las Vegas and other fight hot-spots as often as his budget allows; and hangs with managers, trainers and cut men at the L.A. Boxing Club, Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood and the Ten Goose Gym in Van Nuys.

“L.A. and the surrounding area have become a mini capital of boxing,” he says. “We’re the home of several champs and elite boxers--guys like De La Hoya, Mosley, Vargas, Robert Garcia--but the sport gets little publicity.”

On the air, the Montebello High School grad is brash and opinionated--equal parts Howard Cosell, Don Imus and Dr. Drew. According to Kim, the second De La Hoya-Julio Cesar Chavez bout was a “televised execution,” while the proposed match between aging fighters Larry Holmes and George Foreman should be called “Jurassic Park III.” “Boxing is the theater of the absurd,” Kim says. “The show is an outlet for people to vent about a sport that survives in spite of itself.”