Nowadays, most of the major
fights that take place in Los Angeles are staged at the Staples Center or Home
Depot Center (or some other property owned by AEG at LA Live) but there was a
time when the Los Angeles Sports Arena (the original home of the Lakers and
Jerry West and the host for this weekend’s bout featuring Amir Khan vs. Carlos
Molina) regularly staged this city’s biggest cards.
In fact, boxing was on the premises
before the arena’s construction was even finished
Veteran publicist Bill
Caplan recalls, “There was a big fight scheduled in there; they hadn't even
completed the building. I remember going in there; there was scaffolding up,
plastering and painting and all kinds of stuff. They hadn't finished the
building but the bantamweight champion of the world was a guy from Morocco who
transplanted to France. His name was Alphonse Halimi, a very interesting guy. I
was actually working on the fight. He happened to be a Moroccan Jew - so I got
to know him very well - and when I say interesting, this is a guy that before
he decided to be a professional boxer, he was an acrobat in the circus. If
you're familiar with European circuses, they take their circuses and acrobating
and stuff like that very seriously. And the guy could really do it. He was a
good fighter too; he was the bantamweight champion of the world when there was
one champion in each division and he came over and he fought a guy from Mexico
by the name of Jose Becerra and this was at a time when the bantamweight title
was king in Los Angeles. Just one after another and another important bout and
they were all here. And they would either sell out the Olympic Auditorium or
they'd have them outdoors.”
Becerra would lift the crown
from Halimi by halting him in eight rounds in front of a sellout crowd of “about
7,000,” recalled Caplan, who will never forget the din of that evening. “The
noise was so loud, so shrill. It's the loudest noise I've ever heard in my
life. I don't know how many decibels but it was painful. It was physically
painful and that was opening night at the Sports Arena.”
John Beyrooty, who is
working this event for Brener Zwikel Public Relations, also has fond memories
of this place. During his stint as a scribe for the now-defunct Herald Examiner (where he worked from
1973 till its demise in 1989), he was on hand for many of their events. “The
greatest memory came from the greatest fight, that's when Roberto Duran fought
Pipino Cuevas. The place was packed; the atmosphere was beyond electric. It was
just a tremendous action evening,” he recalled of that January night in 1983.
Five months later, “Hands of Stone” would continue his resurgence by dominating
Davey Moore in five rounds for the WBA junior middleweight title.
Beyrooty also remembers, “There
was one time when they had fights on the usual Thursday nights at the Olympic
[Auditorium] and then a rival promoter put one on - I forget if it was Don
Fraser or not - and so, in those days, there was a lot of pressure on me to cover
- or at least alleviate pressure - both cards. So what I did was, after
finishing parking cars and taking off my red-and-white striped shirt at the
Sports Arena, I went in and covered the fights. Then hustled over to the
Olympic. So I covered both fights just to keep the P.R. people of my ass for
five minutes.”
While it's looked upon as a
relic now, there was a time when this was a state-of-the-art structure. When it
was built, Los Angeles was a relatively young metropolis. Before the Great
Western Forum and the Staples Center, there was the L.A. Sports Arena, no
stranger to the “Sweet Science.”
“On the same property as the
historic L.A. Memorial Coliseum and a lot of history at that Sports Arena. For
example, the 1984 Olympic boxing, that was all in the Sports Arena.” said Caplan.
“We had a lot of great fighters who had great professional careers including
Evander Holyfield, who came off the American team. I mean, so many fights and I
think I saw ‘em all. Muhammad Ali fought three fights in one year at the Sports
Arena. I think the one that was most notable was against Archie Moore, who was
a legendary fighter, a light heavyweight,” said Caplan, who says Ali's slogan
for that fight (which was emblazoned on fight posters) was “Moore in Four!” “And
you know what? He knocked out Archie Moore in four rounds.”
