While most of the focus of
the boxing world will be on the supposedly important bout in Oakland between
Chad Dawson and Andre Ward in Oakland on HBO (and, to a lesser degree, the card
in Las Vegas featuring the junior welterweight tussle between Lucas
Matthysse and Ajose Olusegun on Showtime on Saturday night), that afternoon has
a card taking place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, featuring
Tomasz Adamek, a staple at “The Rock.”
This show, broadcast on
WealthTV (3 p.m., ET) is largely overshadowed but Kathy Duva of Main Events
believes the foundation they have laid with Adamek and the time differences
between the promotions shouldn't hinder their efforts all that much.
“I hope so; you never really
know until the day comes. I think that, to some extent, we are learning that we
are facing a battle going in there in the afternoon, early on a day that is
still technically the tail end of the summer,” she explained to Maxboxing last
week. “It's easier to sell tickets at night, I gotta tell ya, but we'll still
have a nice crowd there and I can't imagine that if someone’s really a fan,
they're picking and choosing because they can come to our show. They'll have a
nice dinner, go home and watch all the boxing they want. So it remains to be
seen. We've learned that when fights happen in early September, people tend to
wait till the last minute to make their decisions. So we're holding our breaths
like everybody else.
“But selling tickets is a
tough thing to do and thank God [Adamek] has the following he has because
you'll always see a good contingent of people there and they're coming.”
Duva says she is “comfortable”
with the projected gate but admits they won’t do the numbers they did when
Adamek faced Michael Grant a couple of years ago. Main Event's has done its
usual job of promoting and marketing the show locally, even going as far as flying
a banner over the Jersey shore this past weekend (no word if “Snooki” will be
in attendance or not, y’ know…her being a rival promoter and all).
But more troublesome to Duva
than any other boxing programming this Saturday is the full slate of college
football games all over the television dial. Baseball might be America's
pastime but it's football - college and pro - that is now its passion. Even the
most rabid Polish-American follower of Adamek follows the pigskin.
“You're right and I'm sure
that plays into it too. These are Americans. They may have originated in
Poland; their families may have - but that doesn't make them any less
American. So they're going to be interested in all the same sports we're
interested in. Also, it's not just the Polish people that come to our fights,”
said Duva, of this card, also featuring a pair of heavyweights from Philly -
Steve Cunningham and Bryant Jennings.
“But you're right; college football will have an effect.”
Duva added, “We've been
clamoring for afternoon fights, ‘Bring ‘em back; bring ‘em back!’ Well, this
was a test run because we'll be having one on NBC later in the year. So we're
getting the kinks out now, figuring out what works and doesn't work because
we're going back to something nobody has tried in 20 years.”
Even a consistent draw like
Adamek is not immune to being hurt by other events at the box-office. This past
June, his fight against Eddie Chambers was damaged significantly by the Euro
Cup soccer tournament (which happened to be held in his native Poland). According
to Duva, many of her best customers didn't just stay home to watch the Polish
team play that afternoon; they actually went back to attend the festivities
in person. Since that was the date given to Main Events by the NBC Sports
Network, they had no choice but to proceed with the event.
Adamek is facing Travis “Freight
Train” Walker. As this date was announced a couple of months ago, there was
talk of James Toney being the foe. At one time, “Lights Out” was one of
the best prizefighters on the planet. Now, he's just another faded guy playing
out the string. As word leaked out that Toney may face Adamek, Main Events took
some criticism for what was perceived as a gross mismatch and a bit of exploitation
(although it says here that the Adamek we saw struggle mightily versus a
one-armed Chambers wouldn't have blown out Toney).
Main Events, which is really
promoting this show for the benefit of Polish television, needed a recognizable
opponent. Say what you will about Toney’s current state; he's still a
well-known figure to boxing fans and saleable in foreign markets. It's why Roy
Jones can still find work over there. Eventually, Walker got the assignment.
So was Duva relieved that
she wasn't in a position to have to defend that fight?
“I wouldn't say I was relieved; in some respects, James Toney is a marketable
name and as a promoter, you have to think about that,” she said, pointing
out the economic reality of this business. “We considered it; in the end, we
decided that was not the way to go and so it didn't happen. So whenever we make
a decision, we're trading off one thing for another. Travis Walker will put up
a terrific fight. It'll be a great, entertaining match. It doesn't have the
kind of name recognition that somebody like James Toney has. When you have
budgets that are not unlimited and you have to make decisions, sometimes it's a
lot harder than it looks. But I'm not going to make excuses. We came up with a
great fight; we have a great show.”
DECEMBER 22ND
NBC makes its return to boxing
on Saturday December 22nd. Is there any chance they feature a rematch
between Adamek and Cunningham (who put on a memorable scrap back in December of
2008 at the Prudential Center)?
“I wouldn't rule that out
but I'm not sure that's what it’ll be,” answered Duva. “We're going to have to
wait and see. We've got a few different ideas percolating and I think we're
going to see that fight eventually. I don't know if we're going to see it on
that day but I wouldn't rule it out yet either. We have a lot of big decisions
to make in the next few weeks.”
It's an exciting time for
Main Events, which was on the brink of closing up shop several years ago. Now
armed with this deal with NBC Sports, they are going through a renaissance
period.
“I can't even describe; we
are crazed - but happy. Working hard, we've added a couple of staff members
because there's so much work to do and hopefully we don't grow too fast. But we
had to grow a little bit and, yeah, this is what we dreamed of and I can't tell
you how much fun it is to be able to sit there and say, ‘OK, y’ know, I'm going
to decide. This is what I'm giving you; this is what we're offering.’ And God
bless NBC; they've gone along with it. They trust us and it's just been
tremendous.”
And yes, Main Events will be
adding to its roster of boxers. Duva confirmed, “We are absolutely in the process
of signing other fighters,” as they have recently inked Cunningham and junior
lightweight Jerry Belmontes. “And I think in the next month or so, you'll be hearing
that we signed a few more.”
TIX
Here's the ticket 411 for
anyone that may want to see Adamek vs. Walker in person (and by the way, other
than my guy, Bakari Lee, I literally don't know of anyone else who has
WealthTV. To paraphrase a line from “Coming to America,” “He’s the one! He’s
the one!”):
“Ironbound Throwdown” September
8th at Newark's Prudential Center features Tomasz Adamek vs. Travis Walker. Tickets priced at $180
ringside, $105, and $55 are available through Ticketmaster: online at www.ticketmaster.com; Charge-by-phone:
1-800-745-3000; Ticketmaster Express 866-448-7849; and Ticketmaster ticket
centers. Tickets are also available at Prudential Center's Box Office and www.prucenter.com.
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