Card Did Not Do Trick Despite Near Full House

The attendance for last Saturday’s Roy Jones Jr.-Julio Gonzalez light-heavyweight match at Staples Center was 20,409, about 300 short of capacity.

Impressive for a card headlined by a predictably one-sided fight.

But also misleading.

Only 9,926 fans paid full face value for their tickets, according to a California State Athletic Commission report. An additional 3,648 paid a discounted rate for a total of 13,574.

There were also 1,475 complimentary tickets made available to the promotion and to state officials.

The remaining 5,360 tickets belonged to season-ticket holders, part of the package for luxury suites, events suites and Premier seats.

Despite the best efforts of promoter Bob Arum and publicist Bill Caplan to sell Jones-Gonzalez as a megafight--including holding a news conference on the steps of City Hall with Mayor James Hahn participating, and holding the weigh-in in Century City with “Arliss” star Robert Wuhl as master of ceremonies--this match was a tough sell. And that was reflected in the number of discounted tickets.

For example, the face value of the most expensive seat was $500. But only about half of those, 1,771 of 3,699, actually went for $500.

The breakdown was as follows:

* 1,771 tickets for $500.

* 36 for $490.

* 2 for $400.

* 8 for $300.

* 552 for $200.

* 168 for $190.

* 19 for $125.

* 349 for $115.

* 19 for $100.

The remaining 775 tickets were either given away or not used.

The same cut rates applied for seats in all price ranges with the exception of the $25 seats at the bottom of the scale.

Many buyers turned around and sold their discounted seats to ticket brokers, according to a source involved in that business.

If you paid full price and you’re reading this, you’re bound to feel ripped off. But Staples Center President Tim Leiweke insists you shouldn’t feel that way.

“Those [discounted] tickets were group tickets or part of a sponsorship package,” he said. “We will discount people who come in and buy in bulk.”

A sponsorship package can bring in $50,000-$100,000.

Ticket receipts for the fight totaled just under $2 million, one-third of the $6 million generated by last year’s Oscar De La Hoya-Shane Mosley match, the only other fight card staged by Staples. But that’s because Staples could price De La Hoya-Mosley, a far more attractive match, from $900 down and reduce discount offers.

Both fights lost money, but Staples roughly broke even when all arena revenue is figured in, according to Leiweke.

Why Do It?

Considering the financial picture, why is Leiweke aggressively pursuing the De La Hoya-Fernando Vargas match, tentatively scheduled for Dec. 8?

“Although it is very difficult to come out ahead,” Leiweke said, “we believe in the boxing business. We believe it is good for the city and we believe it enhances the value of our suites. We don’t like to lose money, but we don’t mind breaking even to get two or three big fights a year.”

Leiweke held talks Thursday and Friday with handlers for De La Hoya, trying to land the Southern California grudge match.

“For that fight, there would be no comp tickets,” Leiweke said. “Everybody pays full boat. We are convinced it would be a sellout event. And it would be better to hold the fight here than anywhere else.”

Las Vegas hotel executives would dispute that argument. Sources close to the negotiations say Staples Center probably won’t go higher than $6 million for the site fee. And that may not be enough.

“It is always going to be a problem with us, competing with Las Vegas,” Leiweke conceded, “because we are not in the gaming industry. They have the gamblers and that makes it tough for us.”

The End Game

Although official figures haven’t been released, an HBO source said last week’s Jones-Gonzalez fight on pay-per-view--which will be replayed tonight on HBO at 10--had 200,000 buys.

That’s half the number who paid to watch Oscar De La Hoya fight another no-name, Javier Castillejo, in June.

But nobody ever accused Jones of rivaling De La Hoya in popularity. This was only Jones’ fifth pay-per-view telecast, and was his second biggest, topped only by his 1994 match against James Toney, which attracted 320,000 buys. Jones’ other three pay-per-view fights were all in the 150,000-175,000 range.

Arum should be happy. He needed only 160,000 buys to break even. More important for Arum, who had only a one-fight deal with Jones, was trying to convince the undisputed light-heavyweight champion to keep him as promoter.

That would put Arum, who lost De La Hoya last year, back in the spotlight and back on a collision course with longtime archrival Don King heading into next spring’s proposed match between Jones and Felix Trinidad, who is handled by King.

Jones would be a fool to drop Arum, who got the most out of the least in last week’s fight.

Keeping the Faith

In 35 years in the business, Arum figured he had seen fights postponed for every possible reason. But last week, he saw a new one: Tisha B’Av.

In the Jewish religion, that is a day reserved for mourning the destruction of the Jewish temples in ancient times.

Arum had wanted super-lightweight Dmitriy Salita, an Orthodox Jew from Ukraine, to fight on a card last Sunday. But because it fell on Tisha B’Av, Salita couldn’t.

Instead, Salita (1-0, one knockout) will be on tonight’s card at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center, going against Joe Jiles (1-0) in a four-round match scheduled for after sundown and the end of the Jewish Sabbath.

Headlining the card will be World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (36-1, 33) defending his title against Charles Shufford (17-1, 9).

Also on the card will be junior-featherweights Paulie Ayala (32-1, 12) and Charles “Bones” Adams (41-3-3, 19).