Late Lakers owner Buss promoted major fights

Dr. Jerry Buss made his name as the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, and those 10 NBA titles certainly helped establish his celebrity.

But he also was a big boxing fan. And from 1982 until 1999, Buss’ Forum Boxing was a player in Southern California and Las Vegas.

Buss, who died Monday after a lengthy battle with cancer, was 80 years old. He enjoyed attending the fights and was a regular at ringside for the big shows in Las Vegas, even when he wasn’t the promoter.

“He was all about putting together good fights because, as a fight fan, that’s what he liked watching,” said broadcaster Rich Marotta, who worked many of the Forum Boxing shows on the Prime Ticket network. “He wanted it to be quality boxing.”

Many great fighters fought on Buss’ cards. The pro debuts of Oscar De La Hoya and Juan Manuel Marquez were at the Forum. Jorge Paez was a Buss favorite. Michael Carbajal and Humberto “Chiquita” Gonzalez had their second meeting in their trilogy of fights at the Forum. Julio Cesar Chavez stopped Roger Mayweather in 1989 at the Forum.

HBO’s popular “Boxing After Dark” series began in 1996 with a Forum Boxing show that was epic as Marco Antonio Barrera stopped Kennedy McKinney in the 12th round in a fight that saw six knockdowns, five by Barrera.

“He wanted to make sure there was a strong presence in Los Angeles and that it was an event,” Marotta said of Buss’ attitude toward boxing. “He did things like ring card girl contests and got the fans actively involved. He was a fan himself, and he wanted everyone who came to his fights to have a good time.”

Buss, a member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Riverside, Calif., also promoted in Nevada. He did cards in Las Vegas, most notably the Thomas Hearns-Virgil Hill fight at Caesars Palace in 1991, in which Hearns scored a 12-round unanimous decision. Financially, Buss took a bath, reportedly losing $1 million. But since the fight was his idea, he didn’t complain.

“He loved being at ringside with his friends,” Marotta said. “I don’t think he cared that the Hearns-Hill fight lost money. He was having too much fun.”

■ CHAVEZ HEARING — Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s disciplinary hearing finally will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Nevada Athletic Commission’s monthly meeting. The former WBC middleweight champion lost his title to Sergio Martinez on Sept. 15 and following the fight tested positive for marijuana.

Chavez’s Las Vegas-based lawyer, Don Campbell, answered the commission’s complaint and said his client admitted to the charges. He asked for leniency when the NAC rules on his client, including a maximum fine of $10,000 and a maximum suspension of six months.

Chavez’s purse for his fight with Martinez was $3 million. The commission could fine him as much as 30 percent. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held on the first floor of Cashman Center.

■ JESSE’S FIGHT MOVED — Undefeated super bantamweight Jesse Magdaleno was supposed to fight Saturday in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif. Instead, promoter Top Rank moved the Las Vegan to a March 16 card at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., that has Timothy Bradley Jr. (29-0, 12 knockouts) defending his WBO welterweight title against Ruslan Provodnikov (22-1, 15 KOs) in the 12-round main event.

The 21-year-old Magdaleno (13-0, nine KOs) will fight in an eight-round contest against an opponent to be determined.

Also on the March 16 card will be Las Vegas welterweight Jessie Vargas (21-0, nine KOs) against Wale Omotoso (23-0, 19 KOs) in a 10-round bout.

■ BERNSTEIN BOOK SIGNING — Boxing television analyst and Las Vegas resident Al Bernstein will have a signing for his latest book, “30 Years, 30 Undeniable Truths About Boxing, Sports and TV,” on March 9 at the Boxing Hall Of Fame, located within SCORE!, the interactive sports exhibit at the Luxor.

The signing runs from noon to 3 p.m., and all purchasers of Bernstein’s book that day will receive a free DVD — “Al Bernstein’s Favorite All-Time Greatest Knockouts.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.