Las Vegas in line for three major bouts
Las Vegas missed out on a Cinco de Mayo megabout for the first time in a decade with the cancellation of the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-gennady Golovkin rematch.
The fight capital of the world could potentially make that up with three massive fights to end the year.
Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury have both said this week they’re close on a deal to meet for a heavyweight title showdown in December in Las Vegas.
After Mikey Garcia took care of Robert Easter Jr. last week to unify lightweight titles, reports quickly surfaced that Las Vegas is the likely landing spot to host Garcia’s daunting challenge of moving up to welterweight to take on Errol Spence Jr. Garcia and Spence is reportedly being made for November or December.
Add those two megabouts with the rescheduled Alvarez-golovkin rematch Sept. 15 at T-mobile Arena, and Las Vegas has an attractive boxing calender to close out 2018.
But this is boxing, after all. Snags are common in this sport.
It doesn’t seem likely that Wilder-fury and Spence-garcia will both happen this year, especially with Showtime reportedly planning to make the two pay-per-view bouts.
It’s uncommon for a television network to have PPVS in back-toback months. It wouldn’t make sense to make subscribers choose between the two fights because it’s too costly to pay for both.
Expect Garcia’s daring-to-be-great fight to go up in flames. Garcia’s older brother and trainer, Robert, repeatedly has said he doesn’t want the Spence fight to happen. Garcia’s father, Eduardo, has also said the same.
Robert Garcia would rather see his younger brother challenge Manny Pacquiao who’s closer in size with Mikey Garcia.
Many think Garcia is too small and lacks the punching power to keep up with Spence, who’s considered to be the best welterweight in the division. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Garcia family convinces the unified lightweight champion to consider other options.
All signs point to Wilder and Fury being made official soon. This one could generate plenty of hype with the two giants knowing how to sell a fight.
There could be a lot of trash talking in the lead up to the first significant heavyweight world title fight in Las Vegas this century.
Just don’t expect the fight to produce a classic. Fury only has fought once since defeating Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
Fury appeared to have plenty of ring rust in a comedic performance of sorts in his return bout last month in a knockout win over Sefer Seferi.
But Fury remains the lineal champ. He’s the man who beat the man. Taking that mythical title away from Fury could do wonders for Wilder’s career.
Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Gmanzano24 on Twitter.