The year of Ali's trifecta
at the Sports Arena was 1962. Other notable fights held here include the 1960
bout between Sugar Ray Robinson and Gene Fullmer and Bobby Chacon versus Danny “Little
Red” Lopez in 1974. Roger Mayweather cemented his status as “The Mexican
Assassin” in the late ‘80s.
As the Sports Arena went up
in 1959, Los Angeles truly was a boxing town during this era.
“I have to tell ya, before
the Dodgers came here, there were only two major league sports in this town and
that was boxing and horse racing. And everything else was minor league here.
Now, I'm not talking about UCLA and USC; I'm talking about professional sports,”
said Caplan, who may have forgotten about the Rams who drew large throngs at
the Coliseum. “Boxing was obviously very big. You had the Olympic Auditorium
that went every Thursday night. You had the Hollywood Legion Stadium that went
every Saturday night - they both had local television; in fact, they were
regional television networks - and then you had Santa Monica Arena, which has
been a bowling alley for many years. It used to be an arena. They went every
two weeks. Southgate Arena went every two weeks. There was an arena in the
valley in Burbank; I think it was the Jim Jeffries Arena that went every month.
“There was a lot of boxing
in this town.”
A month ago, boxing made its
return to the Sports Arena where a highly entertaining card featuring the likes
of Brian Viloria and Roman Gonzalez was held on a wet, rainy night in front of
a somewhat sparse but spirited crowd. The promoters of the card didn't exactly
have what you'd call a traditional press row (in fact, most of the press just
sat in the front rows near ringside and there was no internet access -
something Beyrooty swears will be taken care of for this promotion). This venue
isn't modern by any means but it's well kept and just a few minutes from the
campus of USC. So yeah, this isn't the Silverdome West. It's still the site of
Naturalization Ceremonies and recently, Bruce Springsteen sold out the house on
two nights in late October.
If you’re looking for modern
amenities like luxury boxes or sushi stands, yeah, this isn't the place. There
aren't a lot of bells and whistles here. But it does come with a certain
charm. Because of its configuration, there are very good sightlines and it's
boxing in our fine city. It's right off the 110. How can you beat that?
Besides, we're here to watch
boxing, not the ballet.
Beyrooty, who has seen
everything from the circus to the rodeo, concerts and car shows, says simply of
the Sports Arena, “It's a fine venue.”
MARES
While Showtime/CBS has a
full day of boxing, on HBO, Nonito Donaire defends his junior featherweight
title against Jorge Arce in Houston. And Abner Mares admits to being Donaire’s
number one fan.
“I guess I am this Saturday;
believe me,” he says laughing. “I'm going to be cheering for him. I hope that
he wins and I hope that he even makes it spectacular. Why not? I would make the
fight even bigger.”
But he's well aware of the “Cold
War” that exists between Golden Boy and Top Rank that will most likely keep
this fight from becoming a reality.
“I really hope they come to
their senses and really realize that who they're hurting here is the fighters
and the fans. We as fighters, we just fight and obviously by fighting, we
provide for our families and also they get to take out of it too,” said Mares,
who holds the WBC belt at 122 pounds. “It's a win-win for everybody. I don't
know why they don't want to make the fight. I know it's their egos here more
than anything. I just hope both of them come to their senses and really make this
fight happen.”
Can we give peace a chance
in 2013?
SPORTS ARENA FLURRIES
Other great events at this
place include the filming of the first two films in the “Rocky” franchise (no,
the Creed-Balboa fights weren't actually filmed at the Spectrum) and Carver High
winning the city title on “The White Shadow.” Yeah, they did for Jackson...And
I can't forget the steel cage match between Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy at
WrestleMania II, which I was in attendance for...All the festivities begin at
the Sports Arena around 12:30 (when the doors open) and from there, it's boxing
all day long...Lotsa boxing on tonight from cards on CBS, Showtime and HBO. You
also have the “All-Access” for Austin Trout-Miguel Cotto (SHO) and “The Fight
Game with Jim Lampley” (HBO). As always, check your local listings...
