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11/18/2005 Archived Entry: "FIGHT CLUB"
FIGHT CLUB
Local boxers labor in obscurity, focused on the day they’ll be stars
By JASON VONDERSMITH
The Portland Tribune , : Fri, Nov 18, 2005
The lights and cameras will be on at the Rose Garden on Saturday, when HBO televises a big middleweight boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Sharmba Mitchell.
Four Portland-area fighters also will step into the ring, risking life, limb and livelihood, as well. But odds are that no one outside the arena will see them. At most, only taped clips of their undercard bouts will be shown during HBO’s 87-minute show, which starts at 7 p.m.
So goes the plight of the local, up-and-coming but as-yet-unknown pugilist. The local fighters will make only a tiny fraction of what Mayweather and Mitchell can claim. They won’t be bringing in a crowd of fans: Each hopes to win in front of family and friends, and catch the eye of someone important in the fight game.
"We’re soldiering away in the trenches of boxing," says Fred Ryan, owner of Grand Avenue Boxing Gym, near Madison High School in Northeast Portland, where three of Saturday’s fighters train.
Those fighters: light heavyweight Nelson Zepeda, middleweight Osvaldo "Waldo" Rojas and bantamweight Selso Bosquez.
Zepeda will fight Robert "Bo" Marthaller -- an ex-Oregon State football player who trains for the Knott Street Boxing Club at Matt Dishman Community Center, also in Northeast Portland -- in a six-round bout. Each will make $1,800.
An aspiring boxer like Zepeda, a 19-year-old Reynolds High graduate, does not want to lose to Marthaller. A win would help build his reputation, a loss could stunt his career.
"When you start out, nobody knows you," he says. "They want to see you fight, and, the better your record is, the more they want to see you fight. "Amateur (boxing) is just practice for the pros," adds Zepeda, who works in construction and has a 3-0 professional record. "Once you have a bad record in the pros, you can’t look back."
Indeed, bouts Saturday could help determine the path of each fighter: Is someone like Bosquez or Rojas destined to be just a journeyman, a guy who can make nothing more than $1,000 a night? Or is he destined to be like Steve Forbes, the Portland native who fought his way to national status, once claiming the International Boxing Federation junior lightweight crown?
The dream is to reach Mayweather’s status. He’ll make millions for Saturday’s Rose Garden bout, according to promoter Dan Goossen of Los Angeles.
Forbes, who trains and lives in Las Vegas, made $15,000 for his first fight in Oregon in 2004 with Goossen Tutor Promotions. HBO probably will show Forbes’ bout at the Rose Garden against Julio Cesar Sanchez on tape Saturday night. The network also plans to show a fight between Olympic champ Andre Ward and Darnell Boone.
Hard without a promoter
Typically, for shows of this nature, an undercard boxer can make up to $3,500, or $7,500 to $15,000 for TV bouts -- if the boxer has signed with the promoter, such as Goossen. "If you don’t do that (sign), it makes it tougher to get fights," says John Peters, Marthaller’s trainer. "You have to go all over the country to get fights. And promoters don’t want to put their fighters in with others with the same record, unless they’re really sure they can win."
Sound like a racket? Welcome to boxing.
Local fighters also have to fight mostly out of state, because other than an occasional casino fight or a Mayweather-Mitchell-type show, pro boxing doesen’t have much life in Oregon.
If a fighter signs with a promoter, "you’re often tied up-- like on a five-year agreement," Ryan says. The promoters make money, "and your boxer Doesn’t,"; he says. "It’s a minefield in boxing, and you’ve got to maneuver these young fighters the right way. They’re struggling against long odds."
About 14 pros toil at Grand Avenue, and another six or so for Knott Street, each hoping to follow Forbes’ path and make some better cash in boxing. Fighters progress from four to six rounds and then 10, and promoters start paying attention to fighters after about 20 career bouts.
Ray Lampkin, the former world title contender from Portland, has been working since August with Rojas, a Madison High grad who performs odd jobs for money.
"They look for talent and skills, and it takes wins," Lampkin says of high-end promoters. "And they notice how hard you can punch-- the power and speed." "It takes awhile to be a 10-round fighter, a main card fighter," Lampkin adds.
Rojas, he says, "is still green and learning. He has a lot of potential, but a lot of bad habits, too."
Rojas, 22, will face African Tefo Seetso in a four-rounder Saturday.
"It’s a chance for me to shine," says Rojas, who has a 2-0 pro record. "If you lose, it sets you back. You can’t lose."
"I want to make more than money," he says of his boxing career. I want to be a world champion. This is my life."
Making up for lost time
Bosquez, 33 and with a pro record of 3-1, got started late in the boxing game. He commutes from Salem several times each week to train at Grand Avenue, and fights mostly heavier opponents. Once promoters consistently pit him against guys his own size, 115 pounds, he says, "I think I can walk through it and take a belt."
Bosquez, a driver for Nike Inc., had one amateur fight before turning pro, and he already has fought at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. "I didn’t want to wait around because of my age," he says. "I wish I could make more money in a big fight." Bosquez will fight Refugio Navarro on Saturday. What does Bosquez know about him? "Nothing," he says. "It’s terrible."
Zepeda, who works at a Mexican restaurant, has faced Marthaller several times as an amateur. Each fighter says he holds the advantage.
The shorter Marthaller is "more of a scrapper and an inside fighter," Zepeda says, "and I’m an outside fighter and counterpuncher."
"I think I’ll knock him out in the third round," Marthaller says, adding that Zepeda "got tired after two rounds" in his last fight. ,br>Marthaller, 27, has a 3-1 pro record, according to Peters. The Siletz native and Toledo High graduate played strong safety on the OSU football team from 1997 to 2000, including in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl. He works for a company that rents dishwashing machines to restaurants. "I know he’s in good shape," Peters says of Marthaller. "Mentally, you don’t know until he gets into the fight how he’ll do. Nobody knows how they’ll do until they’re really tested." -------Jason Vondersmith
Replies: 2 Comments on this article
james.huey@comcast.net">huey@comcast.net
Posted by huey@comcast.net">james huey @ 11/19/2005 12:30 AM EST
thanks to grand ave and everyone else who are starting to breed new life to a once dead boxing scene in oregon, these undercards are great match ups, i think its only the start and hope to see more pro boxing in oregon
Posted by huey@comcast.net">james huey @ 11/19/2005 12:29 AM EST
