HUGE CELEB TURNOUT FOR PREMIERE BOXING BOUT
It may well be the largest number of celebrities to ever show up in Vegas for a major boxing fight—and the star-studded contingent will be led by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and all-action heroes Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. The excitement has begun to build for the showdown between Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe set for Saturday April 19 at our Thomas & Mack Center. I’m reliably told that we can expect to see Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington, Puff Daddy lining the front row—with singer Tom Jones and actress Catherine Zeta Jones rooting for the Welsh contender Calzaghe, and Boyz II Men rooting for the Philadelphia fighter, Hopkins. He’ll be defending his light heavyweight world championship in the 12-rounds against the never-beaten Welshmen who methodically throws 100 punches a round! Tickets—some as high as $1,500 up front and down to $250 in the balcony—have been snapped up by British fans across the Pond. Already, experts are predicting 20,000 of them! Both fighters have 32 equal knockouts in their fight careers!
I stood just inches from the two men at one point when they arrived in Vegas, and the snarling trash-talk hissed right across my nose. My pal, HBO-TV Oz star Chuck Zito, stood slightly between them to keep them from throwing punches in advance. But make no mistake—they want to beat each other to pulp.
I loved Hopkins’ threat: “Make sure your insurance is paid, because you’ll need a coffin to go home in.” And they aren’t kidding with the intense rivalry!
Said 43-year-old Hopkins, who has owned the title for over ten-years for a record of 20 defenses, “I respect what he has accomplished in this game over the years, but he will be stepping into a different realm against me. I’m not a prospect, suspect, has-been or never-was, and he is going to find that out the hard way why the others failed to beat me—and so will he.”
Said 36-year-old Calzaghe, who has successfully defended his title 21 times, “He was a true champion and he will go to the Hall of Fame after I retire him. I’m younger, faster, stronger and at my peak. His time is past and I’ll be the one to give him a push out of the sport. You’ve never seen him flat on his back yet, but this time you will.”
The fighters were introduced at a media reception on a boxing ring set up on the Planet Hollywood casino floor.
The fight is a debut venture between Planet Hollywood resort casino chief Robert Earl and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy promotions.
Robert told me, “This will be the first of six great fights over the next 12 months. We’re going to corner the market on British boxers. I want to bring Ricky Hatton back and, hopefully this summer, lightweight champ Amir Kahn. I am delighted that Planet Hollywood is presenting its first major sporting event with the sport that Vegas is most famous for. We are the new contender on the Strip and proving to be a powerful force in the world’s entertainment capital.”
It will be shown on HBO Sports as opposed to a PPV broadcast to give maximum exposure and publicity around the world to his newly refurbished casino—opened just a few months ago after a $1-billion renovation and changeover from the old Aladdin.
Oscar summed up: “This is a match we’ve all been waiting years to see, and finally the time is right for them to meet. No one today comes close to either of them when it comes to longevity at such an elite level. Hopkins holds the record for the most middleweight title defenses, and Calzaghe holds the record for most defenses at super middleweight. This is the only logical Super Fight for both of them—and it’s the only fight they both wanted.”