By Cassandra Cousineau for LVSportsBiz.com
First, it was the UFC cage fighters. Then, it was the cowboys and the bulls. And now, the boxers are returning to Las Vegas to stage live sports in Sin City.
Top Rank Promotions will hold the first live boxing event in Las Vegas in a series of Tuesday and Thursday night fights throughout the month of June.
The dates will mark the first live boxing action in Vegas since February when heavyweight Tyson Fury earned an epic TKO defeat of Deontay Wilder. Headlined by Olympian and WBO featherweight champion, Shakur Stevenson, the Top Rank card kicks off today at 4 p.m. PST on ESPN and streaming on ESPN+.
When it comes to the fight game, expecting the unexpected is actually the expected norm. From the match-ups down to the outcomes, results are never predicted with absolute accuracy. As boxing makes its return Tuesday from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the historic Grand Garden will sit empty as the fights are set to take place inside of the adjacent convention center instead.
For Las Vegas-based Top Rank, the coronavirus health protocol has also included creating the “bubble” around anyone involved in its event. No one gets in without a test, while sanitized elevators transport fighters and crew.
There will be no fans, with hardly any media other than Bernardo Osuna of ESPN allowed in. The rest of ESPN’s normal broadcast crew including former champions Timothy Bradley and Andre Ward have been outfitted with a combination of lighting, iPads, and Zoom technology to call the event.
Flexibility will be key as Internet connectivity and inadvertent outside noises have seeped into streams all across the spectrum since quarantines were enacted across the United States in response to the worldwide COVID-19 virus, which has killed more than 105,000 Americans.
As seen just down the road by UFC President Dana White and his UFC events at its Apex headquarters, remaining flexible has been key to staging combat sports during this pandemic. Fighters and trainers have and will continue to test positive for the virus. That’s the purpose of the strict testing protocols.
Already this week, Top Rank, the company with the distinction of being the first to put on a live broadcast of a boxing match, has had to rearrange its card when co-feature fighter Mikaela Mayer was pulled due to a positive COVID-19 test. She was scheduled to face a tough test in opponent Helen Joseph.
“After two hard back-to-back camps, not being able to step [into] the ring both times, you can imagine how disappointed I am,” Mayer wrote on Instagram. “However, these protocols were put into place for a reason and it’s more important to care about the health and well being of my team and the people at this event.”
According to policies set by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, her entire team was ruled ineligible to remain part of the event. “Typically, when a person in any camp tests positive, the contact tracing takes place, and if it’s revealed that the person tested positive from contract tracing, was in contact with that person, than obviously they could be asymptomatic and they would be removed from the event, as well,” Bob Bennett, the Nevada Athletic Commission’s executive director, said to ESPN.
Mayer’s positive test will leave Stevenson without trainer Kay Koroma for his fight against Felix Caraballo because Koroma was also Mayer’s assistant trainer. Koroma tested negative for COVID-19 Saturday.
The ballroom location is a strange juxtaposition to the bustling MGM Grand hotel casino action taking place since the property was cleared to open last Thursday,
“The goal was to start out with really good, competitive fights, with names that people are familiar with, who have been on ESPN shows,” Bob Arum, the head of Top Rank, told ESPN Saturday.
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Las Vegas card schedule
June 9
Shakur Stevenson (13-0, 7 KOs) vs Felix Caraballo (13-1-2, 9 KOs)
June 11
Jessie Magdaleno (27-1, 18 KOs) vs Yenifel Vicente (36-4-2, 28 KOs)
Adam Lopez (13-2, 6 KOs) vs Luis Coria (12-2, 7 KOs)
June 16
Joshua Greer Jr. (22-1-1, 12 KOs) vs Mike Plania (23-1, 12 KOs)
Giovanni Santillan (25-0, 15 KOs) vs Antonio Demarco (33-8-1, 24 KOs)
June 18
Jose Pedraza (26-3, 13 KOs) vs Mikkel LesPierre (22-1-1, 10 KOs)
Gabe Flores Jr. (17-0, 6 KOs) vs Josec Ruiz (21-2-3, 14 KOs)
June 23
Andrew Moloney (21-0, 14 KOs) vs Joshua Franco (16-1-2, 8 KOs)
Christopher Diaz (25-2, 16 KOs) and Jason Sanchez (15-1, 8 KOs)
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