Boxing Venues (Past or Present)

[Ruthless-RKO]

* Name of the building, (City/Country).
* Capacity
* One picture (from outside)
* Brief description: other uses of the building, brief history, etc.
* Highlights: Some of the best fights fought there
* Pictures: A couple of pics of the venue in a fight night.
* Link to the venue in SSC and/or Wikipedia.

I'll start..

[Ruthless-RKO]

Emperors Palace Hotel, Johannesburg, 1620, South Africa

Can hold up to 1,500 people.



It's a hotel, used for conferences too. I think the IBO have shares in the hotel, as their belts are always defended there.

Cassius Baloyi vs. Gairy St Clair - IBF/IBO world titles in July 2006 < One of the first world title fights there.

Other fighters who have fought their regularly..

* Hekkie Budler
* Kevin Lerena
* Thomas Oosthuizen
* Isaac Chilemba (Early in his career)
* Thabiso Mchunu
* Chris van Heerden

https://www.emperorspalace.com/

[Best Coast]

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico

Mainly a soccer stadium, home stadium of the Mexican National Team and several independent teams (Cruz Azul, Club America). It was built in 1966 in preparation for Mexico hosting the 1970 World Cup (and also hosted the 1986 World Cup). Although it packed in over 132,000 boxing fans for Chavez-Haugen in 1993, it was remodeled in 2016, reducing capacity to about 87,000.


It has hosted only 2 boxing shows but both were All-Star boxing cards with world title fights:

February 23, 1993 http://boxrec.com/en/event/4893 A world-record 132,247 boxing fans packed the stadium to watch:
WBC super lightweight champ Julio Cesar Chavez defend against Greg Haugen
World champs Azumah Nelson, Michael Nunn and Terry Norris defended their titles as well
Future world champs Felix Trinidad and Gerald McClellan won non-title bouts in their pre-championship days

October 14, 1967 http://boxrec.com/en/event/6704
Unified WBA/WBC World Champ Vicente Saldivar defended against European (and future world) champ Howard Winstone
Future world champs Ruben Olivares and Chucho Castillo won non-title bouts in their pre-championship days

Official Website: https://www.estadioazteca.com.mx/

[dagilechia]

Stadion Miejski, Wrocław, Poland

Capacity: 42771 seats

It holds Poland's record of attendance at boxing event when it was sold out for the Vitali Klitschko vs Tomasz Adamek fight.
Mateusz Masternak, Ola Afolabi, Jonathon Banks, Sadam Ali and Andrzej Wawrzyk on the undercard.







Third biggest stadium in Poland. It held 3 EURO 2012 group stage matches. Home ground for a football team called Śląsk Wrocław.

Stadium website: http://stadionwroclaw.pl/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadion_Miejski_(Wrocław)

[dagilechia]

Kopalnia Soli, Wieliczka, Poland

Capacity: 700 seats

Probably the only venue where boxing events are held below the ground level (125m under the ground). Located close to Kraków, It's a place visited by 1-1.5m tourists per year. Sodium chloride (table salt) was formerly produced there from the upwelling brine - and had been since Neolithic times. The Wieliczka salt mine, excavated from the 13th century, produced table salt continuously until 2007, as one of the world's oldest operating salt mines. Throughout its history, the royal salt mine was operated by the Żupy Krakowskie (Kraków Salt Mines) company. It's a UNESCO Heritage site.









Boxing events are held in the Komora Warszawa (Warsaw Chamber). Underground Boxing Show takes place once per year since 2008 (except in 2009).









Notable Fighters who fought there:

-Krzysztof Głowacki
-Maciej Sulęcki
-Kamil Szeremeta
-Rafał Jackiewicz
-Michał Cieślak
-Maciej Zegan
-Łukasz Janik
-Wojciech Bartnik
-Paweł Głażewski
-Krzysztof Zimnoch
-Kamil Łaszczyk
-Artur Binkowski
-Richard Hall

Hometown fighter: Artur Szpilka (born and raised in Wieliczka, trained for a local boxing club Górnik Wieliczka, though he never fought at Wieliczka Salt Mine).

