John Bray

John Bray, a former national amateur heavyweight boxing champion, was arrested here Friday on suspicion of possessing a seven-pound bag of marijuana, Los Angeles police said. Bray, 24, was taken into custody around 4:30 p.m. outside a gas station at Winnetka Avenue and Ventura Boulevard, where he allegedly had confessed to firing a gun in the parking lot of a nearby hotel just moments earlier, Officer Carole Hughes said.

The on-again, off-again professional boxing career of John Bray is on again--for now. Bray, the former U.S. amateur heavyweight champion from Van Nuys, is scheduled to fight John Kiser Thursday night in the co-main event on a seven-bout show at the Silver Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. Getting Bray on the card wasn't easy.

Skipper Kelp breezed into the quarterfinals of the World Amateur Championships tonight, but the U.S. boxing team suffered its fourth defeat. Kelp, 19, of Colorado Springs, scored his second victory in the 139-pound class when he won on a walkover over Dariusz Chernij of Poland, who was too ill to box. The Pole's illness was not explained.

The fighter has told his handlers that he is hurt. The fighter's manager says the fighter apparently just doesn't want to fight. The promoter, ditched by his headline attraction less than a week before the show, is threatening legal action against the fighter. Welcome to the wonderful world of professional boxing. And to think that skeptics scoffed when the club shows at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills were touted as legitimate ring events.

A black college student who said he and some friends were roughed up and insulted by Foothill Division police officers has been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury investigating the beating of motorist Rodney G. King. John Bray, 22, of Lake View Terrace, said district attorney's investigators interviewed him at his home Wednesday evening. "They (the investigators) said it was on the King incident," said Bray's sister-in-law, Alberta Bray, 34, who was also interviewed.

Heavyweight Viktor Akshonov of the Soviet Union won a unanimous 3-0 decision over John Bray of Van Nuys on Tuesday, helping the U.S.S.R. to a 5-5 tie with the United States in the USA-USSR Amateur Boxing Dual in Orlando, Fla. Akshonov, 199 pounds, was able to cut off the ring and peppered Bray, 201, with left jabs and hooks. There were no knockdowns in the three-round bout, but an Akshonov left jab snapped Bray's head back and a standing eight count was ordered with 12 seconds left in the final round.

John Bray still has a world to conquer. The Van Nuys resident is the top-ranked U.S. amateur heavyweight boxer but has yet to prove himself against Eastern European fighters, who along with the Cubans have traditionally dominated international amateur boxing. East Germany's Axel Schulz decisioned Bray on Friday night, 20-5, in a first-round bout in the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Moscow.

Growing up in a tough Van Nuys neighborhood amid ethnic friction, John Bray learned to recognize racism when he saw it. Today, Bray is the national amateur heavyweight boxing champion and the favorite to represent the United States in that division at the Barcelona Olympics later this year. And he says he sees racism again. On the U.S. boxing team. "It isn't even a subtle thing," Bray said. "It's right there for anyone to see.

John Bray, the former national amateur heavyweight champion from Van Nuys, has been taken off Wednesday's boxing card at the Warner Center Marriott. John Hernandez, Bray's trainer, said Friday the 1991 U.S. champion will spend the next month training in Big Bear and serving as sparring partner for heavyweight contender Lennox Lewis.

On Friday night, heavyweight John Bray was knocked down by 23-year-old James Johnson and had to rally for the victory that gave him a berth on the U.S. boxing team in the Goodwill Games. And on Saturday, Bray, 19, of Van Nuys, was pounded once again. This time the attack was launched by a short man in his early 70s with a foul-smelling cigar clenched between his teeth. The man is Pat Nappi, the United States' amateur boxing coach since 1979 and a three-time U.S. Olympic coach.

In a sudden and surprising move, heavyweight boxer John Bray withdrew Friday from a bout next week against Nigeria's King Ipitan. Bray, a former national amateur heavyweight champion from Van Nuys, was scheduled to face Ipitan in a 10-round main event Wednesday at the Warner Center Marriott. "Basically, it's a dispute between the fighter and his managers," said Johnny Hernandez, Bray's trainer. "It's both parties involved. It's not a one-sided deal. "Other than that, I can't say anything."

John Bray, the former national amateur heavyweight champion from Van Nuys, has been taken off Wednesday's boxing card at the Warner Center Marriott. John Hernandez, Bray's trainer, said Friday the 1991 U.S. champion will spend the next month training in Big Bear and serving as sparring partner for heavyweight contender Lennox Lewis.

John Bray, a former national amateur heavyweight boxing champion, was arrested here Friday on suspicion of possessing a seven-pound bag of marijuana, Los Angeles police said. Bray, 24, was taken into custody around 4:30 p.m. outside a gas station at Winnetka Avenue and Ventura Boulevard, where he allegedly had confessed to firing a gun in the parking lot of a nearby hotel just moments earlier, Officer Carole Hughes said.

The medical disqualification of Shannon Briggs at the Olympic trials Wednesday raised anew the question of why John Bray, the heavyweight from Van Nuys, was not given an at-large invitation to the trials. Bray was instead required to try to qualify at the Western Olympic trials at Ft. Huachuca, Ariz., last month. Bray, 21, was the 1991 national champion and the most experienced U.S. amateur heavyweight at the start of the year.

Growing up in a tough Van Nuys neighborhood amid ethnic friction, John Bray learned to recognize racism when he saw it. Today, Bray is the national amateur heavyweight boxing champion and the favorite to represent the United States in that division at the Barcelona Olympics later this year. And he says he sees racism again. On the U.S. boxing team. "It isn't even a subtle thing," Bray said. "It's right there for anyone to see.

The Times' investigation of alleged expense-check kickbacks at Forum boxing shows also turned up something else about Forum boxing--a smoldering resentment in Southland gyms. Many say the Forum favors out-of-town or foreign fighters over local boxers. If you are good and you are from Los Angeles, some say, you are a longshot to fight at the Forum.

John Bray of Van Nuys, the newly crowned national amateur heavyweight boxing champion, would like to say thank-you. He would like to thank the sparring partners who helped work him into great shape. He would like to thank Dan Goossen, head of the Van Nuys-based Ten Goose Boxing Club, for giving him a gym to work out in. And he would like to thank Joe Goossen, who has helped to train him. But most of all, Bray wants to thank Javier Alvarez of San Antonio, Tex.

U.S. gold-medal hopes at the World Amateur Boxing Championship were dimmed today when Oscar de la Hoya of East Los Angeles lost a 17-13 decision to Marko Rudolph of Germany in a second-round match at 139 pounds. It was the first defeat in international competition and the first loss since 1987 for the 18-year-old de la Hoya, a two-time national champion. It was a battle of jabs, and the American appeared to have an edge.

U.S. gold-medal hopes at the World Amateur Boxing Championship were dimmed today when Oscar de la Hoya of East Los Angeles lost a 17-13 decision to Marko Rudolph of Germany in a second-round match at 139 pounds. It was the first defeat in international competition and the first loss since 1987 for the 18-year-old de la Hoya, a two-time national champion. It was a battle of jabs, and the American appeared to have an edge.

Boxer John Bray of Van Nuys, the national amateur heavyweight champion, narrowly escaped death this week when a nine-millimeter handgun he said he was cleaning discharged as he looked down the barrel. Bray, 21, the likely U.S. representative in his division in the 1992 Olympic Games, was listed in good condition Thursday, two days after the accident, at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. The bullet entered his slightly open mouth and exited through his cheek.