Bars’ profit likely to get punched up

Jairo Hernandez hopes the Golden Boy will bring some gold to Cinco de Mayo celebrations in sports bars and restaurants tonight.

“It is going to be one of the biggest events of the year for us,” Hernandez said of the much-anticipated boxing showdown between Oscar De La Hoya, also known as the Golden Boy, and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Hernandez is a manager at Yankee Doodles, the landmark sports bar in Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade that will display the pay-per-view event on a 100-inch projection screen.

Like many watering holes around the city, Yankee Doodles stocks up on extra tequila, Coronas and guacamole for Cinco de Mayo, a holiday that celebrates Mexican heritage. But tonight, some businesses are expecting bigger-than-usual crowds because of the blockbuster bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The fight for the World Boxing Council super welterweight title is seen as a pivotal event for the sport and is likely to draw one of the biggest pay-per-view audiences in boxing history, in large part thanks to De La Hoya’s popularity. The East Los Angeles native is considered one of the few remaining boxing stars, in any weight category.

Even if the fight’s promoters didn’t focus on the fact that the bout is happening on a popular Mexican holiday or that the marquee fighter is of Mexican descent, such facts didn’t escape local sports bar owners.

“Cinco de Mayo is a big party day even without a sporting event,” said Scott McColgan, whose family owns and manages Shark’s Cove restaurant and bars in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach. The Hermosa Beach location will have the fight on dozens of TV screens. The Manhattan Beach restaurant will show the NBA basketball playoffs.

“We want to give our customers options,” said McColgan, who expects the Hermosa Beach bar to be much more crowded. “It is going to be absolutely slamming in there.”

The bar has capacity for about 250 people and it will charge $20 a person to cover the pay-per-view fee of about $3,000, McColgan said. The rate for residential viewers is $54.95, or $64.95 for high-definition broadcasting, but commercial users pay much more.

McColgan expects the bar to gross about double what it usually does on a typical Saturday. Hernandez, the Yankee Doodles manager, said his bar, which can accommodate more than 500 customers, is expected to sell $50,000 to $60,000 worth of beverages and food. It sells $36,000 on typical Saturdays. The bar will charge $25 for those who want to watch the fight in a specially set-up room.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico’s victory over invading French forces in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Although not heavily celebrated in Mexico, the date has come to symbolize ethnic pride in many Southwestern communities in the U.S., and is celebrated by Mexicans and non-Mexicans alike.

Some critics say the holiday, much like St. Patrick’s Day, has been co-opted by beer and liquor companies to promote more drinking. Some refer to May 5 as “Cinco de Drinko.”

The holiday ranks lower than the Super Bowl or St. Patrick’s Day in terms of beer sales, but it is crucial for importers of Mexican beer, said Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights, a trade publication.

“It kick-starts the peak sales season for Mexican beers,” Steinman said. For most other beers, the high sales season starts on Memorial Day and goes through Labor Day, he said.

Most of those beers are likely to be consumed in homes as most boxing fans watch the event in the comfort of a couch with friends and family. In East Los Angeles, for example, there was no sign of sports bars beckoning Cinco de Mayo revelers on the eve of the fight.

A little west in downtown Los Angeles, however, Matthew Gavin was hoping to capture some of the sports fans who decided to venture out, especially those with deep pockets. Gavin is part owner of Trifecta Restaurant and Sports Bar on Hill Street, a posh lounge-type eatery that opened four months ago and is betting on downtown’s revival.

Trifecta customers will watch the fight on plasma screens and order from a menu that features, among other things, a $28 Kobe beef hamburger.

“There is a crowd out there of sports fans who won’t go to the typical sports bar with peanut shells on the floor and fried food,” Gavin said. “We cater to them.”

daniel.yi@latimes.com