TheBuzz
TheBuzz
TV production
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ropes ViloriaThere are perhaps more fans of Brian Viloria as a hometown boy made good than there are true boxing fans.
Those on either side of the coin who were not ringside for Friday night's fight at Blaisdell Center will be able to catch the tape-delayed action as part of a 90-minute special from 8 to 9:30 p.m. June 1 on KFVE.
Honolulu-based companies headed by Edward McLaurin have been contracted to produce the show for the KFVE broadcast and to shoot the fight for international distribution by New York-based DiBella Entertainment Inc.
Chairman and CEO Lou DiBella is well known in professional boxing circles as the former senior vice president for HBO Boxing and TVKO, which handles pay-per-view boxing events.
McLaurin credits his 10-year history of producing television commercials for Tom Moffatt Productions for the opportunity to do work for DiBella.
McLaurin's Moving Pictures Inc. is "the only locally owned and operated mobile television unit," he said, while is MCS Videoworks does the editing and post-production work.
The broadcast will be more than just fight video and will not just be "BVTV," or focused solely on Viloria.
The KFVE show will feature vignettes on fighters from Hawaii, Los Angeles, the Philippines and Australia by way of South Africa.
The backgrounds of the fighters provide potential for international viewing as well as domestic viewing in markets with large Hispanic populations, Moffatt said.
One of the fighters, Jose Navarro, is Viloria's former Olympic teammate and is managed by the internationally popular boxer-turned-pop icon Oscar De La Hoya.
Kobe Maui purchased
Kobe Japanese Steak House (Hawaii) Ltd. in Lahaina is being purchased by its office manager and executive chef, who will serve as its new president and vice president.
Office manager Martha Haleakala and chef Nino Abelardo have formed MH Enterprises Inc. and agreed to buy the restaurant as well as the rights to its name and location from long-time isle restaurateur Rod Gardiner. They plan no changes.
Gardiner, now an Arizona resident, will keep the Waikiki restaurant while she and Abelardo will retain the 49 employees now on the payroll.
"On Maui these days it's not easy to find people and keep them," Haleakala said, "we're supposed to take over in July and that's one of our busiest months."
Haleakala has been with the company nine years while Abelardo "worked with Rod for over 25 years, on Oahu, at the Palm Springs location and then moved to Maui when this one opened in 1986," she said.
The sale is expected to close July 15.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com