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Atlantic City casinos glad to have boxing in their corner
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Edward Lea
Boxer Sergio Martinez, right, and referee Earl Morton pose for photographers after Martinez knocked out Paul Williams in the second round of their middleweight fight at Boardwalk Hall last November. Martinez will be back in Atlantic City to fight Darren Barker on Oct. 1.
Posted: Monday, October 24, 2011 12:20 am | Updated: 12:57 am, Mon Oct 24, 2011.
By DAVID WEINBERG, Staff Writer |
There are signs that boxing is still one of the more enjoyable offerings on Atlantic City's casino entertainment menu.
The eastbound Atlantic City Expressway featured two billboards last month that touted major fights that were held on the Boardwalk, including middleweight champion Sergio Martinez's fight against Darren Barker on Oct. 1 at Boardwalk Hall.
"We can't get the (Philadelphia) Eagles to play in Atlantic City," said Don Marrandino, Eastern Division president of Caesars Entertainment Corp.
"But we can have championship fights. As we look to re-establish Atlantic City as a primary destination, boxing is one of the sports that can attract more people."
Martinez's 11th-round knockout over Barker, which brought an announced crowd of 4,376 to Boardwalk Hall, was one of 17 boxing cards scheduled to be held in Atlantic City this year. Although that is well below the record 163 cards held in town in 1983, it is the most since there were also 17 shows staged in and/or sponsored by casinos in 1995.
Caesars Entertainment, which includes Bally's Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City, Harrah's Resort and Showboat Casino-Hotel, is the driving force behind boxing on the Boardwalk. Fifteen of the 17 cards were held at one of their properties or sponsored by them.
They have succeeded Trump Plaza, which hosted Mike Tyson's bouts in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, as the heavyweight champion among Atlantic City casinos in the boxing community.
"Fights are synonymous with attracting bigger players (high rollers) to casinos," said Ken Condon, former president of Bally's Atlantic City who books fights as a consultant for Caesars Entertainment. "When we have a boxing show, nine times out of 10 our major players want to be there."
A large group of boxing fans from England is expected to watch favorite son Carl Froch take on Andrew Ward at Boardwalk Hall on Dec. 17 in the final of Showtime's Super Six tournament. Froch is the WBA super-middleweight champion. Ward holds the WBC belt.
"There aren't many events that generate the same level of excitement in Atlantic City like a big fight," Marrandino said. "The buzz in the crowd is great."
The excitement level was clear when Martinez-Barker came to town.
Nearly 1,000 fans crammed into the lobby outside Caesars' Palladium Ballroom the day before the fight just to watch the official weigh-in. About 200 people from Barker's native London showed their support by belting out off-key renditions of "God Save the Queen" and "Walking In A Barker Wonderland" as he stepped on the scale.
On fight night, the hardcore boxing fans and casual observers milled about outside Boardwalk Hall, offering predictions while viewing some scantily clad women who used the fight as excuse to show off new dresses and heels.
Inside, the crowd got gradually louder, finally uncorking ear-splitting cheers when ring announcer Michael Buffer said, "Let's get ready to rummmble!"
Martinez's fans saved their loudest ovations for the fight itself. They chanted "Sergio! Sergio!" throughout and screamed when Martinez landed the right hook that gave him the victory in the 11th round.
"I was very pleased with the turnout," Martinez's promoter, Lou DiBella said. "We drew over 4,000 fans on a night when both the Phillies and the Yankees were playing. Anyone who thinks boxing is dying is crazy."
A.C. as farm system
Local boxing officials are using smaller venues as boxing's version of a farm system, where new world champions and rising contenders can improve their skills and cultivate fan followings that would grow with each impressive victory.
Featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0, 16 KOs) has fought twice in Boardwalk Hall's Adrian Phillips Ballroom this year. Both fights were also televised on HBO. Super-bantamweight champ Rico Ramos (21-0, 11 KOs) fought in Bally's Atlantic City and the Ballroom this year.
