When a great fight occurs in the sport of boxing it has a definite effect that results in much lingering discussion afterwards. Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana was such a fight, as last weekend’s WBA junior welterweight duel from the Mandalay Bay was chalked full of action, suspense and plenty of post-fight drama. Khan would edge his Argentinean counterpart in one the year?s better fights and people are now sizing him up as an ideal choice to face the winner of next month?s Timothy Bradley-Devon Alexander unification bout.
Khan?s future looks bright but one thing I couldn?t help but notice as I watched the bout from press row was just how many empty seats there were inside of the Mandalay Bay that night. I was anticipating the arena to be half full but there were only 4,652 reported spectators in the building that night.
Earlier today I asked Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer why he felt the number was in that range and he offered up his thoughts.
?I think there are three things involved there,? Kizer said. ?First and foremost it is a sign of the economic times. Even [Michael] Katsidis and [Juan Manuel] Marquez, two well-established names, did about the same. Just a little bit better they did than the Khan-Maidana card. That’s roughly the same as the Lopez-Marquez fight at the beginning of November.?
There were three fine events in the Vegas area in a five-week span, with the aforementioned November 6th Juan Manuel Lopez-Rafael Marquez featherweight title fight and Marquez?s thrilling stoppage of Katsidis coming before Khan-Maidana. While all of those fights lived up to expectations, Kizer feels the turnout was lukewarm compared to events in the past simply because of bad timing.
?It was a tough weekend,? he continued. ?Both the November 27th weekend where they had Marquez-Katsidis then the December 11th weekend with Khan-Maidana are probably two of the worst weekends to have a fight other than Christmas and Easter weekends. But they were trying to get some good fight cards in here by the end of the year so we kind of had to live with what we had.?
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Kizer went on to tell me that it?s a rarity to have a boxing event achieve success during a Thanksgiving weekend, with only the 2004 rubber match between Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales standing out in his mind. Kizer also pointed to Floyd Mayweather’s December 2007 drubbing of Ricky Hatton as a fight that caught everyone?s interest.
In speaking with Kizer you can tell that he is an educated man but he also points out that you simply have to look past the logistics when looking at the situation. Khan and Maidana may have been adored in their native lands but they simply lacked star power in the states.
?I also think the fact that Khan has never fought here before and his following is from the UK,? he continued. ?Maidana, his following is from Argentina. So neither guy really has a base in Vegas. I think it?s part of one of the reasons they had a fight here was that it was neutral territory and they both wanted to fight in the fight capitol of the world.?
I was also sure to get Kizer?s take on the latest developments regarding Manny Pacquiao?s next bout. As my colleague Michael Marley has been documenting, it looks at those the Filipino star?s next bout will be taking place on May 7th, not April 16th as originally planned, with the MGM Grand in Las Vegas still likely to serve as the host.
That seems to conflict with the plans of Golden Boy Promotions, who seemed intent on having welterweight sensation Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez?s next fight on the same date at the same location. If Pacquiao pushes through with the May 7th date in Vegas than Alvarez will obviously have to come up with some new plans and Kizer wouldn?t be surprised to see his bout moved to another date.
2010 will come and go with Pacquiao not having fought in the area but Kizer highlighted that it wasn?t of his own accord. When Pacquiao signed on to face Joshua Clottey the MGM Grand already had the March 13th date reserved for a Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight but the undefeated star ended up squaring off with Shane Mosley on May 1st instead. Pacquiao?s victory last month over Antonio Margarito simply wasn?t feasible because the Tijuana fighter wasn?t licensed in the state.
Pacquiao?s agent Michael Koncz reached out to Kizer earlier this year to tell him that they planned on staging his future bouts in Las Vegas and it seems to be a natural fit, just like in years? past.
?I think the MGM has definitely had some success over the years with Pacquiao, to say the least. I?m sure of both of them are longing for it to occur here in the spring of 2011. We have no problems having that happen assuming an appropriate opponent and a date request from Top Rank for that day.?
