Women’s Boxing Gets First, Critical Look

ABC becomes the first major network to televise women’s boxing Saturday when it shows a Las Vegas undercard match between Yvonne Trevino and Brenda Rouse on “Wide World of Sports.”

But the question remains, is women’s boxing a sport or a spectacle?

ABC tackles that one Sunday at 4 p.m. in another installment of its excellent series on women’s sports, “A Passion to Play.”

ABC boxing commentator Alex Wallau, on the phone from New York, said, “I think it’s wrong to exclude women from boxing just because they are women. A good women’s match can be as compelling as a good men’s match. The problem is, a mismatch with women can be much worse than a mismatch with men.”

A case in point was the first and last match for Katie Dallam of Jefferson City, Mo., in December. It is examined in depth near the end of Sunday’s one-hour special, and the segment leaves a powerful impression.

Dallam, unskilled at defending herself, went against a much lighter yet more experienced fighter and was badly beaten. Dallam nearly died and came out of the fight with permanent brain damage. Dallam, who has a master’s degree in social work and was an accomplished artist, can no longer live alone, work, drive or paint. Her sister cares for her.

Said the promoter of the fight, referring to the crowd that cheered the beating: “People do like to see blood.”

MORE BOXING

Boxing commentator Larry Merchant has taped an apology for the remarks, construed as anti-Mexican- American, he made before last Saturday’s Oscar De La Hoya-Pernell Whitaker fight. The apology will be part of HBO rebroadcast of the fight Saturday at 10:30 p.m.

Merchant complained that the playing of Mariachi music was a slight to the champion, Whitaker. In fact, he said, “It sucks.” A lot of viewers thought Merchant said the music sucked. Merchant actually said the music was wonderful. It was the timing of it that bothered him.

Merchant is a class individual who did not intend to offend anyone. Now that he has apologized, that should be the end of it. . . .

Both fighters were at HBO in New York earlier this week for the taping of the 90-minute rebroadcast show and were interviewed by Jim Lampley. Asked about a rematch, De La Hoya said, “I’ll fight him anywhere, any time. I call the shots. We’ll work it out.” Said Whitaker: “I don’t want any waiting around.” Apparently, he meant it. Main Events, Whitaker’s promoter, took out a full-page advertisement in Thursday’s Times, offering De La Hoya $12 million for a rematch on Sept. 13. . . .

The TVKO pay-per-view telecast drew 865,000 buys, amounting to a gross of $36.5 million--both records for a non-heavyweight fight. The previous record was 740,000 buys and $23 million for Julio Cesar Chavez and Whitaker in 1993. . . .

The buy rate in Southern California was 5%-6%, about double the national buy-rate of 2.7%. TVKO’s anti-piracy campaign, aimed at large markets such as Los Angeles, gets some of the credit for that.

GOODWILL MOVE

Give Fox Sports West credit. Instead of taking the Mighty Ducks to court to keep them from lifting the ESPN blackouts of their first two playoff games, Fox Sports West did the right thing.

Putting the games on Fox Sports West not only spread some much-needed goodwill among Duck fans, it also improved relations with cable operators who had grown tired of Fox’s strong-arm tactics with Fox Sports West 2. . . .

Next problem, the Clippers. The team’s first home playoff game--Game 3 of its series with Utah-- originally was to be shown only on Fox Sports West 2. But Thursday it was announced that the game will also be on Fox Sports West. The TV status of any other possible Clipper playoff games after that will be dealt with later.

CLASS AND NO CLASS

The day after the Mighty Ducks clinched their first playoff spot by defeating the Dallas Stars on April 4, Duck TV play-by-play announcer Chris Madsen got a call from longtime King announcer Bob Miller.

“I had done the game for ESPN2, and Bob just called to congratulate me and tell me I had done a good, balanced job on the telecast,” Madsen said. “It was such a classy thing to do.”

Speaking of class, or lack thereof, Miller has many stories about his former boss, Jack Kent Cooke. The recent death of Cooke sparked Miller’s memory. His favorite involves a custodian named Vincent Ramirez.

“Vincent used to go to the boxing matches at the Forum,” Miller said. “One time he found a $20 bill near a concession stand and the next day put it in an envelope and delivered it to Mr. Cooke, explaining that since it was his building, the $20 bill belonged to him.

“Mr. Cooke was so impressed he told Vincent there would be something special for him in his next pay envelope. What he got was an autographed picture of Mr. Cooke.”

SHORT WAVES

During the NHL playoffs, Miller and Jim Fox will be working games on the 50-station NHL radio network. XTRA (1150) and KIEV (870) will be carrying some of those games. . . . You’ve heard of the All-Madden team in football. Now there will be the “We Are Worthy” team in basketball. Fox Sports News analyst James Worthy unveils his picks during an NBA playoff preview Monday at 7 p.m. on Fox Sports West. . . . Monday at 5:30 p.m. on Fox Sports West will be a half-hour Clipper special, “It’s Hip to Clip,” with Paul Sunderland the host.

ESPN and ESPN2 will both cover this weekend’s NFL draft. . . . The Anaheim Piranhas of the Arena Football League open their season against the Texas Terror in the first of two preseason exhibitions Saturday night at the Pond of Anaheim. Piranha home games will be televised on the Orange County News Channel, with Kevin Turner and Mike Lamb announcing, and all games will be broadcast on KPLS (830), with John Chelesnik at the microphone.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for sports programs April 12-13.

SATURDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Golf: The Masters 2 6.8 20 Gymnastics: Men’s Team Championships 4 3.7 12 Pro basketball: New York at Miami 4 3.5 10 Wide World: Wood Memorial, boxing 7 3.1 8 Bowling: PBA Bud Light Championship 7 1.6 5 Hockey: San Jose at Kings 9 1.9 4

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SUNDAY

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Golf: The Masters 2 12.5 30 Pro basketball: Chicago at Detroit 4 6.9 20 Golf: Tiger Woods special 2 5.4 14 Baseball: Dodgers at Pittsburgh 5 5.0 13 World Cup qualifying: Mexico vs. Jamaica 34 3.0 9 Auto racing: Grand Prix of Long Beach 7 2.6 6 MLS soccer: Dallas at Columbus 34 1.2 3

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Note: Each rating point represents 49,424 L.A. households.