No More Mr. Nice Guy : In Pursuit of Olympic Berth, Van Nuys’ Bray Bids to Shed Image as Passive Boxer

The many friends and relatives of John Bray are pretty sure he’s a boxer. They keep reading about him winning a decision in Seattle or knocking someone out in Europe or Oklahoma City or Colorado Springs.

But in the past four years, as Bray rose through the ranks of amateur boxing to become the national heavyweight champion, his many followers in the Los Angeles area have never actually seen him fight.

Well, the rumor will be confirmed Saturday when Bray, 21, of Van Nuys, steps into a ring in Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion to kick off the 1991 U. S. Olympic Festival.

“I’ve had so many relatives and buddies of mine asking for tickets that I can’t keep up with them,” Bray said Monday as he put the finishing touches on his preparations at the Ten Goose Boxing Club gym in Van Nuys. “I haven’t fought here since I was about 17, in some local tournament. A lot of things have happened since then.”

Not all have been good.

In 1988, while still a student at Van Nuys High, Bray cruised through the preliminary rounds of the Western Olympic Trials and dreams of Seoul danced in his head. But in the final, he lost a decision to Tommy Morrison--now a professional fighter and actor who landed a role opposite Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky V.”

A year later, on the verge of becoming the national amateur champion at age 19, Bray stumbled again, losing a decision to Javier Alvarez in the semifinals of the U. S. championships.

He came back a few months later, however, to defeat Alvarez in a close but unspectacular fight to win the gold medal in the 1989 U. S. Olympic Festival.

In 1990, he won the heavyweight berth on the U. S. team for the Goodwill Games in Seattle, but then lost in the quarterfinals to Bert Teuchert of West Germany.

Always, his losses seemed to be caused not by lack of talent but rather by lack of will. Bray’s passive style made steam rise from the ears of his trainers.

“I didn’t want to embarrass myself, but I should have slapped the hell out of him before the second round to make him mad,” trainer Joe Byrd said after Bray’s loss to Teuchert in the Goodwill Games.

“I hate to say it, but we don’t have a strong heavyweight. The U. S. is kind of weak in that. Bray is Mr. Nice Guy. You can’t be nice in the ring.”

Even in victory, Bray sometimes brought that kind of wrath upon himself. After Bray’s victory over James Johnson in Las Vegas in June of 1990--a win that landed him a berth in the Goodwill Games--veteran U. S. amateur Coach Pat Nappi took a crack too.

“John Bray has all the tools and all the potential,” Nappi said. “But now he needs the desire. He needs to make the sacrifices. He needs motivation. He’s got an awful lot of talent, but now he needs to get his act together.”

Perhaps Bray got the message.

In the U. S. championships earlier this year, he simply overwhelmed his opposition. He scored easy and heavy-handed decisions over Doug Liggion and Armando Alvarez. He beat Bobby Harris unmercifully in the semifinals, forcing the referee to halt the fight in the second round, and then, against his nemesis, Javier Alvarez, he pounded out a remarkably easy decision to win the national title.

Mr. Nice Guy, according to Bray, doesn’t step into the ring any more.

Two months ago, in a fight he entered as a monstrous underdog, he lost a close decision to Felix Savan of Cuba, the reigning world champion. But Bray fought valiantly and staggered Savan in the first round. With the courageous effort, he even won praise from Nappi.

“After the fight all the Cuban boxers came up to me and shook my hand,” Bray said. “They said they had never seen anyone stand up against Savan like that. They were so used to him intimidating people and then knocking them out.

“And then Pat Nappi told me I did a good job, told me that Savan was ready to go (to get knocked out) any time in the first round after I tagged him a few times. That’s what Pat said. And you know our relationship. It was nice to hear that from him. We’re getting along better these days. He sees that I’m a lot more serious now, that there’s a lot more effort.”

There’s a reason for Bray’s sudden surge.

“The Olympics,” he said. “Ever since I started boxing at the age of 10, that was my goal. Now, I have it in my reach. The Olympics are next year. And I plan to be there.”

First, of course, is the scaled-down version of the Olympics, the U. S. Olympic Festival. It has opening ceremonies and closing ceremonies and singing and marching children, but if you don’t get goose bumps that make your whole body tingle, don’t think you’re alone.

Nevertheless, the Festival goes a long way toward determining which athletes will march into the stadium with the U. S. team in Barcelona next year.

“I remember winning the gold medal at the Festival in 1989,” Bray said. “It was the greatest feeling in the world. It felt just like being in the Olympics. Of course, the Olympics are something else entirely. But the Festival is really a first-class event.”

The four-man heavyweight field includes Bray and Javier Alvarez, along with Shannon Briggs and heavy-punching Melvin Foster. Bray has a battle plan for all three of his possible opponents.

“With Briggs, I can mix it up and use my experience and throw some heavy punches,” Bray said. “But with the other two, I have to be more cautious. Alvarez is a great competitor. He never quits, never stops coming at you. He is dangerous. And Foster is a banger, a big, strong guy who can take me out . . . can take anyone out with one punch. I can’t let that happen.

“Against Alvarez and Foster, I’ll box and move and keep my hands up. I’ll take the knockout if it comes, but I’ll also take the decisions against those guys.”

And if he does win, it will be even sweeter in front of family and friends.

“I know the place will be packed, just with my friends and relatives,” he said. “It will be terrific, and I won’t let it be a distraction. I’ve got a job to do, that’s the way I look at it. I just can’t let something like that affect me.

“I’m the national champion now, and I know that three other guys have been training their butts off to come and beat me. It’s nice being the national amateur champion, but at the same time it has been a little scary. Because for the first time, I’ve got something to lose. I’ve got something all the other amateur heavyweights in the United States want.”