A SWINGING CLUB

As a sizzling summer day settles into a comfortable Friday evening, the buzz of a spirited crowd begins to drown out the drone of traffic along the Corona freeway.

Boxing fans, hundreds of them, from buttoned-down executives to sweat-stained construction workers, have come to a most unusual venue to watch an all-too-uncommon occurrence -- an evenly matched, action-packed fight card.

By day, Omega Products International in Corona is the nation’s leading independent manufacturer of stucco. But one night a month, each July through September, it is transformed into a professional boxing venue, where the only elevated view is from metal folding chairs on the loading dock.

The main event in August was a 10-round junior-middleweight bout between Chicago native Ryan Davis and Carlos Bojorquez, a former world title contender from nearby Mira Loma. But the names and their modest resumes didn’t seem to matter to the standing-room-only crowd of 1,500, some of whom ridiculed the undercard fighters in Spanish and howled at the scantily clad girls who announced each round by parading around the ring while hoisting home-made signs.

The atmosphere hovers between raucous and raunchy, but it’s exactly what Ken Thompson envisioned when he started promoting matches at his stucco company six years ago.

Thompson wasn’t looking for boxing to make him rich. He’d already built an empire of businesses that manufacture building materials.

He wasn’t out to make a name for himself in the sport, either. He’d already been president of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

What Thompson sought was a way to provide up-and-coming boxers more opportunities to earn a paycheck and a shot at moving up the rankings. Club boxing in Southern California was on a decline, and there was virtually nothing local for fight fans in the burgeoning Inland Empire.

“This gives us an opportunity to do what should have been done years ago, and that’s provide cards that are evenly matched and help these kids get to the top,” Thompson said.

This year, Thompson booked 10 cards -- three at Omega, six at a hotel in Ontario and one at the L.A. Athletic Club -- a busy schedule for any promoter, much more for one who sells tickets over the phone using a two-person crew.

“He’s one of a kind,” said Dean Lohuis, chief inspector for the California Boxing Commission.

Lohuis said Thompson’s promotions have “really fueled” the resurgence of club boxing in California.

“In a lot of places, boxing is down,” Lohuis said. “But we’ve had more fight shows in the last year than we’ve had in the previous 10.”

For his shows, Thompson followed a formula similar to that used by Orange County-based promoter Roy Englebrecht, who has been selling out bouts at the Irvine Marriott for nearly 20 years.

“You want to have evenly matched fights,” Thompson said. “If you put good fighters in the ring, fans will be in the seats.”

Even if those seats are located in the middle of a stucco company.

“It really doesn’t matter where a boxing event is taking place, as long as it’s well put together,” said Kathy Garcia, who helps run an organization of mostly club fighters based in Salinas.

Thompson said his toughest challenge was convincing city officials to let him host the bouts.

Now, some of those same officials are ringside regulars.

To keep neighbors in the industrial park at ease, Thompson makes personal visits -- tickets in hand. He estimates he gives away about 10% of his lot, mainly to clients. “It’s a great marketing tool,” he said.

Although most events are technically sold out before the night of the fights, Thompson said he tries hard to make room for fans who come to the door. Or, rather, the driveway leading to the outdoor storage area.

Working the bouts are many of the same referees and judges found at major championship fights, including Gwen Adair, who will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame next month and remains the only woman to referee a men’s world title bout.

Other sights are unique to the venue: beer trucks parked at either end of the arena; a fast food outlet serving reheated hamburgers and fries from a kitchen trailer; dark curtains cordoning off the dressing rooms in the warehouse; and fighters making their entrances down an access ramp that leads from the executive offices.

“We have a really good thing going,” said matchmaker Alex Camponova, whom Thompson credits for lining up evenly matched bouts for which his fight cards are known.

Friday’s show is typical. Two locals first signed by Thompson, Jose Lopez and Timothy Ray Bradley Jr., will be trying to take major steps in their young careers.

Lopez, from Riverside, is 14-1 with nine knockouts. He’ll be defending his WBC Mundo Hispano title in meeting Jose Luis Tula (15-11-2, 10 KOs) of Mexico City for the WBC youth interim super-featherweight championship.

Bradley, a former amateur champion from Palm Springs, is 8-0 with five knockouts. He’ll be matched against Francisco Rincon (10-2, 5 KOs) of Coahuila, Mexico, for the WBC youth welterweight title.

“Two minor title fights, that usually never happens in the club shows,” Lohuis said.

An unusual circumstance, a unique setting.