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Don King show draws 10,000 fans head to head with UFC 100
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Back in the day, Michael Jackson with Don King (photo courtesy of Don King Productions)
Boxing lives!
Despite its perpetual mistakes, boxing remains alive and this was proven Saturday night in South Florida when just under 10,000 people, many of them skewing young and in the “UFC demographic” came to to see live boxing instead of sitting home to watch the UFC 100 event on TV.
“It was a good, mixed crowd,” journalist Jose Martino of Boxeomundial and Boxingconfidential.com told me on Sunday. “I would say it was just under 10,000 and they announced the total in the house as nine thousand something.”
The two Showtime cable network bouts matched one little known African boxer against a little known Mexican and the an Armenian who fights out of Australia (Vic Darchinyan) against little known African Joseph King Kong Agbeko.
That’s not exactly the ethnic gate mix you would look for in the heavily Latino Ft. Lauderdale area but that is what promoter Don King offered.
Agbeko, who is from Ghana and trains and lives in The Bronx, decisioned plucky Darchinyan, a KO loser to Filipino Flash Nonito Donaire, to retain his IBF bantamweight crown. Agbeko also busted up the slugging southpaw something fierce over 12 interesting if not compelling rounds.
Martino was aware that many of the tickets were given away by the promotional team.
“Still, it’s hard to get people out for live events down here.
"It wasn’t the intense crowd King had back on Valentine’s Day in the same building but that show was loaded with Latinos of local interest, Kermit Cintron and other fighters. I think the crowd is impressive considering that UFC 100 was on TV the same night.”
Me, I’m prejudiced for boxing and against MMA.
So I agree with Martino.
But I also agree with those like fight promoter Lou DiBella who contend both MMA and boxing can both thrive as the customer crossover is highly overrated.
King dedicated the show to the late Michael Jackson and 10 bell memorial counts were also given for both Alexis Arguello, suicide victim, and the just murdered Arturo Gatti.
Showtime only used still photos of Gatti so apparently they could not reach HBO for permission to use a little fight footage or permission was refused.
Given that the bad news on Gatti broke late Saturday afternoon, I would guess it was the former and not the latter.
I think HBO would be more gracious than that.
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