Olympic Aims to Play to Crowd

She was once the glamour queen of boxing, with so many dates, she could barely fit them all in. The rich and famous, the poor and anonymous all came to visit and be entertained.

These days, the dates are far less frequent for the Olympic Auditorium, the grand old lady in downtown Los Angeles.

Soon, there’ll be a bright new star in the neighborhood, one who will get most of those dates, and the glamour, spotlight, photographers, reporters and fans.

Soon, the new Staples Center will be built, and the Lakers, Kings and, perhaps, the Clippers will all move in along with occasional visits by rock stars and ice skaters and maybe even one of the major political parties for a national convention.

But don’t pull out the wrecking ball for the Olympic just yet. Promoter Bob Arum’s Top Rank organization, in conjunction with Univision television, is launching another attempt to bring regularly scheduled fight shows back to the Olympic.

The first card will be held next Saturday and Top Rank plans to go monthly from then on.

The Olympic has been around since 1925. It has been the site of more than 100 title fights. In its glory years, it was also used for wrestling and roller derby, both popular, well-attended shows in this city before the Dodgers, Lakers, Kings and other local professional teams came to town.

Boxing finally stopped at the Olympic in 1987. Businessman Steve Needleman remodeled the building in 1993, and it was Arum who first tried to revive boxing there in 1994. He used his biggest draw, Oscar De La Hoya, to try to bring the fans back. But even De La Hoya couldn’t reignite the Olympic boxing flame. When Arum gave up, local promoter Peter Broudy took over for about 18 months starting in mid-1995 before also abandoning the Olympic.

One fight was held there in 1997, pitting World Boxing Council junior-lightweight champion Genaro Hernandez against Carlos Hernandez. That was in November.

Now Arum is returning, he hopes, better equipped. Instead of trying to primarily appeal to the Anglo crowd in West Los Angeles, the shows will be geared this time more toward the Latino community, especially through the Spanish language broadcasts of Univision.

“This time, we are extremely optimistic,” Arum said. “We have learned a lot about the demographics.”

On the card next Saturday, International Boxing Assn. super-lightweight champion Antonio Diaz (20-2, 15 knockouts) defends his title against Alberto Cortes (70-7-1, 31 knockouts), and undefeated junior-lightweight Floyd Mayweather (15-0, 13 knockouts) faces Gustavo Cuello (20-7, 11 knockouts) in a 10-round match.

NO DOUGH, NO GO, BY GEORGE

It sounded too good to be true.

As it turns out, it was.

Promoter Roger Levin offered two-time heavyweight champion George Foreman $10 million through his attorney, Henry Holmes, to fight another former heavyweight champion, Larry Holmes.

Foreman has often said he wouldn’t step into the ring with Holmes. But hey, $10 million is $10 million. For that amount of money, Foreman would fight Henry Holmes.

So Foreman and Henry decided to call the bluff of Levin, whom Foreman publicist Bill Caplan refers to as a “shady character.” If you’re really serious, the promoter was told, write us a check for $1 million and we’ll give you an exclusive option on the fight for a specified period.

So far, there has been no check. Big surprise.

In the meantime, Foreman is moving ahead with his plans to fight for the final time on Jan. 10, 1999, his 50th birthday, in Las Vegas.

But he can be persuaded to fight earlier. For $10 million.

SHORT JABS

America Presents is planning to hold its first pay-per-view show in July in San Antonio. Featured on the card will be seven champions or former champions. More details will follow, but look for both Gabriel and Rafael Ruelas to be fighting that night. . . . Broudy has moved his operation to Las Vegas. Before pulling out Broudy tried all sorts of sites in Southern California, from the Reseda Country Club to the Olympic Auditorium to West Los Angeles.