By Doug Fischer
Hardcore boxing fans have been treated to some great fights this decade – including Barrera-Morales I, Castillo-Corrales I and this year’s instant classic Vazquez-Marquez III. On a few occasions during the last 10 years, general sports fans have witnessed boxing matches that could be categorized as great events, such as De La Hoya-Trinidad, Lewis-Tyson and last year’s live-gate and pay-per-view record-breaker, De La Hoya-Mayweather.
It’s a pity that the recent high-profile showdowns, for all their crossover appeal and mainstream media coverage, did not produce compelling bouts. It’s even sadder that the thrilling toe-to-toe slugfests of recent years have been witnessed by relatively small live crowds.
Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales fought the first of their three encounters in front of around 6,000 mostly Mexican fight fans in 2000. Half of the Mandalay Bay’s Event Center, where the bout took place, was partitioned off to give the fight a more intimate feeling. Jose Luis Castillo and the late Diego Corrales waged their first brutal war, which some argue is the best fight that ever took place, in front of about 5,000 hardcore fanatics (about 1,000 of whom were either VIPs or members of the media who attended the Boxing Writers Association of America annual dinner the night before the fight) also at the Mandalay Bay.
Last year and this past March, Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez put on the kind of classic three-fight series that once would have filled the 18,000-seat Great Western Forum to its rafters, but in today’s market the valiant junior featherweights fought in 8,000-seat venues, with only the rubbermatch selling out.
Whatever happened to great events that also produced great fights?
Remember when the super-fights that had everyone talking were actually entertaining contests once the bell rang? (For a prime example of great fights that made for great events look at the round-robin between Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler in the ‘80s.)
Bob Arum, who promoted Hagler-Hearns and Hagler-Leonard, believes his latest all-Latino showdown between welterweight standouts Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito will be a great fight and a great event.
The veteran promoter is so sure of this that he lobbied the Nevada State Athletic Commission to wave its recent ruling to have pro boxers over the lightweight limit wear 10-ounce gloves in the ring in order to bring the fight to the MGM Grand casino/resort in Las Vegas. (Arum and his two offense-minded welterweights prefer the hard-hitting impact that eight-ounce gloves produce in heated ring combat).
Cotto, the undefeated WBA welterweight titlist, sells well on the East Coast, particularly in New York City where the 2000 Olympian is heavily supported by Puerto Rican fans. However, the Caguas native, who beat Zab Judah and Shane Mosley last year to earn a place on most pound-for-pound lists, has never been much of a draw on the West Coast and he’s never headlined a card in Las Vegas. Margarito, a two-time welterweight titlist who was born in Torrance, California, grew up in Tijuana and now trains in the greater L.A. area, has never attracted a large Mexican following in his “home region” despite his heritage and having fought 23 of his 41 pro bouts in either Tijuana or Southern California.
However, Arum believes that putting the two welterweight punishers in the ring together will create a buzz among fight aficionados so loud that it will attract mainstream sports coverage and a live crowd big enough to fill the MGM Grand’s 17,500-seat Garden Arena on July 26th when the fight will take place.
“We know this is going to be a great fight and we know how big a fight this is,” Bob Halloran, director of sports for MGM-Mirage, told the boxing media at Tuesday’s press conference at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. “The tickets, which go on sale Thursday, have been priced fairly. Ringside tickets are $700 and then they drop to $500, $400, all the way down to $100. We’ve been swamped with calls every day from fans from around the country asking if they can buy tickets, suggesting an automatic sellout.”
Arum is banking on the ethnic background and nationalities of Cotto and Margarito to drum up as much interest in the July showdown as the boxers’ reputations for making all-action fights.
During the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s, ethnic rivalries between recent immigrants from various parts of Europe fueled the sport. As more Spanish-speaking nations produced standout boxers in the ‘60s and ‘70s, rivalries between Latin-American and Latin-Caribbean cultures were formed, however none have been as constant and fierce as the rivalry between Mexican and Puerto Rican fans and fighters.
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