12/28 PBC on SHO: Gervonta Davis vs Yuriorkis Gamboa / Jean Pascal vs Badou Jack
- Thread starter patscorpio
- Start date
i love Badu, areal humble brother!
He only fights once or twice a year, so no soft touch is needed.
Also, he sort of has to fight these type of guys if he wants to get paid.
Jack can never be a marquee fighter. A true marquee fighter can fight bums and get paid. Jack could never do that.
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I wouldn't be surprised if Berto ended up in the boxing biz for the rest of his life.
reservoirdogs
Superstar
If that so why hasn't it happened thus far? I can't recall any Georgia based fighter currently or in the past few years except Khurtsidze but that's another Georgia.
This seems far fetched based solely on Atlanta's cultural relevance in our days.
In the 90s when New York and California dominated hip-hop and black American culture and there were more black American mainstream boxing stars than now they still didn't replace Vegas' as the number one draw.
New York was the number one until like the 60s or so and then came Vegas and replaced it as number 1, and it stayed like that ever since. Meanwhile, New York and California remained strong too.
I'm skeptical about the idea of Atlanta competing with NY, Vegas or even (in-around) Los Angeles in the near future just because it's a cultural hotspot with many famous musicians but maybe that's just me.
Holyfield vs.Vaugn Bean in '98 was the last men's championship match.
Laila Ali had back to back title fights in this same building back in 2004 and 2005. The latter was a Friday Night Fights card I went to. Fun fact - both Dirrell brothers competed on the undercard in just their second pro bouts. Goodie Mob also performed before the main event. lol I don't remember it being a sellout but it was a sizable crowd and surprising no one's been back since.
Devin Haney had a fight here 2 years ago but that was super lowkey and held at a local gym.
Damn ATL...CT used to be a boxing hotbed...what the fukk happened? 
Aren't you based in Europe?
Damn ATL...CT used to be a boxing hotbed...what the fukk happened?
Fam, you just jogged my memory on some things I forgot about the scene down here.
First, Vernon Forrest was talking about having a homecoming fight down here right after he beat Mosley in the rematch. Excerpt below from an AP article back then. But Mayorga deaded all that.
Once he lost those fights and his HBO deal, Philips Arena wasn't happening.ESPN.com: BOXING - Forrest wants to defend welterweight title in Atlanta
WBC welterweight champion Vernon Forrest, a native of Augusta, Ga., has directed his managers to bring his next title fight to his adopted hometown of Atlanta in November.
"I absolutely would love to fight in Atlanta," Forrest said Tuesday. "It doesn't matter when or where."
Forrest (35-0) defended his title July 20 by beating Shane Mosley in a rematch in Indianapolis.
"We are very interested in seeing Vernon Forrest fight here," said Gary Stokan, Atlanta Sports Council president. "That would be great for Vernon and great for the city."
The fight likely would be held at Philips Arena....
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Then in 2006, Ricky Hatton was very close to fighting Juan Urango here. A couple outlets even said it was a done deal. Hatton talks in-depth about it in his book Ricky Hatton's Vegas Tales. It's pretty funny because he talks about Ebo Elder and his dad picking him up at the airport and showing him around. The Elders are heavy into the Christian faith so they were doing prayer circles and stuff during the trip
Unfortunately, Vegas swooped in with the bag and took the fight in the 11th hour SMH.In 2011, I totally forgot Roy Jones fought Max Alexander here. It was horrible across the board. Bad promotion and terrible handling with the media. I got into it with the promoter who accused me of sneaking in. He couldn't find his own PR person to verify who was media and they didn't even have a media section. It was the night of Khan-Peterson so I promptly left for a more enjoyable night of boxing. I wrote about it later and it made the rounds amongst the boxing community here and got back to the money people behind the event (Don King being one of them). Obviously they were pissed and I'm sure that did us no favors in getting future fights. If even a low-level event with the ghost of Roy Jones is a disaster, why would anyone bigger want to invest?
So honestly, this Saturday is kinda big for our future prospects. Wilder, being an Alabama native, should've been fought here but he's probably too big now for us to have a serious shot. But I could see Showtime bringing Claressa down here. Broner on the comeback trail would make sense too.
reservoirdogs
Superstar
Yes but why does that matter?
I follow boxing, I'm aware of where the big events are and where they used to be before. I'm aware that NY and California are traditionally rich in boxing and Vegas became a powerhouse from the 70s onward because the big revenue the casinos can provide.
