Perhaps, upon reflection, I thought I was being needlessly negative on the venue.
Perhaps, I thought, I was being overly sarcastic but then I read your boy, Carlos Acevedo, at The Cruelest Sport, who makes me look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, makes me look like a pugilistic Pollyana.
Here’s his take:
“What does it take to get two solid young fighters together these days? A guaranteed two-fight package from HBO, purses three or four times larger than their highest paydays to date, and a neutral site that guarantees a huge loss on gate receipts. Alexander has drawn close to 10,000 fans in St. Louis, so, of course, they will fight in an abandoned football stadium in the middle of winter in a state with the second highest unemployment rate in the nation. Welcome to modern boxing!”
That passage just reminds us all how much we despise downbeat boxing scribes and scribettes, does it not?
I now return you to my own positive and optimistic offering…
Nifty Nicknames for the Devon Alexander-Tim Bradley junior welterweight unification bout to be held at the cavernous, long in mothballs Pontiac Silverdome (original price of 35 years ago, $56 million, “fire sale” price for Canadian real estate maven Alex Apostolopoulus a mere $583,000) on Jan. 29:
1. Welcome, Fight Fans To Metro Detroit, Where Cost Of Living Is Going Up, Chance Of Living Is Going Down*
1A. Beware Of Greeks Bearing Used Lemons
1B. First Sporting Event In Renamed White Elephant Dome
2. Our Stadium Is To Mammoth Sports Edifices What The Edsel Was To Cars
3. The Silverdome Is To Stadiums What “Waterworld” Was To Hollywood
4. Buy A Bob Uecker, Binoculars Required Seat For Ten Bucks (Free Parking Unless Ex-Felons Nail You Entering Or Exiting)
5. If We Sell Cheapest Seats For $7.26, It’s A Penny More Than Apostopolous Paid For All 80,000 Seats
6. Stadium Owner Could’ve Bought TWO Studio Apartments in Astoria, Queens, For $583,000 But Finds Silverdome Much More Roomy
7. Stadium Owner Formerly Toiled At Kentucky Fried Chicken, Hence The Extra Crispy Ringside Seating Area
8. What’s a Grecian Earn? Maybe Nothing With A 127 Acre Albatross Like This
9. Fighters In Main Event Both Earning Double Price To Buy Stadium, Another Don King Boxing First
10. We Don’t Have The (Detroit) Lions Or The Christians Unlike Ancient Rome
11. Driving Here? Go Past The Slauson Cutoff And Immediately Cut Off Your Slauson (We Are Located 50,000 Home Foreclosures Away From Downtown Detroit)
12. Wanna Sing National Anthem At The Fight? Bidding Begins At $50, Cash Only Please
13. Talking Trash? Our Official Carting Company Is Sanford & Son
14. Enjoy Our Free Flea Market At Our Fire Sale Stadium Before The Fights
(* Original line from late, great comedian Robin Harris in reference to Compton)
