R! (Bay Area)
339 tickets sold to Bradley vs Alexander? WOW
Dan Rafael
(2:14 PM)
I made a few calls and from what I am told that is simply not accurate reporting. I am told by those in the know that the real number is more than 2,000.
Still really low.
Interesting fact: WWE (WWF then) still holds the record for the Pontiac Silverdome attendance which was 93,173 fans for Wrestlemania 3 (Hogan vs Andre the Giant)
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:nOI9fZ_2jtqxsM:http://www.retrojunk.com/img/art-images/wm3.jpg&t=1
I was going to reply something but totally got distracted by your sig ....
LMAO!!! That's a tribute to all the girls that I've loved before! http://www.emoticons4u.com/love/new/love-smiley-076.gif
http://www.emoticons4u.com/happy/1202.gif
On a serious note, here's another rebuttal from Michael Marley:
Box office bomb, yes, let's hope Alexander-Bradley produce firecracker fight
"I made a few calls and from what I am told that is simply not accurate reporting. I am told by those in the know that the real number is more than 2,000."
This is what ESPN scribe Dan Rafael posted at 2:14 pm on Friday, about 24 hours after my exclusive Examiner report that, as of Thursday morning, 339 tickets had been purchased for the Timothy Bradley-Devon Alexander clash of undefeated junior welterweight champions at that mausoleum known as the Pontiac Silverdome.
Has Dandy Dan contradicted me?
Or is that 1,600 tickets were reported to be accounted for to him because that includes the first four rows on all four sides of the ring which have been reserved for co-promoters Don King and Big Gary Shaw and, of course, the company funding not only this but the next three bouts for both Alexander and Bradley meaning HBO?
If my initial report was wrong--please notice that, just like me, Dan was not able to attribute a name to his sources--then how come I did not get an angy phone call from Messrs. Shaw or King or any of their minions?
I know the mail is slow but I didn't get any snail mail or emails asking for a retraction, threatening legal action or anything as fun and amusing as all that.
Nobody said bleep.
Isn't this totally credible given that:
1. Neither Tiny Tim nor Devon The Great are from Metro Detroit or the state of Michigan?
2. Even with the recent financial uplift at Ford, Metro Detroit including Pontiac remains an economic disaster zone?
3. Shaw and King did a show in Sunrise, Fl. Fort Lauderdale) where the crowd was announced as over 11,000 but the actual paid ticket count was a sizzling 172? That hot ticket seller had a main event featuring an Aussie of Armenian extraction (Vic Darchinyan) against an African named King Kong Agbeko?
4. That Las Vegas and Atlantic City spurned this attractive matchup?
5. That Shaw could not believe he found an all day sucker willing to pay he and DK $600,000 to try to inject some life into this white elephant, this 80,000 seat domed stadium that has been as lifeless as cemetery since the NFL Lions took a powder?
6. That Alexander's manager-trainer Kevin Cunningham reiterated to me on the record last week that the fight should've gone into a 12,000 seat venue in his and his boxer's hometown, a venue which ex-cop Kev said would've sold out in 10-15 days?
7. That, according to reports by bloodhound Steve Kim (Maxboxing), Shaw has had to paper the house with giveaway tickets for Bradley in his hometown?
I rest my case.
Plenty of good seats still available as the saying goes...
King knows how to put on a ground game, how to move the ducats. Unfortunately, he's trimmed his staff in recent years due to a diminished roster of fighters.
And King was understably preoccupied, while Shaw sought a neutral site, with the illness and death of his beloved wife, Henrietta.
Had King spent two weeks in Motown, the box office would be energized, no bout, as he would have worked the hustings and hit every radio and TV microphone in the vicinity.
Look, shoot the Marley messenger all you wish.
Don;t you think if my solid source told me 2,000 or 3,000 or 5,000 tickets were actually sold I would have reported that? That would've been more surprising.
HBO seems not to care about the live gate but they should.
Having said all that, I hope that 23 year old lefty Devon and 27 year old bad boy Tim can produce a firecracker of a fight.
I was leaning to Devon and now I'm thinking Bradley may win on the basis of hitting harder if less frequently.
I hope the live gate is not a disaster when the first bell for the main event rings.
I don't see any way possible this will be a stinker like Andrew Golota-Mike Tyson was at the Palace at Auburn Hills when 16,228 turned up to see mental case Golota quit after two rounds against an enraged Tyson.after.
Tyson refused a prefight drug test and was bagged for mairjuana use from a postfight test.
Even with a big name like Tyson, ticket prices were slashed at the last minute by local hero Tommy Hearns and his co-promoters.
I want to see boxing, especially young guys Alexander and Bradely thrive.
Until then, keep shooting the messenger.
But blanks don't really bother me.
R! (Bay Area)
339 tickets sold to Bradley vs Alexander? WOW
Dan Rafael
(2:14 PM)
I made a few calls and from what I am told that is simply not accurate reporting. I am told by those in the know that the real number is more than 2,000.
Still really low.
But how many of those 2,000 tickets were bought by the promoters?
R! (Bay Area)
339 tickets sold to Bradley vs Alexander? WOW
Dan Rafael
(2:14 PM)
I made a few calls and from what I am told that is simply not accurate reporting. I am told by those in the know that the real number is more than 2,000.
Still really low.
Interesting fact: WWE (WWF then) still holds the record for the Pontiac Silverdome attendance which was 93,173 fans for Wrestlemania 3 (Hogan vs Andre the Giant)
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:nOI9fZ_2jtqxsM:http://www.retrojunk.com/img/art-images/wm3.jpg&t=1
My understanding is the WWE exaggerated that number, it was closer to 85,000, which is still great. But 2000 for Bradley/Alexander is sad.
I read for this fight there will only be 7,000 seats available?
Don't know how true that is.
Like in the Yankee Stadium. It holds about 50,000 people but for the Cotto-Foreman fight they cornered it way down to, I forgot how many. Probably 10k or less, around there.
Wow. Are you ever right about anything?
Americans dont seem to do the live boxing like we do here, seems more like u guys would rather watch at home. If Bradley vs Alexander was ANYWHERE in the UK id be there! I think its because there are so many big fights there that americans dont feel the need to go they can just go to the next one or the next one! IMO a WORLD champion should be traveling more, its better for the sport.
Not bad.
Still don't understand why this damn fight wasn't being held in Alexander's back yard or New York.
Bradley wouldnt fight there after the Kotelnik fight, they wanted a neutral ground. New York seems to make sense tho
Steve Kim backs Marley's story. He says the number is 350.
350 tickets is pathetic. This fight should have been in St Louis or Cali. If i they wanted a neutral venue the theatre at MSG probably could have been filled for this fight.
this is the layout if anyone is looking for it. The ring will be in the corner of an endzone, not the center of the field like some are imagining.
http://www.silverdometickets.com/staticfiles/events/files/2/Boxing-%2012-14-10_Web.pdf
When will boxingscene stop posting Michael Marley articles? They guy is less accurate than the Philadelphia Eagles kicker.
Steve Kim backs Marley's story. He says the number is 350.