Tim Bradley-Devon Alexander
ARTICLE FROM THREE WEEKS AGO GOT ME LOTS OF HEAT
San Francisco, CA– Come Sunday morning January 30th, it’ll be the end of the road when it comes one of the undefeated as either Devon Alexander (21-0, 13 KOs) or Tim Bradley (26-0, 11 KOs) will have had his “0″ taken away after they clash on HBO. That being said, is the fight happening one year too late? Initially, this jr. welterweight (140 lbs) pairing was to be in early 2009. But after some teasing, it was apparent that their wasn’t enough money on the table for Alexander and probably more importantly his promoter Don King.
SAW TOMMY HEARNS & SON RON IN DOME
Having worked the Pontiac Silverdome for fights of non-epic proportions and ones worth remembering, they were at one time letting people into the cheap upper level seats for a couple of bucks. The theory in play was that you would make your money back in concessions. This building was once home to the NFL Lions and NBA Pistons of Detroit. Now it collects dust!
ARENA & 127 ACRES WENT FOR A SONG TO CANADIANS!
Last year, the city of Pontiac, burdened with a $100 million debt and the annual upkeep being $1.5 million, sold the building and the 127 acres of land for $583,000 to a Canadian entity. When I went to Ticketmaster.com and the Pontiac Silverdome website, neither had the January 29th Alexander-Bradley match listed. Not a good sign of any pre-fight ticket sales.
TIMES ARE DARK ECONOMICALLY
In addition to holding this fight in a burned out economy, a nearly burned out arena, Alexander hails from St. Louis, MO and Bradley fights out of Palm Springs, CA. Does any of this make sense? Why would HBO want to put two black guys that have problems drawing friends to fights, let alone fans, neither live locally, why have the fight here? Are they bringing the brothers back to the hood to face one another before an empty arena to mimic the “empty” arena tapings of pro wrestling? Unless somebody has 15 to 20,000 people willing to come and paper the house with comps, that’s all it’ll be. Better to have a packed ballroom of 2,000, than an 83,000 seat arena with the former numbers in attendance.
IS THERE ANY SOUP TO THESE GUYS?
I’ve often said, “You can’t make chicken soup out of chicken spit.” Neither man has done much. They both turned professional in 2004 and have faced a slew of ham & eggers. If that is the case, it doesn’t matter where these guys fight or when. Bradley is slight betting favorite over the southpaw Alexander. They will be putting up the WBO, IBF, & WBC 140 lb. titles, but if Bradley wins he vacates the WBC strap. So I ask, chicken soup or chicken spit?
Pedro Fernandez