This past Saturday night, September 15, in Las Vegas, Nevada, The Thomas and Mack Center and the MGM Grand hosted two sold out professional boxing events, which further proved that the sport is not only doing well, but also actually thriving in the sports community.
“With over 30,000 tickets sold for both events just a short distance from each other and millions watching around the world, these two promotions truly displayed how well the sport is doing” said Joe DeGuardia, President of the Boxing Promoters Association.
“Boxing remains a worldwide attraction. It’s rewarding that our sport continues to defy the odds and pull in fans. Congratulations to everyone involved in those two shows.”
The SHOWTIME card was their highest rated boxing event and the HBO Pay Per View numbers are expected to exceed 500,000 in this country.
Continued DeGuardia, “With the fans coming out in record numbers we hope and expect our broadcast partners to increase their support of boxing across the board, and further ensure that the sport of boxing will continue to thrive for many years to come. ”
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Of course, it’s great that both of these events and separate cards were successful. The thing is that, even more of a statement on the health and future potential for the sport would have been made if the promoters and networks didn’t force the issue and hold competing events, televised at the same time, live from the same city.
The BPA, all about bringing the promoters together and moving forward for the good of the sport, would really have something to talk about if they had been a part of arranging a 6 or 7 fight Pay-Per-View card, including both main events of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Sergio Martinez and Canelo Alvarez vs. Josesito Lopez, in some 50,000 seat arena instead of two smaller competing but successful shows.
