Bad Left Hook

Last Saturday night's HBO boxing double-header drew a strong gate in San Antonio, largely thanks to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in the main event against Marco Antonio Rubio, but also probably aided a bit by Nonito Donaire facing Wilfredo Vazquez Jr in the televised co-feature as well.

Steve Kim reports that 15,664 tickets were sold at the Alamodome, with 885 comps, totaling a gate of $1,245,305. For a non-Vegas fight, this is an impressive gate, and the ticket sales are obviously very strong. Keep in mind, too, that San Antonio is a basketball-crazy city, and the Spurs were at home that night against one of the NBA's best teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder and star Kevin Durant.

So once again, if you wonder why Chavez keeps getting the push, this is why. He makes money. He draws fans. He draws TV ratings in Mexico and the United States, where he's become one of the top-rated fighters on HBO in less than a year, and none of those were true marquee fights, all easily argued as not being of true HBO quality.

He's a legitimate attraction. It's really as simple as that. He was called a cash cow before he got to HBO, and now he's just a cash cow on HBO. He's gotten better in the ring, he's usually fun to watch, and he's got so many issues that he's always extra vulnerable. In other words, one way or another, he's interesting. Perhaps unfortunately so.