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(Boxing) Bob Arum relives Wrestle Mania 2
By Zach Arnold | February 21, 2009
Tonight, Top Rank promoted two seperate events (one at MSG with Miguel Cotto vs. Michael Jennings and the second in Youngstown, Ohio with Kelly Pavlik vs. Marco Antonio Rubio). The MSG show went first and afterwards fans in NYC watched on closed-circuit the Ohio event.
Cotto won by TKO in R5 in a lopsided fight and Pavlik won by TKO after 9R when Rubio said ‘no more.’
Thanks to our friends at CompuBox, here are the stats for the following fights from Saturday night: Cotto vs. Jennings, Duddy vs. Vanda, and Pavlik vs. Rubio.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Boxing just doesn’t get it. Fans deserve to get all of these fights live, at one location.
uhhh probably because Cotto was fighting in his adopted hometown of new york city with a high amount Puerto Ricans and pavlik was fighting in his backyard of youngstown ohio…. It sucked balls compared to the UFC though, but for a boxing package was just fine considering both arenas got to see either fight regardless, and fans got to see both with michael buffer and jimmy lenon jr~ Impressive.
The gate at the Chevy Centre in Youngstown (7200 capacity, poorest city in US) exceeded the gate for 11,000 at MSG.
This was a case where each fighter meant far more in one city. So the fans live got to see the fighters they wanted. And the fans at home got to see more name fighters on one show.
I don’t have a problem with this card. Like Dan Rafael wrote, this is a case where Bob Arum delivered a (reasonably) good card for fans when all the networks and PPV outlets passed.
except KennyP – that everybody in their right mind already knew the outcome of these fights. I buy many boxing PPV’s I wouldn’t waste my cash on this. Good stay busy fights for the fighters themselves but a little guy war on the undercard would have made it worthwhile to buy.
skwirrl,
Of course these fights were mismatches–I knew that as much as anyone else. But, with both headliners coming off losses, it always was going to be that way, rebuilding two fighters who’s psyche might have been damaged. And don’t forget that Anthony Peterson was supposed to fight, as well as trying to put together Clottey-Cintron. Bob Arum made far more of an effort to put on a decent card than what Don King or other promoters have done lately. If Arum hadn’t put this card together (out of his own pocket), fans would have had to wait months to see these fights on the undercard of another PPV. Keeping title belts in play, keeping fighters active, and giving something to the most loyal fans of a fighter is always a good thing. And if this advances the discussions or helps clear out the sanctioning body obstacles to make a Pavlik-Sturm/Abraham or Cotto-Clottey fight happen, all the better.
I have no illusions that this card was going to be appealing to a wide cross-section of the public. (Which is part of why Pavlik and Cotto earned so much less than their most recent fights and weren’t complaining about it.) But it did its job in re-energizing each fighter in front of his most loyal “hometown audience” fans.
Returning to the original point, the split-location nature of this card wasn’t a problem because the Youngstown fans got a world title defense for the first time since Boom Boom in ’83 (and that was all they cared about). The MSG audience got to see Cotto rebuilt and a John Duddy fight. Everyone in the arenas got exactly what they wanted.
Everyone watching at home doesn’t care where the broadcast feed originates, as long as the crowd is energetic (which was certainly enhanced by putting Cotto at MSG and Pavlik in Y-town).
I was disappointed. I knew they were showcase fights, but the opponents hardly showed up. Multiple arenas is fine by me, promoters need to keep arena audiences alive and avoid constantly relying on the casinos.