DALLAS, TEXAS – I don’t know who you would ask, but March 13 was a genuine success for all involved from the business or boxing end.
Someone had to be first, and Bob Arum’s Top Rank stepped up to the plate with an assist from Cowboy Stadium and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in a big way and they might not want any other player’s getting involved after they took all the inherent risk.
Whether it be Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) or a rival boxing promoter such as Golden Boy, that already embarrassed itself with a snub of Jones, I can sense a sort of loyalty Arum and Jones may have for each other for the time being.
By the day of Friday March 12, the only question facing three – time Super Bowl winner Jones was “How many additional seats should be released?” after the original 45,000 were gobbled up give or take some single seats that are difficult to sell.
The answer was 6,000 Standing Room Only seats (SRO) at $35 a piece.
Pay-per view numbers from Saturday will start sprinkling in soon but on face value, “The Event” was a homerun. Probably a grand slam.
Jones and Arum did their homework and knew their market. While neither will retire after “The Event” they co-promoted a fight that generated the third largest indoor paid attendance (51,000) in American history.
Not too shabby on their first time out working together and in an arena that hadn’t hosted boxing before and no Mexican challenger when the demographics cry out for a Mexican in the main event.
A lot of credit for Saturday night has to go to the star power of one Manny Pacquiao. You just have to like this guy both personally and professionally.
I doubt he turned down an interview, a photo, or autograph while in Big D for almost a full week.
The eruption of cheers for him just entering the building Saturday evening and several times during the preliminary fights was what was once held only for the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali.
Welcome to that big time zip code Manny Pacquiao. I only hope we get to enjoy your efforts a while longer.