I'm also aware of most of the trends going on in hip-hop and the ones that were going on in earlier decades. The South has been in a dominant position commercially in hip-hop for a while, yet we haven't seen the emergence of Southern states as a huge draw to boxing. There are some cards in Texas or Lousiana sometimes but generally, it's about Nevada then NY and California. Don't really see how Georgia (Atlanta) would just catch up with them in the near future from basically nothing. A cultural hotspot for sure, not a boxing hotspot though.
As I see they have neither the homegrown talent pool of California and NY nor the amount of money and casino business of Nevada (Vegas).
If I'm missing some important points from my opinion, because I'm observing it from overseas then tell me what am I missing and why is it a real possibility that Georgia (meaning Atlanta, but since I use state names with the others too...) will catch up to that level in the near future? Don't take this as an offense, I'm legit curious.
Well for one, it's Andre Berto, former boxer not business analyst, making the claim that ATL is going to be one of boxing's larger revenue generating cities. It's a bold forecast but there are some positive signs that it could be a viable city for boxing.
Atlanta is not just a cultural hotbed, but also a city that has enjoyed a blossoming concentration of black wealth. The city has attracted AA's from across the nation, and while locals might complain about the transplants, this has undoubtedly continued to cement the city's image as being the 'Black Mecca' of America.
Certain markets are dominated by certain demographics; Mexicans are generally promoted and fight in the south west, Puerto Ricans in the north east etc. Atlanta could prove to be the center of the southern, predominately African American market.
Obviously Atlanta might not generate enough revenue to take the BIG fights away from Staples, MSG/Barclays, or Vegas quite yet, but fights like Davis Gamboa might make more sense landing in ATL. I don't think there's any other city in the south more poised to become the center for boxing in the south.
I'm all for it. For years boxing was relegated to a select few cities, so if the sport can begin to host events in new cities, it means that the sport is no longer waning in popularity. Bring more wide spread interest into the sport, and watch the nation begin to produce more talent as well.
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Fam, you just jogged my memory on some things I forgot about the scene down here.
First, Vernon Forrest was talking about having a homecoming fight down here right after he beat Mosley in the rematch. Excerpt below from an AP article back then. But Mayorga deaded all that.
ESPN.com: BOXING - Forrest wants to defend welterweight title in Atlanta
WBC welterweight champion Vernon Forrest, a native of Augusta, Ga., has directed his managers to bring his next title fight to his adopted hometown of Atlanta in November.
"I absolutely would love to fight in Atlanta," Forrest said Tuesday. "It doesn't matter when or where."
Forrest (35-0) defended his title July 20 by beating Shane Mosley in a rematch in Indianapolis.
"We are very interested in seeing Vernon Forrest fight here," said Gary Stokan, Atlanta Sports Council president. "That would be great for Vernon and great for the city."
The fight likely would be held at Philips Arena....
------------
Then in 2006, Ricky Hatton was very close to fighting Juan Urango here. A couple outlets even said it was a done deal. Hatton talks in-depth about it in his book Ricky Hatton's Vegas Tales. It's pretty funny because he talks about Ebo Elder and his dad picking him up at the airport and showing him around. The Elders are heavy into the Christian faith so they were doing prayer circles and stuff during the trip
In 2011, I totally forgot Roy Jones fought Max Alexander here. It was horrible across the board. Bad promotion and terrible handling with the media. I got into it with the promoter who accused me of sneaking in. He couldn't find his own PR person to verify who was media and they didn't even have a media section. It was the night of Khan-Peterson so I promptly left for a more enjoyable night of boxing. I wrote about it later and it made the rounds amongst the boxing community here and got back to the money people behind the event (Don King being one of them). Obviously they were pissed and I'm sure that did us no favors in getting future fights. If even a low-level event with the ghost of Roy Jones is a disaster, why would anyone bigger want to invest?
So honestly, this Saturday is kinda big for our future prospects. Wilder, being an Alabama native, should've been fought here but he's probably too big now for us to have a serious shot. But I could see Showtime bringing Claressa down here. Broner on the comeback trail would make sense too.
and then ATL killed Viper
at the Roy and Ricky storiesTHE MACHINE
night owl
I don't see why ATL and the DMV can't be great boxing spots
This isn't meant as a shot to you, but If you were from here and understood how ATL moves it would give you a better understanding of ATL's potential as a boxing market if you put the right fighters down there. I wouldn't take boxing's reluctance to put fights down there in the past as a sign that there's not a market there, boxing is filled with people with outdated ways of thinking that don't do shyt to grow the sport.
well they hold events in the DMV breh....new england doesnt get shyt...only 1 card of note in new england this year in providence with andrade