BOXING / RICH TOSCHES : Garcia’s Handlers Hide From Money

November of 1991: Heavyweight Alex Garcia of San Fernando, who earns about $8,000 for each of his fights, turns down an offer of $375,000 to fight George Foreman.

December of 1992: Garcia, by now earning about $13,000 per fight, turns down an offer of $1 million to fight Riddick Bowe for the heavyweight championship of the world.

Garcia (29-1, 23 knockouts), who is ranked No. 5 by the World Boxing Assn., No. 6 by the World Boxing Council and No. 7 by the International Boxing Federation, will fight no one on Feb. 6.

He said he will probably watch Michael Dokes earn $1 million for fighting Bowe for the heavyweight title that day. And later that month, according to his manager, Norm Kaplan, Garcia will fight an opponent to be determined--and probably someone you have never heard of.

And Garcia will earn about $13,000 for that fight.

When Garcia rejected the $375,000 offer to fight Foreman a year ago, promoter Bob Arum was stunned. Perhaps, Arum said, Garcia had misunderstood the number of zeros on the contract.

This time it was Don King’s turn to be shocked.

“I don’t understand it,� King said of the rejection.

Kaplan and Garcia offered a few explanations.

“We turned the fight down, and I take all the responsibility for that,� said Kaplan, a Los Angeles lawyer who also worked with Ray Mancini.

“Alex just isn’t ready to fight Bowe. He’ll fight anybody, anywhere, any time, but this was just not the right time. Or the right guy.�

The point, Kaplan said, is that Garcia is tired. He has fought seven times in the past seven months. He needs a rest, Kaplan said.

Is this really a good time for one?

Another reason--and a much more believable one--is that King demanded promotional rights to Garcia’s next three fights as part of the Bowe contract. The tactic is an old one used by King to lock up the heavyweight division for years at a time. It worked nicely for him, right up to the moment when Indiana locked up Mike Tyson.

“I didn’t want that in our contract,� Kaplan said. “Not at all.�

Underlying all of that is the belief by Kaplan and Garcia that even bigger offers will come their way. Kaplan said that he has talked with Frank Maloney, the manager of Lennox Lewis. Lewis was handed the WBC belt when that organization stripped Bowe of the title because Bowe did not want to make his first defense against Lewis.

“Maybe we’ll get $2 million for a fight with Lewis,� Kaplan said.

Maybe.

Garcia, a solid boxer and heavy puncher, said he was ready to break out of his fairly meager lifestyle.

“The money was there. I wanted to fight Bowe,� Garcia said. “But I couldn’t just say ‘yes’ and leave my manager and trainer behind. We have to stick together. They were on the ‘no’ side, and I was on the ‘yes’ side.

“It was a chance to win the heavyweight title, and the money would have solved a lot of problems.

“I wanted to fight. I felt I was ready.�

Said Kaplan: “He didn’t want to argue with us. We told him he needed the rest, and he listened to us.�

And the future, Kaplan said, will silence all the critics.

“Bigger money will come, along with the chance to win the heavyweight title,� Kaplan said. “Alex will be the first Hispanic ever to fight for the title, and that calls for more money. We have a much more valuable commodity here than Bowe and his people give us credit for. Two million dollars is more like it. Maybe more.

“As much as I can get.�

In the meantime. . . .

“We’ll fight in February,� Kaplan said. “Maybe against this guy from Argentina, Juan Antonio Diaz. Or maybe against the California state champion, Tony Willis, except I can’t find him. I’ve been looking everywhere for Willis.�

Three-time world champion Alexis Arguello, exiled from Nicaragua during the 11 years the Sandinistas ruled that country, has returned to his homeland and begun contributing to the reconstruction of the impoverished, war-battered country.

Millions of dollars worth of Arguello’s property--including a gym, two houses, a farm, two luxury cars, a yacht and a mobile home--were seized by the Sandinistas during the boxer’s absence. With the help of the new government, Arguello has reopened his gym and recovered one house.

So instead of driving his Mercedes-Benz or BMW, Arguello tools around Managua in a battered Toyota pickup he has rented. But he says he is happy to have made his peace with the government, even though that peace resulted in a huge financial loss.

“The gain is, I’m in my land,� he says. “And we have to make this land work.�

As part of his contribution, Arguello, 41, has agreed to direct Nicaragua’s re-entry into professional boxing.

The Sandinistas banned pro boxing in 1981, so Arguello is rebuilding the sport from scratch. He has written new regulations and has already put together some small cards, but he promises to avoid the abuses he claims are destroying the sport in other countries.

“I don’t like the way the promoters in the United States use the sport,� he said. “I want to do it the way it’s supposed to be. We’re going to work toward making it better, safer for the fighters . . . safer to play the sport and to promote the sport.�

WBA middleweight champion Reggie Johnson of Long Beach will defend his title Jan. 19 in Boise, Ida., against Kiyun Song of Seoul. Johnson (32-2) will be making his second title defense. Song (7-2-2) is ranked eighth by the WBA.

Also on that card will be heavyweight Lionel Butler, who has eight consecutive knockouts. Also fighting will be heavyweights Mark Gastineau, Tex Cobb and Jimmy Ellis of Redondo Beach. Ellis was defeated badly by Foreman a year ago, taking the $375,000 purse that Garcia turned down.