Alex Camponovo stood inside the ring outdoors at Soboba Casino in San Jacinto,Calif., late last Saturday night. Staring up into a crowd of about 2,200 that was slowly dispersing, Camponovo had a smile on his face. He must have known that it was another job well done by he and Ken Thompson, president of Thompson Boxing Promotions.
These days, club cards are often thought of as events that have one or two good fights, if that, then a bunch of crap to fill out the evening. But Saturday’s card had six fights – and all 12 guys could fight. Even the two who were stopped early, fought their hearts out. There was a world-ranked lightweight – Josesito Lopez – in the main event against a tough-as-nails veteran in Luis “El Vampiro” Arceo. It was an incredible fight that featured two knockdowns by Lopez and tremendous mettle by Arceo, whose corner threw in the towel in the sixth round.
Lightweight prospect John Molina of the Los Angeles area was decked with a left cross from Washington D.C. southpaw Ronald Boyd – who had ex-flyweight champion Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson in his corner – and then came back to knock out Boyd in that same first round. The beginning of the end for Boyd came courtesy of a world-class left hook from Molina (8-0, 6 KOs).
Top to bottom, it was an outstanding card, the kind boxing needs more of. It wasn’t always this way for Thompson Boxing, which had to learn the ropes just like anybody else. The difference is, the company has learned better than most.
“We started in 2000 and first show we had, we almost had a cancellation because we had some issues with medical exams for our main event,” said Camponovo, the company’s matchmaker and all-around workhorse. “It was a disaster we were able to avoid. We learned a lot that time. But, obviously, it’s been a huge learning process along the way.”
The lessons have been many. For example, right off the bat Thompson Boxing did not sign fighters to promotional contracts. Then it was as if a light went off in the heads of Thompson and Camponovo.
“We were featuring some kids, local guys that after they had a couple of fights –because they were becoming a little bit of an attraction – we saw them coming and go and move on to bigger and better things,” Camponovo said. “And we were not able to be a part of those careers. So that’s when we decided to develop a plan of trying to get young talent, local talent, and just build them up little by little and take them along the way. We’ve been able to get very talented kids and we’ve been feeding that talent. I think that’s one of the biggest lessons we learned out of this whole process.”
Talent, indeed. At least in this neck of the woods, it’s rare that a small-time promoterhas the stable that Thompson does. It’s not a large stable. But it consists of four fighters who could realistically go on to win world championships. There is Timothy Ray Bradley (21-0, 11 KOs) of Palm Springs. He is rated No. 2 by the World Boxing Council in the super lightweight division. Lopez (21-2, 13 KOs), of Riverside, is ranked No. 16 by the WBC at lightweight. Rialto lightweight Dominic Salcido (14-0, 8 KOs), who looked as good as ever with a first-round knockout of Jose Quintana on Saturday’s card, is on the roster. As is Yonnhy Perez (12-0, 9 KOs), a bantamweight who had 200 amateur bouts in Colombia, but now makes his base Santa Fe Springs.
For the most part, these four have been developed by Thompson Boxing. All of Bradley’s 21 fights have come under its banner. Of Lopez’s 23 fights, the past 15 have been with TBP.
“We started out in the immature state, not knowing exactly how to put it all together,”said Thompson, former president of the World Boxing Hall of Fame and a building supplies mogul who is definitely not doing this for any financial gain. “And once we got it started, we had the lesser fighters, now all of a sudden we’ve got not only some of the best prospects on the market, we also have some fighters of our own and we realize the importance of having that because that way you see a young fighter getting started and all of a sudden you can sign him and you can move him through the ranks. And you get a chance to make world champions out of young amateurs, which is fantastic.”
Perhaps the most important ingredient to this winning recipe has been a level of humility demonstrated by both Thompson and Camponovo. They attend virtually ever show in the greater Los Angeles area not promoted by TBP, whether it be major or club. They talk to people. They look, they listen. If they have big egos, they don’t seem to get in the way while figuring out the best way to go about their business.
“I think credibility is probably the most important thing that we have learned in this business.” Thompson said. “Be credible and demand that the people you’re going to deal with are credible. If you find they aren’t, get away from them. You know how difficult it is to put the cards together. It’s a problem everybody goes through. We’ve kind of cut through a lot of that, and the guys that we deal with are already responsible and only a real injury or some abnormal situation, do they ever pull out of a fight. So when we put the card together, it goes together pretty solid.
“Reputation speaks for itself. A lot of people in this business, they live on their credibility. So they’re only dealing with credible guys. Kind of like (longtime matchmaker/promoter) Benny Georgino. He gives us a lot of advice. He’ll tell you, ‘Stay away from this guy, go with this guy.’ If we run into a situation where we’re unsure of something, we’ll call somebody that really knows.”
In other words, because of the way Thompson and Camponovo go about running this firm, it is rare that one of its fights falls out. They look at character as well as talent. They want nothing to do with that fighter who has the reputation of pulling out of fights for one thing or another. That’s the kind of thing that ticks off a fan who doled out cash to buy a ticket. To that end, Camponovo knows that putting together a group of fights that will leave said fan a happy camper is of the utmost importance.
“You also have to listen to the crowd, what they’re looking for,” Camponovo said. “It’s OK to build up a guy and bring a bunch of bums. But fans aren’t stupid. They realize what’s going on. You just gotta listen to what the crowd is saying and looking for, which is something compelling, something that is entertaining for them, something that, when they walk out, they say, ‘That was worthy my fifty bucks.’ ”
There is a moral to this story. It’s that boxing needs more companies like Thompson Boxing Promotions. Not every fighter can start off at Golden Boy Promotions, or at Top Rank Inc. Many start off with smaller promoters. Unfortunately, sometimes fighters lose their way in this manner because they are fighting for a small-time outfit that really does not have its act together. TBP does.
“Some of the kids we feature, we hope they will get that to that championships level, or to that contender level,” Camponovo said during a telephone interview Tuesday. “It’s very important. You’re not only giving something for people to be entertained, but also you are feeding the industry in a way to build up some future champions.”
To be fair to other club-card promoters, Ken Thompson is a rich man. He does not have the money worries others do. Then again, Thompson didn’t become well-off because he throws his money away. TBP does have a budget. A club-card budget. That’s why Gary Shaw recently became co-promoter of both Bradley and Perez. Bradley, in particular, is already on the world-class level. Thompson and Camponovo realize that someone like Shaw, a national promoter, has the clout to get Bradley and Perez on national telecasts. Bradley has appeared on Showtime because of Shaw.
Again, in Thompson Boxing Promotions, we are talking smarts, dedication and humility.
As the night came to a close last Saturday, and Camponovo stood in the ring on a warm desert night, there was a look of pride on his face.
“That’s exactly what it is,” said Thompson, who Friday, at his Omega Products International in Corona, will put on card somewhat smaller-in-stature than last Saturday’s. “You’re very happy with the way you’re able to bring quality boxing to fans because they show up, they want to see what you promised them, and there it is.”
As for Friday, the main event will feature Adam Carrera (19-2, 8 KOs) against undefeated Juan Carlos Burgos (14-0, 12 KOs) in a super featherweight fight. There will also be three fighters with solid amateur backgrounds making their respective debuts. The card will be smaller in stature. But most likely, it will be all good.