Website: https://www.kopalnia.pl/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieliczka_Salt_Mine

[Best Coast]

Sports in an underground salt mine!! A stroke of genius and innovation!!

[dagilechia]

Sports in an underground salt mine!! A stroke of genius and innovation!!

yes, it's a great idea indeed, unique event, this year i'll move to a place located 80km from the salt mine so i plan to visit this event!

[Ruthless-RKO]

Casino de Monte Carlo, Monaco

Don't know an official capacity amount.. The events they have had there, it seems like they have like 100 seats?

It's all good though, everyone wears a tux.






*******************************************
Casino.. has only been used for Boxing three times, by Matchroom Boxing. **EDIT**

* 04 November 2017
* 24 November 2018
* 30 November 2019
*******************************************
* Agit Kabayel vs Dereck Chisora
* Khalid Yafai vs Israel Gonzalez
* Denis Lebedev vs Mike Wilson
* Michael Hunter vs Alexander Ustinov
* Cecilia Braekhus vs. Victoria Noelia Bustos
* Alexander Besputin vs. Radzhab Butaev
*******************************************
* https://www.montecarlosbm.com/en/casino ... onte-carlo
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_Casino

[Ruthless-RKO]

Century Link Parking Lot
Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Capacity: No idea if indoor or outdoor..

No known as CHI Health Center Omaha, CentruryLink Center has been home to many of Crawfords world title defences.

CHI Health Center Omaha is located at 455 N. 10th Street, within walking distance of the Old Market Entertainment and Shopping district and approximately 3.5 miles from the airport. For complete driving directions, view us on Google Maps

Surface parking is $8. Garage parking (when available) is $12.
Bus parking (when applicable) is $20. In/Out Parking is not allowed.

There has only been one event at the parking lot.

It was Sunday, 3rd September 2017. B & B Boxing Promotions presented http://boxrec.com/en/event/750960

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHI_Health_Center_Omaha
http://www.chiealthcenteromaha.com/

[Ruthless-RKO]

Falls Park in Belfast

* Capacity: I believe they sold over 10k tickets..




* Brief description: It's a park in West Belfast. Event was part of Féile an Phobail

There has been 2 events at Falls Park.

Saturday 1, August 2015 - Promoted by Pat Magee
Card included Paddy Gallagher, Tyrone McKenna, Courtney Fry, Tommy McCarthy, Alfredo Meli

Top Ranks most recent card on Saturday 3, August 2019

* Highlights: Michael Conlan defeated Diego Alberto Ruiz
Chris Jenkins defeated Paddy Gallagher
Luke Keeler defeated Luis Arias



http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/leisure/p ... -6636.aspx

[JMac]

I don't know how to get the pics to post but here is some history:

The Legendary Blue Horizon is a historic 1,346-seat former boxing venue in Philadelphia. The Ring magazine voted it the number-one boxing venue in the world, and Sports Illustrated noted it as the last great boxing venue in the country.
The Blue Horizon was originally constructed as three four-story Second Empire style houses in 1865. Originally built to house the nouveau riche, the properties were eventually sold to the Loyal Order of Moose. Architect Carl Berger oversaw the 1914 alterations to house the fraternal lodge, adding a ballroom, bar, and auditorium. The building also got its first taste of professional boxing during the Moose era, with two fight cards on March 1 and March 28 of 1938. The March 28th card featured heavyweight Willie Reddish, who later trained Sonny Liston and Joe Frazier.

