LOS ANGELES -- Two-time world light flyweight champion Eric Griffin and 1990 Goodwill Games lightweight titleholder Oscar de la Hoya overcame slow starts Saturday and won semifinal-round bouts at the U.S. Olympic Festival.
Griffin, a 23-year-old from Houston who is seeking to make amends for a positive test for marijuana at the 1988 Olympic trials, bested Dan Davis of Philadelphia, 54-10.
De la Hoya, 18 and a product of a nearby East Los Angeles neighborhood overrun with street gangs, beat Dezi Ford of Alliance, Ohio, 37-6.
In other action on the first of nine days of competition in the event that features 36 sports and more than 3,000 athletes:
-- Figure skaters Natasha Kuchiki and Todd Sand, top contenders for a gold medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics, used a fluid performance at the Forum to take the lead after the original program.
-- Canoeist Jim Terrell extended his festival record when he won his 24th and 25th career medals with triumphs in the 1,000-meter singles and doubles events on Ballona Creek in Marina del Rey.
-- And twins Karen and Sarah Josephson, the reigning world champions, captured the duet competition in sychronized swimming at the festival for the second straight year.
Among the events to be contested Saturday night included men's basketball, men's figure skating and men's and women's swimming.
The boxing competition at Loyola Marymount was the first among amateurs in the United States to use electronic scoring to determine winners. The five judges for each bout register scoring blows by pushing buttons, and a computer tabulates the results.
The finals are scheduled for Tuesday night at the Forum. The winners have their choice of a berth in next month's Pan American Games in Cuba or the Nov. 13-25 World Championships in Sydney, Australia.
Griffin, considered one of the brightest U.S. hopes for a boxing gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, allowed the less-experienced Davis to punch himself out in the first round. Griffin scored heavily in the final two rounds, peppering his opponent with overhand lefts and rights before closing with a blistering combination.
'I really had to set my pace on this guy,' Griffin said. 'I didn't know anything about him. I'm looking at the World Championships in Australia. I would like to defend my title and be world champion again.'
De la Hoya will also bypass Cuba for Sydney if he wins in his 132- pound class.
'I plan to go to the Olympics, that's my dream, but I can't wait until I turn pro,' de la Hoya said after flooring Ford in the second round and virtually hitting him at will in the third. 'Pro boxing will be better for me.'
About 200 of the 800 fans came to cheer de la Hoya, who was fighting in a major event in his hometown for the first time.
The biggest upset came when Goodwill Games 119-pound champion Sergio Reyes of Camp Lejeune, N.C., was disqualified for three fouls against Sean Fletcher of Norfolk, Va.
Reyes, who hadn't been beaten since losing to eventual Olympic gold medalist Kennedy McKinney in the 1988 trials, was ahead 42-29 when referee Jim Quigley penalized him for a low blow in the third round.
Twice earlier, Quigley called fouls for ducking against Reyes, a Marine with 14 months of service remaining.
'I'm taking leave for about 20 days and going home,' Reyes said. 'My mind is on '92. I'm going to Barcelona.'
Kuchiki, 14, and Sand, 27, who combined to win a bronze at the 1991 World Championships, said they were surprised to perform as well as they did.
'We came in with some doubt,' said Kuchiki, who lives in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Canoga Park. 'This is our offseason and we haven't been in training.'
Added Sand: 'Our goal is to improve and show everyone we deserve to stay among the top pairs in the world.'
The pairs' free skate is scheduled for Sunday.
Terrell, competing in his 10th career festival, won his 14th and 15th gold medals. The Newport Beach, Calif., resident can add two more medals Sunday in the 500-meter singles and doubles events.
The 27-year-old Josephson twins, 1988 Olympic silver medalists from Bristol, Conn., had an easy time in registering their triumph at the McDonald's Swim Stadium on the Southern California campus.
In women's basketball at Pauley Pavilion, sophomore Karen Jennings of the University of Nebraska scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the North to a 70-62 victory over the East.
'We're all here to become better basketball players,' said Jennings, a 6-foot-2 center. 'Once you get out on the floor the desire to win really comes out.'
In tennis at UCLA, the top two women's seeds lost. No. 1 Keri Phebus, the defending champion and a late addition because of illness, fell 6-7 (8-6), 6-1, 6-4, to Meredith Chiles. No. 2 Jennifer Nasser was defeated by Keirsten Alley, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
