Patrick McDermott - Getty Images
Not even this guy is going to help this show in Tucson. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
Today it was announced that Diego Magdaleno was going to take on Miguel Bertran Jr for the NABF super featherweight title. The fight will take place in Tucson in the Casino del Sol and will be airing on Showtime. If shows in Tucson sound familiar then consider yourself a ridiculous boxing fan. Another venue in the Tucson area used to be used for a bimonthly boxing show at the Desert Diamond ran by Golden Boy from 2004 to 2009. Before that Sugar Ray Leonard ran shows at this casino.
The shows used to be fairly popular, drawing 5,000 fans to see Fernando Vargas knockout Tony Marshall. More recently in 2010, a promotion attracted a much smaller crowd of 1,200 fans, losing thousands of dollars. Of course, the recent political climate in Arizona has not been helping the situation. After Arizona passed state bill 1070, one of the largest anti-immigration bills in US history, the WBC effectively banned Mexican fighters from taking bouts in Arizona. This decision led to Top Rank moving a fight out of the state. Now it seems that the political climate has cooled slightly and promoters are looking toward southern Arizona to promote smaller fights involving Mexican fighters.
I really hope that this fight does relatively well, but I fear that they will lose a good amount of money. Even though this card has the backing of stars like Antonio Margarito (his brother-in-law is fighting on the undercard), I just don't think that they can stir up enough interest to have more than a half-filled ballroom, as Steve Kim would say.
0 recs | 5 comments
Arizona has incredible potential. Jesus Gonzales drew a really good crowd for FNF there last year against Francisco Sierra. Where do you want them to put it instead, the Chumash? The Palms?
Scott Christ - February 10, 2012
I hope it does well. Putting this fight in Vegas is actually not too bad of an idea since Diego is from Las Vegas and has had a total of 18 fights in Vegas already.
Waldo Rastel - February 10, 2012
There are a ton of casinos here that would host a boxing a show like this. I don’t know about how well the gate would sell, but there is no shortage of venues below the Palms… which by the way should be hosting Mandalay/MGM level events.
Chris Sarda - February 10, 2012
Well he’s fought there 18 times and now they’re sending him to Tucson to fight a guy who’s never fought outside of Mexico, so I’m going to go ahead and say Diego hasn’t brought in the big bucks.
Scott Christ - February 10, 2012
Also, this will be televised on ShoBox.
Scott Christ - February 10, 2012
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Bad Left Hook to post a comment.