Notice more and more fight cards in your town as of
late? San Jose, New York, Austin and
Ohio, boxing has taken its show on the road rather than Vegas. With people trimming their budgets traveling
to the MGM casino for a good fight is no longer the norm. The economy has taken a major hit on sin
city.
MGM pumped 200 million dollars into ...
the MGM city center today, a project which would have gone
into bankruptcy if the money did not come through. Almost every major casino on the strip may be in some sort of
bankruptcy. Hotel room rates are down
20%, Gambling is down 15%. Many
conventions are being canceled from corporations due to company cut backs. MGM, which holds many of the major boxing
events stock is down 95% while projects at Cesars Palace and the Venetian have
been halted.
This may be good news for fight fans who are feeling the pinch and noticing more cards in their own town. HBO
just had its first ever show in San Jose, CA while LA’s staples center saw a
packed house in Mosley vs. Margarito. Texas too has been a hot spot for boxing cards of late where "Lightweight
Lightning" was shown from the Univ of Texas at Austin this past weekend.
People have not seen it this bad in over 20 years in Las
Vegas where jobs and homes prices have plummeted. The sin in “sin city” may have been overconfidence and today, it
may be time to pay up.
Vegas had better loosen up the slots and bring back that 99 cent breakfast, and in a hurry, or Stations Casinos won't be the last to go belly up. Although if you've been there lately, it still looks just as crouded as ever.
I am in Austin and got ringside for $452 for lightweight lightning. This is a great thing to happen to the sport. It will allow those true fans that can't afford $10k a ticket.
Savannah Marshall (R) of England celebrates following her win against Elena Vystropova (C) of Azerbaijan during their middleweight 75kg final bout at the Women's World Boxing Championships in Qinhuangdao on May 19, 2012. Eight places in the three Olympic weight categories, flyweight, lightweight and middleweight, are up for grabs at the world championships, with another four awarded to small and developing countries. Marshall won 17:15. AFP PHOTO / Ed JonesEd Jones/AFP/GettyImages
