Monday, April 7, 2003 | 9:25 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
By every measuring device but one, the National Collegiate Boxing Championships that concluded Saturday night at the Cox Pavilion were a rousing success.
The level of competition was certainly satisfactory, as were the accommodations and the spirit of both the competitors and the crowd.
And that UNLV claimed three of the 12 individual national championships was a plus from a local perspective.
Yet the overall attendance was puny for the most part and beneath the humble expectations of the tournament's organizers. The per-session totals -- 550 Thursday, 600 Friday and 800 Saturday -- left the host Rebels dipping into their account to cover the estimated $35,000 cost of the event.
"I know the 51s are playing, the Gladiators are playing right next door and the NCAA (basketball) tournament is going on, but honestly, I'm a little perplexed," said Bruce Korbin, the president of the UNLV boxing team's executive board. "I think we marketed this as good as we could with our limited budget, but it seems as if only the most dedicated of boxing fans is here.
"Other than the crowd counts, I couldn't be more pleased. But I guess it was more difficult than I thought it would be to get people out."
UNLV head coach Skip Kelp agreed and laid part of the blame on the university's students.
"I'm disappointed with the turnout," he said. "I know there's a lot happening in Las Vegas but it seems as if there's a lot of people on campus that don't even know we have a team, let alone that we're hosting the national championships.
"Maybe a three-day event is just tougher to do, because we've had crowds of up to 1,500 (at Mandalay Bay) for a single-night card."
If the tournament was underappreciated, so, too, is college boxing on the whole.
"I think we're in something of a state of purgatory, where things are neither real good or real bad," Kelp said. "The quality of the fighters is as good as ever, but the numbers have taken a little downturn.
"There used to be 28 schools with boxing and now there's only 22."
Of those 22, Air Force can claim to be the best after taking the 2003 team title. But UNLV, with three champions as well as a silver medalist, finished second and is a budding power in this sport that relies on private funding for its very existence.
Xenon Mallari, Lyle Nixon and Jose Gonzalez each earned a gold medal and Dave Bermudez took a silver after losing a close decision to Air Force's Thomas Parker in the final at 139 pounds.
For Mallari, the championship was his third in as many tries yet he isn't sure he'll go for a fourth even though he still has another year of school ahead of him. A lack of first-rate competition in his 112-pound weight class has him somewhat discouraged.
"I'm jealous of my teammates," he said despite holding the champion's belt, as he needed only one victory -- and that took but a single minute -- to win the gold medal. He stopped Navy freshman Billy Coakley in quick order, coming out headhunting and throwing just enough body shots to force the referee to intercede.
"I told you nobody was going to take my championship from me," he said. "I didn't want to leave it to the judges."
Nixon, a senior, saw his fight with Navy's Jeremy Biggs at 125 pounds go to the judges and his sigh-of-relief reaction when the verdict was read reflected the closeness of the bout.
"I knew I'd won but whenever you go to a decision in college boxing it's iffy," he said. "But it's a good feeling. All that hard work paid off."
When Gonzalez won his fight at 132 pounds with California's Todd Gaylord, he rewarded himself by getting his hands on a cold beer.
Taking a page from WBC and WBA welterweight world champion Ricardo Mayorga, who routinely celebrates a victory with a brew and a cigarette while still in the ring, Gonzalez took his bows and then headed for the beer stand.
"I just fought that guy two weeks ago," he said of Gaylord. "So I knew I could wear him down.
"I've been boxing for four years and I've been expecting to win a national championship since I started. It's a dream come true."
His story was typical, especially for those who are newly crowned champions in a sport that does not offer scholarships. But if the incentives and the rewards are few, one of them this year was something each of the competitors will be able to tell his grandkids.
"I once fought in Las Vegas," they'll be able to say, and the only down side to that claim to fame is that so few spectators were there to see them.
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