Fight night comes to Costa Mesa

“And in this corner, at 6 feet, 8 inches and 200 pounds, from Costa

Mesa, California ... please welcome ... Jeff Byrne.”

Ever heard of him? I suspect you will.

Byrne, a 29-year old Costa Mesa entrepreneur, is part of a sports

venture called “Uppercut Boxing,” which is bringing professional

boxing to the Costa Mesa Hilton on June 26 with a black-tie,

high-glam opening night of jabs, feints, thumps and bumps.

I know, I know. Boxing is the bad boy of sports. It’s violent and

primitive and downright ugly at times, and it doesn’t exactly appeal

to our better instincts. But that’s also why it appeals to a whole

lot of people all around the big blue marble. By the way, how did

boxing ever come to be called, of all things, “the sweet science?” If

you know please let me know. I could tell you that I’m a big fan and

know all about boxing and can name who’s who and what’s what and

when’s when. Or, I could tell you the truth.

My knowledge of boxing is as suspect as my knowledge about

anything else, and I refuse to watch Mike Tyson at any time in any

setting for any reason. But I do enjoy watching a fight on TV now and

then, and better yet, seeing one in the flesh.

Boxing is one of those sports where you absolutely, positively

have to be there. On the tube, it’s as good as Sominex, only faster

acting. But when you’re up close and personal, it’s loud and rowdy

and frenetic. Boxing has also held a long-standing fascination for

writers.

Whenever sportswriting rises to the level of literature, the

subject is always one of two sports: baseball (my personal passion)

or boxing. And we’re not just talking about legendary sportswriters

like Ring Lardner. George Bernard Shaw, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway

and plenty of other heavyweight scribes were fascinated by boxing and

wrote about it for money or love or both. Hollywood has been bonkers

for boxing for years. There’s been a slew of sports movies, but the

few that qualify as serious drama are always about the gritty world

of boxing: “Raging Bull,” “Requiem for a Heavyweight,” “The Bigger

They Are, The Harder They Fall” and “Golden Boy.” “The Bigger They

Are ... “ was Bogart’s last movie, by the way. And do you know who

wrote “Requiem for a Heavyweight”? Rod Serling. Interesting, no?

But let’s return to Byrne. Hey, I was a poet and I didn’t know it.

Jeff Byrne is bright, permanently stuck on fast forward and

extremely vertical, at six feet, eight inches. He was a basketball

standout at Estancia High School, then bounced around college

basketball (get it? “bounced around?”) for five years before

returning to Costa Mesa and setting up his tent as a strength and

conditioning trainer. I don’t know what that is, but it sounds like

it’s hard and it hurts, which is probably why I am neither strong nor

conditioned.

Jeff is also making a run at becoming a tight end in the National

Football League. Yes, the NFL. He tried out for Orange County’s

semi-pro football team, the Makos and got a spot on the team, never

having played football in his life. Very Byrne. As Jeff’s reputation

as a highly effective, if not somewhat crazed, trainer grew, boxing

promoters started sending fighters to him to become bigger, faster

and stronger, not necessarily in that order.

At that point, enter an experienced promoter named Ed Steinfeld,

who was a key player in a long-running series of fight nights at a

hotel in a nearby city, which shall remain unnamed, except that it’s

south of Newport Beach and starts with an I. That was the start of

“Uppercut Boxing” and a lot of planning, hard work and sheer nerve

later, the wham bam world of boxing moves to Costa Mesa and checks

into the Hilton next Saturday night with a flurry of jabs, crosses

and uppercuts. That’s another thing I like about boxing. There’s a

lot of lingo: jabs, crosses, uppercuts, bantamweight, heavyweight,

this weight, that weight.

Do you know how an uppercut works? I found this terribly British

explanation in a BBC Sports guide to boxing: “You bring the uppercut

up and it comes underneath your opponent’s jaw, who can’t see it

coming and it does look very dramatic. It’s more effective when

you’re fighting inside.”

I don’t get it. What does whether you’re fighting inside or

outdoors have to do with it?

The main event on Saturday night will feature USBO Super

Middleweight Champ Willie “Slick Willie” (it’s a different one)

Stewart, with an 18-0 record and 10 knockouts.

And for those of you who think it’s all about super macho-manly

men glaring at each other and making unpleasant noises, it’s

important to note that a lot of the action in pro boxing today is a

girl thing. There will be a number of female boxers in action

Saturday night, including the Junior Bantamweight Women’s Champion,

Para Draine, who I think should retain the title based on her name

alone.

So that’s the deal: Saturday night, Costa Mesa Hilton, the sweet

science, black tie and boxing. And remember, never, ever use an

uppercut outside. I gotta go.

* PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs

Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].