Boxing Heads, Welcome to the Hall.
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 13 Apr 2013
NEW YORK -- Radio City Music Hall is not commonly associated with prize fighting. The iconic New York landmark is commonly known as the home of the annual ?The Radio City Christmas Spectacular? featuring the popular dancing group, The Rockettes.
Tonight, instead of Lady Gaga, or rap mogul Jay Z, a pair of Super bantamweight champions, Nonito Donaire and Guillermo Rigondeaux, will be headlining one of the famous landmarks in the country as they battle each other for boxing supremacy.
It will only be the second time in its eighty year history that Radio City will host a boxing event, first was a Roy Jones Jr. championship bout in 2000.
?We are thrilled to be hosting world championship boxing again on the great stage and we are excited that thousands of boxing fans will experience fighting firsthand in Radio City and millions of people around the world will watch on HBO,? said Richard Claffey, SVP and General Manager of the theater.
The venue has undergone interior and physical changes in preparation for tonight?s boxing showcase and its organizers are promising a totally different experience that boxing fans have accustomed to in the past.
Instead of its usual stage, a boxing ring will be the center of attention of the more than 6000 people who are expected to be there tonight. The ring was brought in last Thursday and it was carried piece after piece, post after post, inside the venue.
?The ring will be in the middle of the stage, the TV guys will be at the back end of the stage and they have a 90 foot wide video screen behind the ring. So that will be at the back of the stage, about 30-40 feet high. They will do a sports screen because the camera is in the middle of it,? said Ed Kennan of EMC Events, Top Rank?s go-to-guy in the East Coast.
?It is going to be pretty cool,? added Keenan.
Top Rank Boxing Promotions announced earlier that it sold its last remaining tickets yesterday afternoon and that the fight will be witnessed by a capacity crowd of 6,145. It will be broadcast live in the US by HBO and other accredited TV networks worldwide.
In less than twenty four hours, ?The Showplace of the Nation? will host a different kind of performance that it has been accustomed to. No lavish stage productions like a Cirque de Soleil show, no high-kicking, leg-stretching extravaganza like the Rockettes but it will be a presentation of true guts and glory that only the ?Sweet Science? can offer.
You can reach the author at rrmaze24@aol.com and follow him on Twitter @Freemazon910.
Photo by Rich Mazon.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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