While the
main event between WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz and Floyd Mayweather
and two other support bouts on the “Star Power” pay-per-view bill are taking
place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the Staples Center in Los Angeles will host
the match-up between WBC junior middleweight titlist Saul Alvarez and Alfonso
Gomez prior to the main event.
"There
will be four preliminary bouts and then the 'Canelo' fight," said Golden
Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer of the schedule, "but what's going to
happen is that they're going to be the preliminary bouts and then the arena
will go dark and you will see the fight between Jesse Vargas against Josesito
Lopez, then followed by Eric Morales against Pablo Cesar Cano and then after
that, it will go live to Staples Center. The lights will go back and then you're
going to see the Gomez and ‘Canelo’ fight and then after that, when the
fight is over, it's going to go dark again and you're going to see the
Mayweather-Ortiz fight."
Following
the main event, a concert at the Staples Center featuring two popular Mexican
bands will be staged.
And yes, if
you attend either fight card, you will have the opportunity to see all the
pay-per-view fights inside the venues.
"We actually
had a Los Angeles company construct a special, made-to-order, state-of-the-art
screen from the MGM which will come down from the ring," stated Schaefer,
who believed that the four screens at the corners of the MGM Grand Garden Arena
simply were not sufficient. "There will be screens coming down in Las
Vegas to basically give everybody a great viewing experience for the 'Canelo'
fight in Vegas."
The Staples
Center recently installed a brand new Panasonic scoreboard/JumboTron that hangs
above the ring, which actually has angled screens underneath it that allow
those closest to ringside to view the action, unobstructed.
THE BIG
HOUSE
Antonio
Orozco is part of the undercard that takes place at the home of the Lakers,
Clippers and Kings. The newest addition to the Golden Boy stable faces Fernando
Rodriguez in a scheduled six-rounder. For Orozco, this is his first fight on a
major show and a major league venue.
"Bright
lights," said Orozco, when asked to gives his thoughts on performing at
the Staples Center. "I better perform at the best of my abilities, put on
a great show." He admits to being excited about not only the setting but fighting
on a card of this magnitude. "Staples Center, under the ‘Canelo’-Gomez
card, the whole 'Star Power,' it's something. It's really something and it's
something that I know a lot of prospects look forward to and I'm just real
thankful I've gotten this opportunity to be able to participate on the card
itself."
Orozco’s manager, Frank Espinoza, told Maxboxing, "This is a great step
for him. This is what he's been looking for. This is what every prospect looks
forward to, fighting on a big venue like Staples Center. So we're really happy
and I know he's excited about fighting on Saturday night."
As he told
Orozco about this assignment, the manager said his boxer was, "thrilled
fighting in San Diego and fighting here on club shows, so he was excited,
knowing that this was his first fight under the Golden Boy banner and fighting
at a big venue like the Staples Center. I think every fighter looks forward to
that."
According
to Eric Gomez, matchmaker for GBP, the doors open at Staples Center at 4:30 PM.
Orozco most likely be fighting in front of just a handful of fans but it's
still a momentous occasion for any young prospect to be given a chance to ply
his trade in a big building. Orozco admits to feeling some butterflies. After
all, it is a bit different than boxing at the OC Hangar.
“Nervousness?
Always, always for a fight," he says, "but you step into the ring,
it's another fight, another win and that's why we get prepared to come with our
best arsenal and that's how I'm seeing it.”
The three
other bouts scheduled for the Staples Center are: Oscar Godoy-Carlos Lozano,
Hugo Centeno-Willie Walton and Ray Rivera-Rudy Gonzalez.
TICKET INFO
Tickets for
Alvarez vs. Gomez, priced at $300, $150, $75 and $50, are on sale now and
available for purchase online at ticketmaster.com and via Ticketmaster
charge-by-phone lines at (800)745-3000. Tickets are also available at the
Staples Center box office.
Speaking of
which, I keep hearing that ticket sales for the Vegas portion of the show
aren't doing all that well. If you look at all the ticket-brokering websites (for
the primary and secondary market), there are plenty of seats to be had and
there seems to be more than just a few rooms available at the MGM Grand.
It'll be interesting to see what the announced attendance will be on Saturday
night.
PPV
This email here seems to be the consensus in terms of the responses I've gotten
to my Monday article (http://www.maxboxing.com/news/sub-lead/dimmed-star-power):
"I follow your tweets, and to answer your question to
your followers, Matthyse pulling out of the fight made what was a "must
buy" to a fifty-fifty, and now the $70 price tag just killed the
idea for me. I'm fortunate to have job security but I can't justify spending
this amount, despite the Tecate rebate and a friend or 2 over. It
would set a bad precedent for the industry. In comparison, I just watched
a UFC PPV the night of Hurricane Irene here in NY (the night of the would-be
Maidana-Guerreiro fight) for $45 and I must say that the card was stacked with
exciting matches of consequence. Again, I'm old-school, so I'm a boxing guy,
but I have great admiration for Dana White's foresighted, practical approach to
growing his business. As for purchasing the other 3 PPV cards, I'm a
definite yes for Cotto-Marg, 50-50 for Paq-JMM depending on the undercard,
and no way for Bhop-Dawson. Finally, I'm disappointed that bob Arum
didn't respond to Dana White's insults and direct challenge by not inking a
deal with CBS. I guess Arum feels that the idea of boxing returnng
to free network TV needs to marinate.
Stay safe,
Rob"
My guess is that while there is some backlash over the price (up to $70 for the
HD broadcast) and extreme disappointment over the Erik Morales-Lucas Matthysse fight
being scratched, I think “Star Power” still does between 1.3-1.5 million buys
when it's all said and done.
