You needn’t spend much time in Las Vegas to find yourself entangled in the extensive strands of fighting history, or to feel their tensile strength. This unique, bizarre city in the middle of the desert was built on one key agenda, making money, and boxing has brought almost as much of that to “Sin City” as gamblers have. And within minutes of being enveloped by the balmy, late-summer evening air, it could be that your very first interaction with a local draws out this topic.
“The last time I actually went to a fight was when Lamon Brewster knocked out Wladimir Klitschko,” Curtis, a 63-year-old taxi driver, tells The Independent. “When was that? 2013, 2012? No, way earlier, right? 2005 maybe…” Even further back, in fact, in 2004.
That result at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, a major upset, gave way to conspiracy – another tenet of boxing. An FBI investigation was launched, with late odds changes, Klitschko’s blood-sugar level, and an accreditation switch all points of discussion.
That is not to say every Vegas fight has brought such drama, but they always bring glitz. The “fight capital of the world”, as it is known, has been the domicile of boxing for decades, with a 1963 heavyweight clash between Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson among the city’s first major fight events.
Since then, some of the biggest bouts in the city have been Floyd Mayweather’s contests with Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, and UFC star Conor McGregor; and Mike Tyson’s back-to-back duels with Evander Holyfield (including the night he chewed on his rival’s ear). In fact, all of the above were held in the MGM Grand.
Independent columnist Steve Bunce, who has attended many a big fight here since the mid-90s, reflects: “Tyson brought a whole theatre with him, so the Monday, Tuesday and so on weren’t just about the fight; they were about Tyson. They were about every bar in the MGM, where he was based, being packed out. Tyson nights in Vegas were off the scale, far more special than Mayweather nights later on.”
With this, Bunce highlights an element of Vegas’s boxing history that is sometimes overlooked.
“Vegas is an odd place,” he says, because “sometimes big fights there aren’t that big. Sometimes they lack atmosphere. Vegas crowds can be hard, because a lot people are there with complimentary tickets. And with Floyd… it’s about excitement; everyone convinces themselves that they want to see a guy that doesn’t get hit for 12 rounds, and that’s great, but people wanna see fights.
“Let’s get it right: Floyd ruled Vegas financially, at the ticket office, in the stands, driving to the MGM from his house, but having been there for his biggest nights, they don’t compare atmosphere-wise with anything that Tyson did.”
Still, Drew, a fan from New York, fondly recalls his experience of attending Mayweather vs De La Hoya in 2007. Outside Fontainebleau hotel, as a strong breeze pushes people along like a friend giving a playful shove, he tells The Independent: “It’s the biggest fight I’ve ever been to and probably the biggest I’ll ever go to – and I’m going this weekend. I traveled from New York for that fight, I was here all week. Great energy, Vegas was crazy, the clubs and hotels were packed. There were people from all over.”
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And Bunce does reminisce on one Mayweather night, although he largely puts it down to Ricky Hatton and his supporters: “What British fans did with Ricky was staggering. I know he lost the two big ones, with Mayweather [in 2007] and Pacquiao [in 2009], but he made those weeks special. Twenty-thousand Brits travelling, drinking the bars dry in the MGM, that’s not a joke – that happened.”
He then references another Briton, Tyson Fury, and the “Gypsy King”’s 2018 and 2020 duels with Deontay Wilder: “Fury and Wilder, the second fight especially, felt like a return to the glory days of Las Vegas.”
Like the boxers mentioned above, and like Bunce and Drew, Saturday’s protagonists are no strangers to the Strip. These protagonists are pound-for-pound stars Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez.
Canelo’s own clash with Mayweather took place at the MGM Grand in 2013, while his trilogy with Gennady Golovkin – its chapters scribed in 2017, 2018 and 2022 – took place entirely at T-Mobile Arena. Canelo, who often competes in Vegas on Mexican Independence Weekend, has boxed here 19 times. Meanwhile, Crawford’s career-defining win over Errol Spence Jr took place at T-Mobile Arena two summers ago, and the American, 37, has boxed in the city 10 times.
Still, Crawford suggests on Wednesday: “Of course it’s gonna be a pro-Canelo crowd. Las Vegas, this is like a second home to him.” Bunce adds: “The Canelo nights at the T-Mobile have been unique. Everyone comes to the fight in full Mexican garb; not in costume, but Mexican guys – 20,000 of them in the T-Mobile.”
Saturday’s event, however, will not be held in a hotel, nor T-Mobile Arena, but rather the seismic Allegiant Stadium – home to the Raiders NFL team, with a capacity of 71,000. To an extent, this fight is keeping the Vegas spirit of big-time boxing alive.
In the last few years, the sport has found its greatest match-ups fleeing to Saudi Arabia. See Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk’s mammoth showdown last May (the first undisputed heavyweight title fight in 25 years) and their December rematch, as well as Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev’s undisputed contests last October and this February.
Turki Alalshikh, who has overseen boxing’s quasi-relocation to Saudi Arabia, is involved in Saturday’s fight card, yet the event is an example of the Kingdom’s adviser acknowledging the need to geographically spread the quality. With that in mind, Daniel Dubois’s fights with Anthony Joshua and Usyk took place at London’s Wembley Stadium last September and this July.
But with tickets still available in almost every section of Allegiant Stadium, an argument can be made that the more intimate, intense setting of an arena or hotel would’ve been better suited to Saturday’s fight.
“This fight indoors would’ve just been… phwoar, come on, a top-five night,” Bunce daydreams. “But I hope they do 70,000, because I’ll tell you what: we’d do 90,000 at Wembley with Canelo and Crawford, they’d do 143,000 at the Azteca [in Mexico]. There is an art to promoting, and in outdoor stadiums specifically.”
Drew hesitates, but ultimately decides: “I think the atmosphere is gonna be great. I guess we’ll tell on Saturday, see the energy around. Wednesday, it’s still a little early.” With this, however, he notes that an electricity has been lacking. “That week [in 2007], it wasn’t like it is now…”
Yet some, as we know, would argue that Mayweather in ‘07 was not like Tyson in the ‘90s. So, while the history of boxing in Vegas may seem as rich as the city itself, it is similarly complex.
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