The noise from the jubilant fans was enough to send the needle off the Richter scale. Chants of “Triple G” were deafening as the crowd was overcome with jubilation. Suddenly, as the champion was standing with both arms in the air, a chariot appeared from the heavens and GGG slowly ascended into the sky until he was safely in the chariot. Then an old man, looking much like the prophet Ezekiel, starting throwing down lightning bolts at the boxing promoters in attendance. Next he fired the heavy artillery at the sportwriters until all vanished in a puff of smoke. Then Ezekiel took aim at the movie stars and I started shaking when Michael Buffer went down for the count from a head shot. Salma Hayek leaned over and told me that she knew a secret exist out of this place and let’s go…..that’s about the time my French bulldog named Lampley, started licking my face and I woke up from the dream.
Sunday morning and my head was still spinning from the excitement of last night’s fights in the City of Angels. Last Wednesday was a bad day. Flat tire on the way to work and it just went downhill from there…..everything went wrong and it all seem to be my fault. Very bad day. I kicked Lampley all over the house….just kidding of course. I turned on the computer and much to my surprise, I had ring side tickets for the GGG fight Saturday night in the City of Angels. WOW!! Even Lampley started barking at the good news.
I arrived at the StubHub center, paid my 20 bucks for parking, and started out for the box office. People were selling t-shirts in the parking lot for $10 bucks. Gotta have one of those. At least 50 people were asking about extra tickets, at that point I knew this would be a very special event because the StubHub Center has never sold out for a night of boxing. I held my breath as I told the lady at the will call window my name. She looked through every envelope and my name was not there….then someone mentioned that there was a VIP box of envelopes. I was there in the VIP box….me, a mere mortal.
I walked up to the usher and asked where my seat was located….she told me to follow her out of the clouds and down to the floor….closer and closer…finally she stopped in row number one!! Holy smoke Batman!! This has to be a mistake….me in the front row, no way. Things like that happen to the rich and famous not a regular guy like me. I sat in seat number 3 of the front row thinking that surely the security would come over and ask me to move.
The undercard was great. These kids came to fight. No dancing or hugging in the fights. A win would increase the payday for these guys. A thought just crossed my mind…I had authored an article two days prior to this event for doghouse boxing. I had challenged seven fighters to throw down with the Triple G. What if one of these guys came by my seat and wanted some revenge. I had better keep an eye out for Andre Ward.
Down front is a different world. In the City of Angels, celebrities work the room. They were walking around everywhere. And everywhere were the attractive people that live in the City of Angels. Men and women all decked out looking like they just walked out of a Hollywood movie. The beautiful women wearing thousand dollar dresses looked stunning. Everyone was mingling on the floor with the other important people. Curiously, no one asked anyone for an autograph. They were all after something called a “selfie” where they take their picture with a celebrity and post it on their Facebook account. Then I thought, what is an ugly bum like me, dressed in blue jeans and a GGG t-shirt, doing here with all these gorgeous, important people?
No less than Michael Buffer told the crowd to relax that HBO would be starting the telecast of the two main events in about 20 minutes. Larry Merchant himself sat in the seat to my right. I have interviewed this Hall of Famer many times and he actually shook my hand. Flocks of fans wanted a selfie with Larry. Then something wonderful happened, it took my breath away, Salma Hayek sat down in the seat to my left. She was in a red dress and looked like millions and millions of dollars. I was frozen, afraid I would soon have a heart attack, this just can’t be real. Something is wrong.
Salma’s husband would not allow any selfies and we all settled in for the Donaire/Walters fight and what a fight it was. A slug out to the max. During the rounds Larry and I discussed each round and that was a thrill. I kept sneaking peaks at Salma, the most beautiful person in the world. She looked over at me and winked. I melted like an ice cream on a hot day in New York City. Before I could catch my breath, Walters had knocked out Donaire. I was glad to see that Donaire wasn’t seriously injured but he looked like he had been through a war.
Now you could feel the electricity in the air. Ten thousand fans awaited the star of the night. The hottest ticket in town for the biggest star among stars….The Triple G was up next. We had to wait another 20 minutes as HBO was prepping the television audience and killing time because the first fight ended early. Some kid was walking by and Larry told me he was going to fight Pacman in China. I told Larry, loud enough for everyone to hear, that I would not waste another $75.00 on a Top Rank fight. Larry chuckled but all my new friends agreed with me. No more $75.00 for Mayweather or Pacman, that is unless they are fighting the G.
The main event was something out of a fairy tale. When the G entered the stadium floor for the walk to the ring, the crowd was berserk. A surrealistic atmosphere that was anything less than crazy. I reached over and kissed Salma, only kidding. We were all standing and yelling for the G. When the bell sounded we all knew not to look away. This was going to end very soon. And soon it did….a second round knockout scored by the G. What a frigging night. The cheering and screaming went on for another 10 minutes. We have a new hero in the world of boxing and his name is perfect for stardom, he is here to save boxing from itself by eliminating the dancing and hugging. Let’s rumble and may the best man win.
An unforgettable experience that will last a lifetime. The greatest event I had ever attended. Was that really Salma Hayek sitting next to me and did she really wink at me? As I was walking to the parking lot, a limo passed by and Salma was sitting next to the window….she waved goodbye.
David Tyler
Don’t miss my critique of the HBO broadcast, tomorrow at Dog House Boxing.
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