After another series of renovations, regular boxing shows began in the Blue Horizon on November 3, 1961. The main event featured Hall of Famer George Benton against Chico Corsey, a late substitute. The early days of the building as a boxing venue saw regular weekly shows. Promoter Marty Kramer was given a grant from Madison Square Garden to put on these matches in order to develop young fighters. Kramer promoted over 30 main events before leaving the Blue Horizon in 1963. Promoter Herman Taylor then hosted three nationally televised bouts at the venue in 1963 and 1964, featuring Jose Stable, Dick Turner, Harold Johnson, Henry Hank, Stanley Hayward, and Curtis Cokes. On May 26, 1966 "Gypsy" Joe Harris took a 10-round decision over Johnny Knight in a fight promoted by Lou Lucchese. There would be no more fights until September 30, 1969, when J. Russell Peltz had his first promotion of his Hall-of-Fame career. Peltz set a then-site attendance record of 1,606 in his first of many cards at the Blue Horizon. Peltz would leave the Blue in 1971 after 31 cards to promote at bigger venues like the Arena and the Spectrum, but would return in 1974. Peltz would promote more fights at the Blue Horizon than anyone else in its history. The Peltz era brought Philadelphia greats such as Matthew Saad Muhammad, Bernard Hopkins, Cyclone Hart, Tim Witherspoon, Willie Monroe, Boogaloo Watts, Sammy Goss, Jeff Chandler and Bennie Briscoe. Peltz left the Blue Horizon in 2001, came back to promote one card in 2004 and three cards in 2009 for the last time.

The Blue Horizon appears in the film "Rocky V" as some of the fight scenes with Tommy Morrison were filmed there. The building was also used to film the boxing scenes in the movie "Annapolis."

The Blue Horizon was closed, reportedly due to tax problems, in June 2010. In January 2011, it was announced that $6 million had been granted to help West Philadelphia developer Mosaic Development Partners build an $18 million hotel-and-restaurant complex with a jazz bar and fitness center at the site of the Blue Horizon. In July 2013, Mosaic's plans called for the venue to be demolished in order to make way for a parking garage.

As of July 2016 the venue along with the upgraded boxing ring remains untouched, abandoned and in remarkably good to pristine condition with virtually no signs of any interior damage or structural problems since its closing in 2010.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I don't know how to get the pics to post but here is some history:

The Legendary Blue Horizon is a historic 1,346-seat former boxing venue in Philadelphia. The Ring magazine voted it the number-one boxing venue in the world, and Sports Illustrated noted it as the last great boxing venue in the country.
The Blue Horizon was originally constructed as three four-story Second Empire style houses in 1865. Originally built to house the nouveau riche, the properties were eventually sold to the Loyal Order of Moose. Architect Carl Berger oversaw the 1914 alterations to house the fraternal lodge, adding a ballroom, bar, and auditorium. The building also got its first taste of professional boxing during the Moose era, with two fight cards on March 1 and March 28 of 1938. The March 28th card featured heavyweight Willie Reddish, who later trained Sonny Liston and Joe Frazier.

Cheers mate.. On the back of that.. I'll add a few pics..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Horizon

[JMac]

Thanks for posting the pics Ruthless. It was a cool place for boxing. I was there many times as a referee/judge for amateur fights and as a coach. It was never a pretty building as the pictures tell. The rooms for the boxers to change and warm-up were in bad shape even back in the 80's. With the balcony so close to the ring, it created a cool atmosphere.

Another beautiful place that has hosted boxing events but used mostly for concerts in the Royal Albert Hall in London. I was there in '14 for a military amateur event. Very cool building.

I should know but I'm not too savvy with computers but how do you post pics. I tried but it didn't work.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Thanks for posting the pics Ruthless. It was a cool place for boxing. I was there many times as a referee/judge for amateur fights and as a coach. It was never a pretty building as the pictures tell. The rooms for the boxers to change and warm-up were in bad shape even back in the 80's. With the balcony so close to the ring, it created a cool atmosphere.

Kinda the equivalent to out York Hall.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I should know but I'm not too savvy with computers but how do you post pics. I tried but it didn't work.

To insert image:



without any spaces.

http://www.phillyboxinghistory.com/venu ... lue_06.jpg

try it with the jpg above.

