Glitches Aside, Forum Card Is Deemed a Success

It was the first boxing card at the Forum since November 1999 so there were the usual opening night jitters.

The card started 23 minutes late, a fighter was led to the wrong corner and the ring card girl missed her first cue.

But promoter Ken Thompson and the eclectic yet enthusiastic announced crowd of 5,200 wouldn’t have had it any other way Friday night, when a pair of California state titles were defended on the six-fight card which lasted 3 hours, 21 minutes.

“We love it,” said Thompson, president of Thompson Boxing Promotions and the Los Angeles-based World Boxing Hall of Fame.

“We’re very happy with the turnout with a lot of old school and young fans. We’ve planted the seed.”

Thompson, who has been in the business of promoting boxing events since January 2000 and has held events in Newport Beach and Ontario, had never been associated with a venue as venerable or as large as the Forum. He was to gauge Friday night’s show before committing to as many as seven cards a year at the Forum, which he compares to New York City’s Madison Square Garden as the ultimate fight locales.

“It looks like we can put something together,” Thompson said. “I think, without question, we’ll be back next year.”

In the main event, Dwain Williams (24-3) of Inglewood successfully defended his state middleweight belt with a 10-round unanimous decision over Pat Coleman (27-8) of San Diego.

The lone knockout of the night came courtesy Samuel Lopez of North Hills.

Lopez (11-1) successfully defended his state bantamweight belt with a fourth-round technical knockout of Leonardo Gutierrez (21-20).

The southpaw Lopez, who won his title in May, picked up his fourth KO after knocking Gutierrez down twice in the third round and once in the fourth.

Referee David Mendoza stopped the fight at 2:03 of the fourth round when Lopez dropped Gutierrez with a combination.

In the first fight of the night, between a pair of junior-middleweights from Los Angeles making their professional debuts, Michael Santos was awarded a four-round unanimous decision over Raul Torres.

Santos caught Torres with a left hook early in the first round, opening up a nasty-looking gash on Torres’ right eye. Santos took advantage of the cut and knocked Torres down with another left hook one minute into the fight. Less than a minute later, Santos caught Torres with another left hook to the side of the head, sending Torres to the canvas a second time.

Armando Medellin Contreras (7-3-1) of La Mirada pounded out a unanimous decision over Guillermo Vara (3-2) of Los Mochis, Mexico, in a four-round featherweight fight, Contreras using Vara’s head for target practice.

Ernest Johnson (6-0) of Dayton, Ohio, utilized his six-inch height advantage and remained unbeaten with a six-round majority decision over Justo Almazan (5-15) of Mexico City in a junior-welterweight fight. Johnson fights under referee-turned-trainer Richard Steele.

Armando Velardez (11-1) of San Bernardino won a lackluster majority decision over Eduardo Castillo (8-13-1) of Los Mochis, Mexico in a six-round welterweight bout.