Bernard Fernandez: Harrah's Chester sets boxing card to fill void left by Blue Horizon

GIVEN THE TIES that bind casinos to boxing, it was almost inevitable that Harrah's Chester and the sweet science would find their way into each other's needful embrace, especially now that the Blue Horizon is padlocked because of unpaid taxes to the city of Philadelphia. The ongoing unavailability of Philly's most famous club boxing venue created a void you knew someone would attempt to fill.

Don Elbaum and Joey "Eye" Intrieri have joined forces with Harrah's Chester senior vice president and general manager Ron Baumann for a series of boxing shows. The first, featuring mostly up-coming-pros on Jan. 22, has been dubbed "Night of the Rising Stars" by Elbaum, whose enthusiasm is such that he probably could get top dollar for selling bags of sand to Bedouins.

A second show is scheduled for Feb. 24 and will pair Israeli cruiserweight Ran Nakash (25-0, 18 KOs), a veteran of seven appearances at the Blue Horizon and one at The Arena in South Philly, with Bobby Gunn (21-4-1, 18 KOs), the Hackensack, N.J., banger whose most recent ring appearance was a losing challenge of then-IBF cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek on July 11, 2009.

"We're on our way," said Elbaum, who was the matchmaker for cash-strapped Blue Horizon co-owner Vernoca Michael. "I'm looking to do some things I wanted to do at the Blue Horizon, but wasn't able to. There's enough talent in and around Philadelphia for us to put on monthly shows, and I think we can get three or four major attractions on a yearly basis. I'm looking to do an outdoor show this summer, which would be fantastic."

Baumann, having worked in the casino industry long enough to know what draws customers, was receptive to Elbaum's sales pitch. And, no, he doesn't believe he's buying bags of sand.

"Boxing and gaming have been collaborative for some time," he said. "It's been a good marriage for both. When I looked at bringing boxing here to Chester, I saw it as a means to provide more entertainment, in addition to the concerts and such we were already staging. I'm very familiar with what boxing brings to the table. Don has a solid reputation. If it were someone else who didn't have his background, it might have taken a little longer for this to happen. But boxing already was on our radar."

The dominoes started toppling when Joey Eye, a local cut man who wrestled at Cardinal Dougherty High, talked up old times with Hugo Immediato, a Harrah's Chester employee, fight fan and former high school wrestler he knew. The discussion eventually touched upon the notion of bringing fight cards to Immediato's workplace, after which things quickly began falling into place.

"I wish the room [with a seating capacity of 950] could hold another thousand people, but I knew what we could do here," Elbaum said. "We can make this a helluva location for boxing."

Among the area fighters with name recognition whom Elbaum hopes to bring to Chester are New Castle, Del., welterweight Mike "No Joke" Stewart (46-7-2, 24 KOs) and Paulsboro, N.J., heavyweight Chazz Witherspoon (28-2, 20 KOs). Elbaum also is involved with Joey "Minnesota Ice" Abell (27-4, 26 KOs), a heavyweight who fought nine times at the Blue Horizon and has a Jan. 28 bout set with world-ranked Chris Arreola (29-2, 25 KOs) in Temecula, Calif. If Abell upsets Arreola, who frequently enters the ring overweight and underconditioned, he could vault into the world ratings.

"Abell and Chazz Witherspoon would do [a turnout of] 5,000, easy," Elbaum said, already envisioning one of those big outdoor fights.

Lionel Byarm, the South Philadelphia heavyweight who had a decent run in the 1980s, remembers the night he was Evander Holyfield's first professional opponent. He also recalls the days leading up to the Nov. 15, 1984, fight card in Madison Square Garden, during which Holyfield's U.S. Olympic boxing teammates, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, Mark Breland and Tyrell Biggs, also made their pro debuts.

"The put us non-Olympic guys up in a cold, raggedy hotel in Newark, N.J.," recalled Byarm, 49. "The Olympic guys got to stay in a nice place in New York City. That made me mad. I thought I was going to kill Holyfield that night. I wanted to kill him."

Byarm, who retired in 1988 with as 12-7-2 record that included four victories inside the distance, didn't put out Holyfield's lights, but he did go all six rounds in losing a unanimous decision. It surprised him when Holyfield, who weighed 177 1/2 pounds that night, went on to become a four-time heavyweight champion. It surprises him even more that the 48-year-old Holyfield (43-10-2, 28 KOs) is still punching, with a Jan. 22 bout set against journeyman Sherman Williams (34-11-2, 19 KOs) in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Holyfield also has a March 5 date with Brian Nielsen (64-2, 43 KOs) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Nielsen is 45 and coming out of retirement.

"I'm very surprised Holyfield is still fighting," Byarm said. "You'd think he'd have enough money to live on. It'd be a shame if he got hurt real bad in one of these fights he doesn't really need to take."

Byarm, who was 9-1-2 when he mixed it up with Commander Vander, lost his last four bouts and knew it was time to walk away.

"Me and my buddies, like Marvin Mack, always said we wouldn't let one another fight once it became obvious we should give it up," he said. "When it's time to go, it's time to go. Somebody should have told Holyfield that. I don't know, maybe they did and he just didn't listen."

Byarm's ambitions could yet be fulfilled by his son Maurice (10-0, 7 KOs), a heavyweight who fights out of Washington.

With "The Fighter" in theaters and getting Oscar buzz (despite its factual inaccuracies), it shouldn't be a surprise that television is trying its hand with a 13-episode boxing series on FX.

"Lights Out," the pilot of which debuted last night, is the fictional tale of retired former heavyweight champion Patrick "Lights Out" Leary, played by Holt McCallany, as he seeks to find his post-boxing identity and support his wife and three children. Stacy Keach is cast as Leary's father and former trainer. *

Send e-mail to fernanb@phillynews.com