Philadelphia-based promoter Russell Peltz views Atlantic City as a place to groom some of his top fighters, such as welterweight Mike Jones (25-0, 19 KOs) and super-bantamweight Teon Kennedy (17-1-1, 7 KOs). The two have fought a combined 11 times in Atlantic City in the last three years.
Peltz, who has been promoting fights in Atlantic City since 1973, will stage his sixth card of this year in Atlantic City on Nov. 19 at Bally's.
"I still do fights in Philadelphia, but I've found that people would rather go to the shore on a weekend to watch fights, even in the winter," Peltz said. "The key is to feature guys who sell a lot of tickets and to also include some local Atlantic City fighters.
Peltz, Condon and others hope that at least one of the prospects will eventually improve enough to bring high rollers and even casual fight fans to Boardwalk Hall's main arena.
Tough to find big draw
Only two of this year's fights in Atlantic City - Martinez-Barker and the upcoming Froch-Ward super-middleweight showdown - will be held in Boardwalk Hall's arena. And in both cases, the venue was scaled down to seat approximately 5,500 fans, about half of its normal capacity for boxing.
"It's very hard to have a major boxing event that draws 10,000 people nowadays," Condon said. "There are not a lot of marquee names out there, plus the economy has forced people to make some tough decisions on how they spend their entertainment dollars."
Martinez, who has fought three of his last four fights at Boardwalk Hall's main venue, is among the few boxers capable of drawing big crowds, along with Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and heavyweight champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. But Pacquiao and Mayweather usually fight in Las Vegas or Texas, while the Klitschko brothers rarely compete outside Europe.
The last fight to draw more than 11,000 fans to Boardwalk Hall occurred on Oct. 18, 2008, when 11,332 saw Bernard Hopkins' 12-round decision over Kelly Pavlik.
"We were spoiled for a long time with (the late) Arturo Gatti. We thought Kelly Pavlik would be (Gatti's successor as the top Atlantic City fight draw), but that didn't work out," said Boardwalk Hall general manager Greg Tesone. "Sergio has the potential to be very popular if he keeps fighting and keeps winning. It's been a while since we've had a really big fight in the main arena, but I don't think those days are gone."
Atlantic City casinos glad to have boxing in their corner
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2
Edward Lea
Boxer Sergio Martinez, right, and referee Earl Morton pose for photographers after Martinez knocked out Paul Williams in the second round of their middleweight fight at Boardwalk Hall last November. Martinez will be back in Atlantic City to fight Darren Barker on Oct. 1.
Posted: Monday, October 24, 2011 12:20 am | Updated: 12:57 am, Mon Oct 24, 2011.
By DAVID WEINBERG, Staff Writer |
There are signs that boxing is still one of the more enjoyable offerings on Atlantic City's casino entertainment menu.
The eastbound Atlantic City Expressway featured two billboards last month that touted major fights that were held on the Boardwalk, including middleweight champion Sergio Martinez's fight against Darren Barker on Oct. 1 at Boardwalk Hall.
"We can't get the (Philadelphia) Eagles to play in Atlantic City," said Don Marrandino, Eastern Division president of Caesars Entertainment Corp.
"But we can have championship fights. As we look to re-establish Atlantic City as a primary destination, boxing is one of the sports that can attract more people."
Martinez's 11th-round knockout over Barker, which brought an announced crowd of 4,376 to Boardwalk Hall, was one of 17 boxing cards scheduled to be held in Atlantic City this year. Although that is well below the record 163 cards held in town in 1983, it is the most since there were also 17 shows staged in and/or sponsored by casinos in 1995.
Caesars Entertainment, which includes Bally's Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City, Harrah's Resort and Showboat Casino-Hotel, is the driving force behind boxing on the Boardwalk. Fifteen of the 17 cards were held at one of their properties or sponsored by them.
They have succeeded Trump Plaza, which hosted Mike Tyson's bouts in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, as the heavyweight champion among Atlantic City casinos in the boxing community.
"Fights are synonymous with attracting bigger players (high rollers) to casinos," said Ken Condon, former president of Bally's Atlantic City who books fights as a consultant for Caesars Entertainment. "When we have a boxing show, nine times out of 10 our major players want to be there."
