Forum Boxing Has Flamed Out After Carrying Torch for L.A.

They pulled the plug on boxing in Los Angeles last week.

It happened with little fanfare, scant notice. Only 891 people went by to pay their last respects to Forum Boxing at the organization’s final boxing show in the Inglewood arena.

Jerry Buss was there, as well he should have been. The flamboyant owner, better known for his Lakers, the Great Western Forum and even the Kings back when they were his team, started Forum Boxing 17 years ago and kept it going, though he figures he lost about $7 million on the venture.

Jesus Pimentel was also there. His boxing roots go back even further than those of Buss. Pimentel fought on the first card in the Forum, in 1968, the first full year of operation for the building.

Forum Boxing continued without interruption for 302 shows, keeping alive the flickering light of a sport that once shined brightly in this town in such places as the Olympic Auditorium, Hollywood Legion Stadium and Jeffries Barn.

But now the Forum has been sold to the new owners of the Staples Center. The Lakers and Kings will move from one spotlight to another, heading to the Staples site, but Forum Boxing will go quietly into the night. The organization still has one scheduled show remaining, which will be held on Nov, 29 at the Arrowhead Pond.

And then?

“I really haven’t made up my mind yet,” Buss said. “There are very few loyal boxing fans, but they are very, very loyal. Maybe we will look into some sort of club where we could stage monthly shows for those fans, something that would seat 800 to 1,000 people.”

Boxing at the Forum began under previous owner Jack Kent Cooke. In the first show, held June 14, 1968, Pimentel lost a decision to Chucho Castillo in front of 16,595. Over the next 14 years, there were 105 boxing shows at the Forum, drawing 822,854. Twice, more than 18,000 showed up. When Ruben Olivares knocked out Lionel Rose in 1969, 18,408 were on hand. A year later, when Olivares won a decision over Castillo, the crowd was 18,141.

Enter Buss and Forum Boxing.

“I started it for two reasons,” Buss said, “one altruistic and the other entrepreneurial.”

Buss, the sports fan, liked having boxing just down the hall from his Forum office. Buss, the ladies’ man, liked having an endless line of beautiful women strutting around as ring-card girls. Buss, the businessman, liked having another draw to entice fans into buying senate seats, which entitled them to attend all Forum events.

And so it was boxing showtime.

In the 17 years of the program, there were 68 title fights involving major championships, and another 100 with minor titles.

Oscar De La Hoya made his professional debut at the Forum. Other champions who fought there included Tommy Hearns, Julio Cesar Chavez, Shane Mosley, Virgil Hill and Johnny Tapia.

On June 3, 1991, three world title fights were held on the same night.

In all, 1,466,125 fans attended the 302 shows for an average of 4,855. But, from an average of 4,000 to 5,000 in the heyday of Forum Boxing, the crowds had dwindled to an average of 900 to 1,500 in recent months.

Ultimately, the problem was that Forum Boxing had shows, not fighters. While Buss would spend millions to outbid the opposition for a player such as Shaquille O’Neal, he wasn’t about to take on promoters Bob Arum or Don King in a financial war for such fighters as De La Hoya or Chavez.

“We briefly flirted with it,” Buss said. “But we quickly learned we could not compete with the guys in Vegas. So we went with smaller guys who would give you a better show.”

The growth of boxing shows on Indian reservations also has pulled away many fighters.

Forum Boxing tried to drum up interest through a tournament format, which was initially successful.

“Our tournaments were very hot,” said John Jackson, who runs Forum Boxing. “But when we tried to use ranked fighters, their managers didn’t want them in a tournament because they couldn’t be sure who they would wind up fighting.”

So the Forum went to good but unknown fighters. But no-names meant no crowds.

Boxing in Los Angeles will go on. The Staples Center owners, while not interested in staging monthly shows, would like to host three or four big boxing events a year. Boxing in Irvine remains a dependable operation.

And there are small boxing clubs scattered all over Southern California.

But there is no question that the loss of a major venue will hurt the sport.

“It’s very sad,” Buss said.

When four of five World Boxing Council champions lost in a span of five months at the Forum, it became known as the graveyard of champions.

Now, it will unfortunately be known as a graveyard of boxing.

MORE BAD NEWS

The title fight between International Boxing Federation super-flyweight champion Mark Johnson and challenger Raul Juarez, scheduled for next Friday at the Pechanga Entertainment Center in Temecula, Calif., has been canceled.

It was Pechanga officials, not one of the fighters, who called off the show.

Yet another sign of the continuing struggle of boxing in Southern California.