[JMac]

Got it thanks. I'll try and find some of my pics from Albert Hall....which kind of looks like the Blue Horizon..

[JMac]

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the United Kingdom's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is a registered charity held in trust for the nation, as it receives no public or government funding. It can seat 5,267.

[squiggy]

Nice thread, y'all.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Nice thread, y'all.

You’re welcome. Feel free to contribute.

[Best Coast]

Thanks for the great memories of Blue Horizon fights on USA Network. The fans in the first row balcony seats always looked like they could reach out and touch the fighters!!

[Ilya Muromets]

Kopalnia Soli, Wieliczka, Poland

...

I've heard of that amazing place. Special interest to me as I used to be a caver. I'd love to go there.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Orange County High School

https://boxrec.com/en/venue/260255

Already been an event there in July. Another one in November coming up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_County_High_School





Google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/fBNSdgNT6cDWXdsP6

[Best Coast]

Nice twist...I'd like to see more high school/college gyms used for pro boxing!!

[dagilechia]

Amfiteatr, Międzyzdroje, Poland

Capacity: 800 seats

Amphitheather in a small town called Międzyzdroje, located on the Baltic Sea coast. In years 2009-2018 It held the ''Seaside Boxing Show'' events, in 2017-2018 it was a mixed Seaside Boxing Show/Babilon MMA event, since 2019 only ''Babilon MMA'' events are held there.















Notable fighters who fought there:

-Krzysztof Głowacki 3x
-Maciej Sulęcki
-Kamil Szeremeta 2x
-Rafał Jackiewicz
-Michał Cieślak
-Krzysztof Zimnoch
-Paweł Głażewski 2x
-Paweł Stępień
-Dariusz Sęk
-Marcin Rekowski
-Patryk Szymański
-Przemysław Runowski 2x
-Marek Matyja
-Robert Talarek
-Kassim Ouma

Local fighters: Krzysztof Głowacki and Paweł Stępień come from the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in which the city of Międzyzdroje is located.

[dagilechia]

Hala Gwardii, Warsaw, Poland

One of the ''Hale Mirowskie'' twin halls. Market halls constructed in 1899-1901 in Warsaw's Mirów district. Until its destruction during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, it was Warsaw's largest market. Rebuilt in the 1950s–1960s, it was restored to its original function as a market. in 1953, the eastern hall was handed over to the ''Gwardia'' sports club (Boxing's team champion of Poland in years 1950, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1982, at that time, the fierce boxing's ''Derby of Warsaw'', Gwardia vs Legia, were attended by thousands of people).

In 1953, it held the European Boxing Championships. At that time Poland was an European boxing superpower and Polish fighters won 5 out of 10 gold medals. Polish team was trained by the legendary trainer Feliks ''Papa'' Stamm (Now Warsaw has a Feliks Stamm's Boxing Amateur Tournament, and the Gwardia's Hall has the ''Feliks Stamm's Boxing Museum'').

Since 2017, after renovation, it's again a market hall.

Notable fighters (Fighters that were members of the Gwardia Boxing Team):

Amateur Legends:

-Jerzy Kulej (1964 & 1968 Olympics Gold Medalist, 1963 & 1965 European Gold Medalist, 1967 European Silver Medalist)
-Jacek Kucharczyk (1975 European Bronze Medalist)
-Jerzy Rybicki (1976 Olympics Gold Medalist, 1980 Olympics Bronze Medalist, 1978 World's Bronze Medalist, 1975 & 1977 European Bronze Medalist)
-Paweł Skrzecz (1980 Olympics Silver Medalist, 1982 World's Silver Medalist, 1983 European Silver Medalist, 1979 European Bronze Medalist)
-Grzegorz Skrzecz (1982 World's Bronze Medalist, 1983 European Bronze Medalist)

Pro Scene Fighters:

-Vitali Klitschko
-Wladimir Klitschko (The Klitschko brothers trained in Gwardia's boxing section in 1995-1996)
-Maciej Sulęcki

Photos: