Bubble is boxing’s new world
IN boxing, swabs are commonplace. Cutmen use them to treat cuts over the eyes and staunch nose bleeds. Whenever a telecast cuts to the action in the corner, you’ll see a trainer swabbing a fighter’s face, like a painter working with a Mahl stick.
Beforethecoronavirus pandemic, swabs were intended only for the fighters and their corners. But today, swabs are for everyone.
This was clear a couple of weeks ago at the Bubble at MGM Grand, where Top Rank Boxing and ESPN presented 13 fight cards over six weeks from June 9-July 21. The most recent televised event was highlighted by Oscar Valdez (who has his own line of customized “OV” face covers) battering Jayson Vélez in a 10th-round TKO.
The series, which has become ESPN’S highest-rated telecast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, resumes Aug. 22. On that night, Eléider “Storm” Álvarez faces Joe “The Beast” Smith Jr. in a WBO light heavyweight title eliminator bout.
The Bubble setup for these fights is equal parts Vegas resort, sports venue and medical facility. The fighters, their handlers, all staff and any visitors to the venue are required to take a throat-swab test in a repurposed hotel suite the night before the event. This goes for everyone, including (and maybe especially) for the man atop the boxing hierarchy, Top Rank founder Bob Arum.
“I have 13 tests, with a zero,” the
88-year-old Arum said during a chat inside the Bubble’s socially distanced work center, across the hall from the boxing facility. “I am undefeated.”
But typically, those who are tested are sent to one of 170 guest rooms reserved on the hotel’s 12th floor, reserved exclusively for Bubble tests and quarantines. Signs trumpeting Covid-safety protocol line the hallways — “You may not leave the bubble!” is one. Fighters and corners are told not to ride public elevators.
Above all, there is no commiserating with anyone outside the Bubble. You’re either in the Convention Center or on the 12th floor. At every turn you are reminded where to stand, where not to stand, to wear a mask, and where to be swabbed.
Remarkably, results are provided within eight hours, sometimes as quickly as four hours. You are told to wait for a phone call in the morning. You don’t want the phone to ring. That means you are positive, and arrangements will be made to immediately remove you safely and from the hotel.
Without such rapid testing turnaround, the Bubble telecasts would not be possible. On-site testing is provided by Community Ambulance medical staffers. University Medical Center handles the lab work. Top Rank is proud of its COVID testing record for the Bubble events.
Officially, there were 19 positives among 2,359 tests conducted over the series’ 6½-week run.
Those stats indicate total tests, not the total number of individuals tested, as the dedicated staff on-site was tested twice per week. All positives were from fighters or their camps. At the July 21 card, heavyweight Kingsley Ibeh and super middleweight Raphael Igbokwe both tested positive the night before the bout and were scratched. That cut the number of fights from seven to five.
But even with a few late cancellations, the 13 ESPN fight telecasts went on as scheduled, with the team sequestered at MGM Grand forming a kind of community.
Matt Kelly, a freelance camera operator for the past 17 years, is among those who spent 45 straight days inside MGM’S restricted quarters. Kelly has worked the past three Olympic games in Sochi, Rio and South Korea.
Nothing compares to his time in the Bubble.
“I did curling at the Winter Olympics, and we had the most days of competition over there, and in Sochi, I actually did the Olympics, came home for a week, and went back and did the Paralympics,” Kelly said. “So I’m used to being gone for some time, but this is the longest straight-through time I’ve gone through, by far.”
Kelly put it all in logistic perspective.
“My wife and pups are seven to 10 minutes away,” he said. “I haven’t seen them since June 6.”
Around the venue, the setup shows meticulous planning. Rather than the usual ringside setup of seats tightly packed around all four corners, chairs at the Bubble are set 6 feet apart. The Top Rank founder’s VIP position at ringside looks like Arum Island.
Top Rank COO Brad Jacobs says it’s been the most logistically challenging production he’s ever experienced.
“The truth is, the hard work was all done ahead of time,” Jacobs said. “We spent six weeks, 24/7, before we started, going through every single possible detail. We have a check-list of 250 items, and have added 120 that are only Covid-related, with testing, bio-hazard material canisters, everything you can think of. Now it’s almost routine.”
Top Rank President Todd duboef even made a late call on the venue’s aesthetics for TV. This was a totally understandable move if you have seen the MGM Grand’s carpeting, which guests find entertaining but is not great for broadcasts.
“They’re showing me pictures, when I wasn’t here early on, and I’m like, ‘That carpet is so loud, we’ve got to get some new carpet in there,’” duboef said. “This was like the day before we started. We bought the carpet just hours before the thing started (laughs). But this is just how everybody had to work together.”
The action in the ring plays out like a dressed-up sparring session, but with greater consequences. Valdez performed an expert dismantling of Velez — to the shouts of his corner, and a thumb’s-up from Arum.
“It definitely felt like an actual fight because there’s a winner and loser, and obviously I am a competitive guy fighting to win,” Valdez said after his KO over Velez. “The only difference is, sometimes fans help pick you up and perform better. I missed the fans cheering, hearing the ‘oohs!’ and ‘aaahs!’ I had my opponent down three times, I definitely missed the crowd cheering.”
The series’ Aug. 22 return is just a restart of what is expected to be an ongoing Top RANK/ESPN series through the fall and even into December. All sides are interested in putting on bigger fights, with championships on the line, in the Bubble.
“To do big fights, with spectators, is too aspirational,” Arum said. “And yet, these fights have to happen.”
He singles out the Teófimo López-vasily Lomachenko lightweight championship bout set for Oct. 3.
“We still want to keep that date,” Arum said, “but now it’s a Bubble fight.”
That means a return of the Bubble concept, and community, in the foreseeable future. Arum, a driving force in the sport for decades, continues to cut a path into the unknown.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Arum said. “But it’s not just unique to me in boxing, I’ve never seen anything like it in my lifetime. You have to adjust, you have to do the right thing, and eventually we will defeat this.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His Podkats! podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal. com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @Johnnykats1 on Instagram.