By Steve Kim
On the night of November 7th, welterweights Tim Bradley and Brandon Rios are scheduled to meet. If there was ever a fight that belonged in a venue like the Forum or the StubHub Center - it's this fight. But alas, this match-up featuring two boxers who hail from the Southern California region will take place at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Top Rank had planned to place this fight (which will be televised by HBO) at the Forum in Inglewood, California, which has a rich history with the sport. The problem was that there was already an event booked for that night. According to the Ticketmaster site 'G.E.M.- X.X.X Live Tour' is scheduled for November 7th. There were efforts to reschedule this concert.
Todd duBoef, the president of Top Rank explained to BoxingScene.com - "We were told it was highly movable and then when they approached them we were ready to go, [but] they were misguided - it wasn't [moveable]. They thought they were going to move it and they thought based on their conversations with them they could've moved it and with the little bit of delay in getting our fight totally hatched, they got a little pregnant with their schedule and they couldn't move it to later in the year."
Other local venues were explored.
"Staples (Center) wasn't available, (the Honda Center) in Anaheim wasn't available," said duBoef. "We went to a couple others and at the end of the day we felt Las Vegas was a great place."
As for the always popular StubHub Center in Carson - "I think the weather was mostly the issue. You've got to be careful then."
The Thomas and Mack Center has undergone a multi-million dollar renovation. DuBoef says that the configuration for Bradley-Rios will not include the upper deck.
"Like 9,000," he stated. "It's perfect. The lower bowl is our expectations on it."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com