I am an international man of mystery. I have lived in Australia, New Zealand and Canada for the last three years. And I was joking.
he wont fight Jones, Ive just finished reading his autobiography, he states countless times that he will never fight Jones now that hes lost 3 out of his last 5 fights (now 6 as the book was published a few months back)
It's not about the money from the gate. The casinos in Vegas shell out big money to host fights, gate doesn't mean **** next to that.
I think the point is that Calzaghe has the more sophistacated, educated fans who use their intelligence to get jobs that pay more than minimum wage. Pavlik would hardly bring enough fans to make UK passport control officials dig out the old manual which describes what a US passport looks like.
Calzaghe-Pavlik in Cardiff would get a gate of 70,000 easily. GBP made every Calzaghe fan pay at least $250 per ticket for the Hopkins fight..... you do the math(s).
If American boxers want to fight in front of large crowds - the only place they can do that is the UK.
Todays paper talks about this. Yes the gate would be bigger in Wales, but the PPV would more than make up for it. Arum tried to get Cleveland Browns Stadium, but they really don't want to consider it. So, they are considering an indoor venue. This doesn't apply directly to Joe though. That would be Vegas. I'd post the links, but the information is spread across a couple of long articles.
I think any boxer, American or not, would rather fight in front of a smaller (by European standards) supportive crowd, than 50,000 screaming, chanting, singing, drinking, European fans.
The type of people that can afford to travel now are the more affluent and they may do some band wagon jumping if Pavlik continues to win. Just the folks you want, but hey, if they buy tickets.....
Tell that to the likes of Mayweather, Kessler, Hatton and Calzaghe "No - I'd rather play my football in a small intimate stadium like Brentford rather than test myself in a hostile packed environment of the Nou Camp" What a crock of ****
I just posted that Kelly's management got the cold shoulder from a stadium here. Too bad, cuz now we will never know. Though to be honest, they would be better to try Ohio State. Middle of the state. Cleveland is on a lake so that would mean no one from the north would come. Simple logistics. Plus, you add another major metropolitan area, Cincinatti, in driving distance.