[h1]Vegas' newest competitor[/h1]
posted: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | Print Entry
Your weekly random thoughts …
• The
Joe Calzaghe-
Bernard Hopkins fight marked the first boxing event hosted by
Robert Earl's Planet Hollywood casino, the latest player on the Las Vegas fight scene. Earl seems serious about being in boxing for the long haul, despite obviously losing money on Calzaghe-Hopkins, for which he dramatically overpaid by putting up $9 million (he'll learn how to evaluate site fees better in the future, I hope). Despite the lackluster ticket sales for Calzaghe-Hopkins, Planet Hollywood has two other events already scheduled,
Chris Byrd's light heavyweight debut against
Shaun George May 16 on ESPN2 and the July 5
Ricardo Torres-
Kendall Holt junior welterweight title rematch on Showtime. I hope Earl and Planet Hollywood stick in boxing for years to come. The casino did a marvelous job hosting last week's event and, at least from my perspective as a media member, the entire staff went out of its way to be helpful and make the press feel welcome with whatever we needed. Besides, it's always good to have more than one casino competing for big fights. Las Vegas has been more or less a one-company show since the MGM Mirage bought out Mandalay Bay a couple of years ago. Planet Hollywood has a terrific 7,000-seat theater, which hosted the Calzaghe-Hopkins weigh-in and is perfect for boxing. It will serve as the arena where rising British lightweight star
Amir Khan will make his U.S. debut later this year thanks to a deal made between Earl and promoter
Frank Warren.
• Calzaghe's big win against Hopkins sure gave his father and trainer,
Enzo Calzaghe, a big boost. It had been a rough several weeks for Enzo, whose two other world titleholders lost their belts and undefeated records in March as cruiserweight
Enzo Maccarinelli was starched in two rounds by
David Haye on March 8 and junior welterweight
Gavin Rees was stopped in the 12th round by
Andreas Kotelnik on March 22.
• After his recent cancer scare, it was nice to hear
Michael Buffer return to the mic last week for Calzaghe-Hopkins. Here's to many more years of getting ready to rumble.
• The Calzaghe-Hopkins undercard was absolutely pathetic, one of the worst I have ever seen. It's a shame that the fans who turned out to the arena were treated to one blatant mismatch after another. When
Audley Harrison is facing
Jason Barnett in the co-feature, you know there is a problem. Sure, it's nice to see young prospects such as
Danny Garcia and
Daniel Jacobs in the early stages of their pro careers, but this undercard offered absolutely nothing in the way of a serious fight. That was especially disappointing because the tickets were so overpriced.
• The folks from Wales clearly have more manners than the folks from England. When
Ricky Hatton came to the United States for his fight with
Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December, the rowdy English fans relentlessly booed the American national anthem in a disgraceful scene. But I have to give credit to the fans Calzaghe brought across the pond. They showed a lot of class by behaving themselves and showing the utmost respect during our anthem.
•
Roy Jones vs. Calzaghe? Bring it on. It's the biggest fight that can be made in the light heavyweight division, and I give Jones a legitimate chance of winning despite the advanced stage of his career that he is at. Any chance of a rematch between Jones and Hopkins ever being made seemingly went down the drain with BHop's loss.
• I was very impressed with
Tomasz Adamek, who took former undisputed cruiserweight champion
O'Neil Bell apart and made him quit after seven rounds last Saturday. The win earned him a mandatory shot at titleholder
Steve Cunningham and, if you ask me, I think Cunningham-Adamek will be a really good, competitive fight. It would make an excellent fight for Showtime, which has televised a number of recent cruiserweight fights. It would also make an excellent "Boxing After Dark" match on HBO.
• Paging
Winky Wright.
• How many days until
Miguel Cotto vs.
Antonio Margarito? While we're at it, how many days until
Arthur Abraham-
Edison Miranda II?
• If you like knockouts hit up youtube.com and check out European middleweight champion
Sebastian Sylvester's 12th-round drillage of
Javier Castillejo from a couple of weeks ago. It was spectacular.
• People always ask me about which division I think is the worst. At the moment, I have to say that it is, without question, junior middleweight. There are four titleholders with no star power in
Vernon Forrest,
Joachim Alcine,
Verno Phillips and
Sergei Dzindziruk. None of the possible unification bouts between them is even all that interesting.
•
DVD pick of the week: This is not a classic fight but it has special meaning to me, so I broke out
Lennox Lewis' heavyweight championship defense against
Michael Grant from April 29, 2000. Lewis destroyed the overhyped Grant in two rounds at Madison Square Garden. So, what's the big deal? It was a special night for me because it was the first heavyweight championship fight I ever covered and the first fight I covered as the full-time boxing writer for USA Today. It was eight years ago next week. Seems like yesterday.
