The [rematch] is at the 11,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center instead of at the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena just a block or so away [the venue for the first fight].
Good seats, as they say, are still available.
Even as fight week began, the big news in the Las Vegas media was whether Floyd Mayweather had picked Aug. 26 as a date to fight UFC champion Conor McGregor and how the city’s first major league team, the Las Vegas Golden Knights, will put together their roster at the upcoming expansion draft.
Not much has been heard in Las Vegas about Ward-Kovalev.
But the passion that existed for 2017 bouts such as Keith Thurman-Danny Garcia, Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko, Kell Brook-Errol Spence Jr. and even Canelo Alvarez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. doesn’t seem to be there for Ward-Kovalev II.
The Ward-Kovalev bouts won’t come within half the combined sales of what Alvarez-Chavez did, and Saturday’s gate won’t be anywhere near $10 million.
Kovalev is Russian and English is his second language. He’s never been a warm and fuzzy kind of a guy, but his image took a hit when he engaged in what appeared to be racist behavior toward African-American fighters Jean Pascal and Stevenson.
Ward is as well-spoken as they come – he is outstanding on television, and did a brilliant job as an HBO Sports ringside analyst – and he’s a 2004 U.S. Olympian, and the last American man to win a boxing gold medal.
Yet, fans haven’t seemingly warmed to him, either.
As a result, what should be a glorious night for boxing will instead be largely ignored beyond the insular world of the sport’s hardcore fan base.
Don’t be surprised if the two act up when they see each other for the first time at Thursday’s news conference. They need to do something to capture the public’s attention, or the bout will die a grisly death at the box office.
It’s a potentially great fight that is badly in need of a spark.
Thoughts?