A large group of boxing fans from England is expected to watch favorite son Carl Froch take on Andrew Ward at Boardwalk Hall on Dec. 17 in the final of Showtime's Super Six tournament. Froch is the WBA super-middleweight champion. Ward holds the WBC belt.
"There aren't many events that generate the same level of excitement in Atlantic City like a big fight," Marrandino said. "The buzz in the crowd is great."
The excitement level was clear when Martinez-Barker came to town.
Nearly 1,000 fans crammed into the lobby outside Caesars' Palladium Ballroom the day before the fight just to watch the official weigh-in. About 200 people from Barker's native London showed their support by belting out off-key renditions of "God Save the Queen" and "Walking In A Barker Wonderland" as he stepped on the scale.
On fight night, the hardcore boxing fans and casual observers milled about outside Boardwalk Hall, offering predictions while viewing some scantily clad women who used the fight as excuse to show off new dresses and heels.
Inside, the crowd got gradually louder, finally uncorking ear-splitting cheers when ring announcer Michael Buffer said, "Let's get ready to rummmble!"
Martinez's fans saved their loudest ovations for the fight itself. They chanted "Sergio! Sergio!" throughout and screamed when Martinez landed the right hook that gave him the victory in the 11th round.
"I was very pleased with the turnout," Martinez's promoter, Lou DiBella said. "We drew over 4,000 fans on a night when both the Phillies and the Yankees were playing. Anyone who thinks boxing is dying is crazy."
A.C. as farm system
Local boxing officials are using smaller venues as boxing's version of a farm system, where new world champions and rising contenders can improve their skills and cultivate fan followings that would grow with each impressive victory.
Featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0, 16 KOs) has fought twice in Boardwalk Hall's Adrian Phillips Ballroom this year. Both fights were also televised on HBO. Super-bantamweight champ Rico Ramos (21-0, 11 KOs) fought in Bally's Atlantic City and the Ballroom this year.
Philadelphia-based promoter Russell Peltz views Atlantic City as a place to groom some of his top fighters, such as welterweight Mike Jones (25-0, 19 KOs) and super-bantamweight Teon Kennedy (17-1-1, 7 KOs). The two have fought a combined 11 times in Atlantic City in the last three years.
Peltz, who has been promoting fights in Atlantic City since 1973, will stage his sixth card of this year in Atlantic City on Nov. 19 at Bally's.
"I still do fights in Philadelphia, but I've found that people would rather go to the shore on a weekend to watch fights, even in the winter," Peltz said. "The key is to feature guys who sell a lot of tickets and to also include some local Atlantic City fighters.
Peltz, Condon and others hope that at least one of the prospects will eventually improve enough to bring high rollers and even casual fight fans to Boardwalk Hall's main arena.
Tough to find big draw
Only two of this year's fights in Atlantic City - Martinez-Barker and the upcoming Froch-Ward super-middleweight showdown - will be held in Boardwalk Hall's arena. And in both cases, the venue was scaled down to seat approximately 5,500 fans, about half of its normal capacity for boxing.
"It's very hard to have a major boxing event that draws 10,000 people nowadays," Condon said. "There are not a lot of marquee names out there, plus the economy has forced people to make some tough decisions on how they spend their entertainment dollars."
Martinez, who has fought three of his last four fights at Boardwalk Hall's main venue, is among the few boxers capable of drawing big crowds, along with Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and heavyweight champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. But Pacquiao and Mayweather usually fight in Las Vegas or Texas, while the Klitschko brothers rarely compete outside Europe.
The last fight to draw more than 11,000 fans to Boardwalk Hall occurred on Oct. 18, 2008, when 11,332 saw Bernard Hopkins' 12-round decision over Kelly Pavlik.
"We were spoiled for a long time with (the late) Arturo Gatti. We thought Kelly Pavlik would be (Gatti's successor as the top Atlantic City fight draw), but that didn't work out," said Boardwalk Hall general manager Greg Tesone. "Sergio has the potential to be very popular if he keeps fighting and keeps winning. It's been a while since we've had a really big fight in the main arena, but I don't think those days are gone."