6 AUGUST 1, 2002
Smoke Signals
Fight Night Is A Knockout at Portland's Rose Garden
Spirit Mountain Casino teams with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Productions to bring
professional boxing to Oregon.
By Peta Tinda
Roy Englebrecht, Chief Operating Officer for
Golden Boy Promotions, which is Spirit Mountain
Casino's partner in it's most recent venture, "Spirit
Mountain Casino presents Fight Night at the Rose
Garden," thinks that the Thursday night fights have
an extremely bright future.
"I think that the July 18 fight laid a very solid
foundation for future events at the Rose Garden.
When you can bring in 2,700 people on a Thursday
night, in the boxing business, this was a huge suc
cess," he said.
Englebrecht knows a thing or two about success
in the boxing business.
As manager of the largest boxing promotion com
pany on the west coast, and partners with world
champion boxer Oscar De La Hoya, Englebrecht's
company is one of the premier fight promoters
around. Englebrecht himself has been in the busi
ness of fight promoting for 18 years. He admits it's
a tough business, but sees potential in the Portland
boxing scene.
"I think we'll see an increase in attendance at the
next fight. I am confident that everybody who went
to the show went to work the next day and told ev
eryone how much fun they had at the fight," said
Englebrecht.
"We're providing boxing fans great entertainment
in a state of the art facility at the right price. If we
do that the fans will come back. And we did just
that."
Englebrecht also said that he was pleased with
Photos by Brent Merrill
2SZ
And Still Undefeated... Portland's own Will
iam "Butch" Chapman (left) stayed undefeated at 5-0 in
his professional career by dominating Seattle's Reggie
Lowe in an entertaining four round lightweight bout.
the partnership that his
company and Spirit
Mountain Casino have
entered into.
"In order to be suc
cessful, you need great
partners. From our
first meeting with Spirit
Mountain and the
Tribal Council, I knew
we had a good thing.
Fight Night at the Rose
91 -I
V- v&
'vVW &
Garden has a great, great partner in Spirit Moun
tain Casino."
He also said that he is confident that good word-of-mouth
will help spread the news of the fight night.
"We had 32 rounds of boxing, and a great main
event, with Carlos Madrigal fighting an action packed
bout. He was almost knocked out in the first round,
so it was a very exiting. The female fight was also
very strong, and it ended in draw,
which means that both girls fought
their hearts out. Our heavyweight,
Joe Guzman, a Portland local, beat
Emmanuel Laurent, of Los Angeles,
which was music to the Blazer fans.
It was as tough as a heavyweight
bout as you will see anywhere," said
Englebrecht.
But the most positive thing,
Engelbrecht said, was that there was
a good turnout and all of the local
Portland boxers won their matches.
"It was a great evenings entertain
ment," he said.
Stan Sittser, Marketing Manager
for the Rose Quarter, which handles
all of the events at the Rose Garden,
shared Englebrecht's enthusiasm for fight night.
"We all think it went great. We had good turnout,
knowledgeable fans and an enthusiastic crowd. It
was complete success," said Sittser. "I think a good
time was had by every last one of those fans."
He also said he was impressed with how well the
local boxers performed.
"They all went the distance. It gave Portland area
fans something to cheer about. And the main event
was excellent as well."
Sittser says that Portland has had its share of
boxing history.
"Portland has always been a strong boxing town,
and lot of the fighters are already there. We're not
trying to re-invent something new. We're just revi
talizing big-time fights in Portland."
Sittser feels that they have all the right ingredi
ents for success.
"We've got the partnership with Spirit Mountain
Casino and Golden Boy Productions, the beautiful
venue of the Rose Garden and
top-notch talent. I see noth
ing but success for Fight
Night at the Rose Garden."
Like Englebrecht, Sittser is
also pleased with the partner
ship with the casino.
"From the very beginning, Spirit Mountain Ca
sino has been an excellent partner. They stepped
up as the major, title sponsor and their support has
been unflagging. We continue to be very enthusias
tic about our partnership with Spirit Mountain and
the Grand Ronde Tribe."
He also said that events of this type fill a certain
market that had not been addressed.
"This is something that the fans were hungry for.
It used to be that they had to travel to see profes
sional boxing. What we bring is live, high quality
and up close and personal. And it was very well
accepted. It was a successful event," said Sittser.
Mike Moore, President and Chief Executive Of-
The Main Event WBO Intercontinental Bantamweight Cham
pion Carlos "El Terror" Madrigal knocked out San Juan, Puerto Rico
native Luis Malave in the third round of a scheduled 10 round champi
onship fight. Malave rocked the champion Madrigal, who lives and
trains in Los Angeles, with a near knockout punch in the first round.
Madrigal recovered to dominate Malave and forced him to quit in the
third round with a barrage of head and body blows.
x , , A r) r J "
L -1 - A-4fcJ
Style and Power - Ada Velez of Ft. Lauder
dale, Florida (left) pounded on Las Vegas' Layla
McCarter for six rounds, but when the judges de
clared the fight a majority draw no winner was de
termined. Promoters announced after the fight that
Velez and McCarter would return to Oregon to fight
on a future card for the Oregon Women's Bantam
weight State Championship.
ficer of Spirit Mountain Casino, was at the fight night
and said the boxing was very well received.
"I think it was great evening. I talked to a lot of
guests; they loved it and thought it was very excit
ing. I think it was a very good beginning and the
fans will spread the word," said Moore.
Moore said he thinks this is a good way to expand
into the market of people who follow boxing. Al
though it would have been too expensive and dis
ruptive to have the fights at Spirit Mountain Ca
sino, he says that they can achieve the same goals
by sponsoring an event like the fight night.
"That way, we can have the benefits of both worlds
and can also reach new people."
Moore also said that the casino has a good partner
in Golden Boy Productions .
"I've been involved with fight promotions before
and it's difficult. But Golden Boy is a quality outfit,
with a lot of experience. "
They're very skilled, so I
knew it would be a good
promotion," he said.
Moore said that the
promoters did an excel
lent job with the fight.
"It takes pros to do pro
fessional work. These
guys knew what they
were doing and it
showed. The guests
loved it," said Moore.
"Everyone I talked to
wanted to know when
the next fight was."