Pond Has Fighting Chance for a Title Bout

Carlos Madrigal’s first-round knockout of former world title contender Pedro Pena at the Arrowhead Pond Thursday night was indeed stunning. But it didn’t even compare to the real stunner of the night--the raucous and record-breaking crowd of 4,218 and $53,000 gate.

“I can never remember seeing anything like that in an arena like that,” said Dean Lohuis, the state athletic commission’s longtime chief inspector. “The Forum never did a gate like that for one of their [regular] Monday shows. It’s intriguing to me that he drew like that for a club show.”

It was also intriguing to Pond General Manager Tim Ryan, who hadn’t stopped smiling an hour after the show ended.

“After a night like that, it’s logical to wonder what’s the next step,” said Ryan, who seemed happy to be discussing something other than the Vancouver Grizzlies. “The staff has done an excellent job of giving people a great entertainment value for $20 and $25.”

Ryan said he promises to give boxing fans even more value if they stick with him.

“We’d like to up the purses and the quality of the fighters,” he said. “It’s more than something we consider. It’s something we talk about every week.”

But Ryan said he isn’t about to rush into anything.

“We’ll explore bigger fights, but we’re not going to do it and let our program here collapse,” he said. “We’re not in this for the short-term.”

The Pond began building a solid fan base last year, when Roy Englebrecht replaced Forum Boxing as the building’s boxing promoter. Englebrecht, working in coordination with a Pond staff of nine women, has increased the Thursday night show from a $34,000 gate last April to the record $53,000 Thursday.

Near the end of Forum Boxing’s four-year tenure at the Pond, gross ticket revenues were typically less than $20,000. Forum Boxing didn’t lose much money on its Monday night shows because of a television deal with Fox Sports Net. However, the Pond was in the red because small crowds meant little revenue from parking and concessions.

These days, Englebrecht and the Pond are profiting because of large crowds and small overhead at their regular Thursday shows. Englebrecht paid main-event fighters Pena and Madrigal $5,000 and $3,500. The marketing budget is almost nonexistent.

“This is a true grass-roots marketing approach,” Ryan said. “Fans are being contacted by flyers in the mail, phone calls and by word of mouth.”

The fights don’t feature big names, but for the most part, the boxers are local and the matchups are interesting. On Thursday’s card, four of 12 fighters were from Orange County and all but two were from Southern California.

Englebrecht’s hope is that local undefeated fighters such as Westminster heavyweight Javier Mora, La Habra light heavyweights Librado Andrade and Enrique Ornelas, and Montebello middleweight Sergio Mora continue to win, build a larger following and fight for a title.

“If a kid’s got a local following and he’s marketed at the Pond, it makes sense to spend a lot of money for a title fight,” said Englebrecht, who uses mostly home-grown talent to sell out the 1,300-seat Irvine Marriott Ballroom on Thursday nights.

With Englebrecht’s budget, and without a television deal, he can’t afford to increase the purses much more. So that’s why Ryan is negotiating with KCAL-TV Channel 9 to stage one or two shows a year. That way, he could improve the caliber of fighters and not risk losing a lot of money.

Ryan said he has also kicked around the idea of bidding for an Oscar De La Hoya or Shane Mosley fight.

“My guess is a year from today and possibly before the end of the year we’ll have a big-time fight here,” he said. “I think we’re ready for it.”