This past weekend I was able to cover only one of the two major cards set at the MGM Grand and Thomas & Mack, which was unfortunate because I know another crazed writer like me who wanted to, and pulled off, covering both shows. I guess other writers, either to try to pull off the feat as well, or just to see if they would be approved for both shows, had both credentials around their necks at various points of the night and one even gleefully showed them both off to other writers.
But I am jumping a bit ahead, so let me slow down.
First things first: With Vegas, get there early, and leave there early. Period.
I got up at 6 AM and hit Sin City by about 9:30ish?, and pulling a turnaround, I left at 11:00 PM and got home a 2:00 AM sharp. Time and again, you hear horror stories of, ?I was stuck in traffic for six hours going to/home from Vegas.?
Not I, said this guy.
The day?s agenda started with getting a glimpse of the great Roberto Duran. I still get excited to see certain boxing types in the flesh, (which a photographer in the media room later laughed about, telling me ?your still young?) but there he was, seated next to an ignored Earnie Shavers, who just prior to Duran?s arrival was getting all kinds of love. I think a bit of the attention came from the fact that despite Shavers standing a gaunt six foot plus and the size of a linebacker, he still looked strikingly similar to ?Iron? Mike Tyson, and I was proved that when two women stared for a moment and asked each other, ?is that Tyson??
Photos: Tom Casino / Showtime
I wasn?t in town the day prior, but Duran was also scheduled on Friday to appear alongside the Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya in the lobby of the MGM Grand. From what I hear, DLH?s aura made ?Hands of Stone? feel like Shavers did on fight day sitting next to Duran.
Over the years, looking at photos of Duran over the world wide web, ?Manos de Piedra? looked to more than healthy in his retirement, often sporting a lot of poundage in the waistline, to say the least.
Well, the Panamanian legend must have found Jenny Craig or the like because the greatest lightweight to tie up some gloves certainly looked trim and healthy on Independence Day weekend. Hollywood rumor is a film is to be produced soon based on Duran, so perhaps a future red carpet stroll prompted the Panama native to slim down some.
True story- I struck up a conversation with a fan who desperately wanted Duran to sign a glove that he had. The fan found out that Duran was only allowed to sign the gloves that were pre-purchased, as well as pre-signed, at the sum of 80 dollars. ?But I have my own glove!? the Chicago native told me. He implored with a worker for a discount since he was prepared to provide his own Everlast, to no avail. Then the Windy City man comes back over my way and joyfully tells me that while the glove was $80, a picture, (also already pre-signed) was only $50 and he heard a guy say that if you show Duran the picture, he?ll also sign the glove. So in line paying for the $50 picture, he hawks a blank glove for $20 bucks to a couple griping about the $80 price tag.
Duran jovially worked the crowd, happily taking pictures and signing whatever was thrown his way, and Chicago ends up paying $30 bucks total instead of $80 and gets Duran signatures on a picture as well as on a glove that he can take home with him and cherish forever.
Well played, sir.
A ghastly stiff Tommy Hearns wandered around the main lobby just prior to Duran?s appearance, and made himself ghost once the word was out that he was just strolling around. Nacho Beristain walked through the casino on his way to preparing with his newest fight Johnny Gonzalez, and Alfredo Angulo walked around looking straight up ?Narco? status with long hair, even longer facial hair and a Stayin? Alive suit accentuated by the ?gold chain, open shirt bare chest? look.
As the day heated up outside, it also did inside the MGM with more and more Mexican patrons packing the casino even hours prior to the first bell. A host of Mexican legends held a free autograph signing that featured the likes of Danny Lopez and Pipino Cuevas, and the Corona girls all flocked around the lobby with beer buckets full of free bottle openers to be handed out. Riverside, California heavyweight Chris Arreola was spotted in the lobby, taking pictures with fans while there to obviously support his stable-mate Josesito Lopez, who would later be dropped three times and stopped in the fifth round of the night?s main event against Mexican sensation ?Kid Cinnamon? Saul Alvarez.
A note to those who are thinking of running to your car for something in the Vegas summer heat: Don?t.
I had to in order to grab the necessary writing equipment, and did so in a just purchased Martinez-Chavez bootleg shit, which was black. Another no-no. I trekked from the MGM to the Excaliber parking lot in the scorching 100 degree heat, but luckily a slight breeze kept me semi-cool, the trek back was assisted by a street vendor scaling bottled water for a buck a pop and once I re-entered the casino, there happened to be industrial sized fans set up for those entering. I stood there for a minute, texted a pic of me in the C-M shirt to a friend in the media room and asked him if I could walk in with this shirt on, and as I was making my way back to media central, I spied Paul ?The Punisher? Williams with a couple of friends. Williams was the originally planned opponent for Kid Cinnamon, and just days following the agreement Williams was in a tragic motorcycle accident and now finds himself wheelchair bound.
I immediately made my way to him and told him I covered all of his California fights and that Canelo would have a much, much harder time tonight if it were Williams gloved up against him instead of Lopez, and within seconds a crowd had gathered and the South Carolina native was signing autographs, shaking hands, taking pictures and being told by people that it was an honor to meet him. Williams, a forever member of the boxing community, should expect love like that whenever he attends boxing events.
As for the atmosphere inside the MGM, this writer has been to both Mayweather and Pacquiao cards, and I?ve got to say, that was one of the most electric crowds I?ve experienced in quite some time on the boxing beat. Looking out to the crowd, it was hard to spy an empty seat, arena entrances were standing room only and people literally were sitting on the steps between the rows of chairs.
Canelo, just like his entrance with an air of confidence to the weigh-in the day prior, just seems to be built for these types of mega attractions. The young Mexican go to all corners to greet the crowd before and after his bouts, he plays up the Mexican machismo in the ring and out, and is simply put, boxing?s next biggest star.
In the press room afterward, Canelo was polite to his opponent, sported an ?ah shucks? type attitude and wore his ear to ear red faced smile to perfection. Alvarez, at a mere 22 years of age, has this sport in his palm as long as he continues to work hard, fight the right fights and oh yeah, a little English here and there certainly wouldn?t hurt his crossover appeal.
The night was a success at both venues, no doubt. The only knock would come from us media types, who either texted friends at the other fight for results (like I did), and fans who as well would have liked to be in two places at once.
Much has been made of the success of what was thought to be a disaster by holding two cards within one mile of each other, yet while this time was a success, I believe a lot of it had to do with which holiday it fell on and the fact that both cards were headlined by major Mexican attractions. Who?s to say this would work on a weekend without a holiday springboard?
A quote here, a stat there, click, click, send report, text message to the darling girlfriend and this writer filled up at Vegas Arco (30 cents cheaper than Cali Arco) hit In and Out (Just as De La Hoya tweeted that he did after the fight) and jumped on the 15 freeway and back to Southern California.
