Boxing 
Vitali Klitschko has fought in the Staples Center three times. Cristobal Arreola was born and raised in Los Angeles, and currently resides in Riverside. James Toney has made his home in Southern California for more than a decade. Lamon Brewster trained for the first 10 years of his career in Los Angeles. Sounds like we are talking about football or basketball players, doesn't it? No, these are most of the recognizable heavyweight boxers in this country!
With the exception of Kevin Johnson of Atlanta, and Eddie Chambers of Philadelphia by way of Pittsburgh, most of the heavyweight action is taking place in Southern California. Long a haven of lighter weight fighters, the landscape is changing in local boxing action. It is even being felt on a national level, and it's not just from the residents. Chambers outpointed Samuel Peter at the Nokia Theatre. Peter himself defeated Toney across the street at the Staples Center. The majority of boxing press still exists in New York, and they are not kindly to covering action outside of their jurisdiction. Yet where Heavyweight boxing goes, there go the fans... eventually.
Las Vegas long stopped showing any affection for heavyweights since the banishment of Mike Tyson. Madison Sqaure Garden has showed waning interest since Wladimir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov stunk out the joint, and no New York-based fighters are making noise in the division currently. Even the WBC's number 7 contender, Manuel Quezada, is from Central California. Do you realize that had Arreola pulled off the upset over Klitschko and been rewarded with an optional defense, we actually could've had a heavyweight title fight between two California Chicanos?!
I, for one, am looking forward to this changing of the guard. It is even being felt on the preliminary/prospect levels, at the longest running show in Southern California currently, Roy Englebrecht's Battle in the Ballroom at Irvine Marriott. Out of 5 fights at last night's card, 2 of them were heavyweights. Recently, there was an all-heavyweight card. This is one of the two components needed to bring the sport back to the mainstream. The combination of MMA and boxing cards, in order to bridge the gap in fan appreciation, is one. The Combining of the Latino fan-bases with the Heavyweight fan-bases, is the other. I had said long ago that Arreola was a marketers dream. It looks as if the recipe is being shared.
Chris Strait
