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NOTE: Marc Abrams of 15rounds.com is in Las Vegas for Calzaghe vs. Hopkins. Each day throughout the weekend, Abrams will blog about his experiences.
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Updated Monday, April 21
Friday, April 18 (continued)
10:30 p.m.-3:30 a.m.--I meet Flores in the lobby. BJ and I go on about four mile walk looking for a phone charger as BJ’s phone was running out of battery power. He finally realized that his charger his charger was in his car. So we walk all the way back to valet station and Flores gets his charger.
We then meet Stephanie, linear cruiserweight champion David Haye and Haye’s manager Adam Booth and we proceed to go to a night club. We hang out there until the fighters want to play some blackjack.
In Mike Tyson fashion, the dealer knocks everyone out of the game in less than fifteen minutes.
BJ, Haye and Adam go to another casino and I walk Stephanie back into the club before I go up and call it a night
Saturday, April 19
FIGHT DAY
8:45 a.m.--Bottjer rings the room and offers to take us out to breakfast. We go to the Coffee House in the hotel where I see Roy Jones having breakfast with HBO boss Ross Greenburg.
I have a big stack of pancakes which consisted of three large pancakes. I finish two before going to relax for a little bit in the media room.
11:45 a.m.--I shower and get prepared for a long night at the fights. I am a fight junkie so I went to get there in plenty of time to get my laptop and report on all the action.
12:40 p.m.--Jack, Bottjer and I drive over to Thomas & Mack Center.
1:05 p.m.--We got to the credential area. I am happy to have a floor credential. Jack and his publication had a miscommunication with their credentials. It is quickly resolved and three of us enter the arena.
2:05 p.m.--First fight begins with a Houstonian named Jermell Charlo winning an easy decision. Thrre then seems to be many long gaps between fights due to the early start and quick knockouts. This gives me time to go to the media room and have a nice late lunch and talk shop with top writer, Thomas Hauser.
3-5 p.m.--The two prospects that interest me most on the card, Danny Garcia and Daniel Jacobs score impressive knockouts. Garcia rocked his opponent with a huge left hook and the fight was stopped without even a knockdown
I get a call from Livvy Cunningham, the wife of IBF Cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham. She informs me that O’Neil Bell quit on the stool in his elimination bout with Tomasz Adamek.
The fight is as important result as I have been waiting for all day including the live main event.
I double up as a publicist for Cunningham and the Adamek victory puts him in line for a fight with Steve. She gives me details of the fight and then puts her husband on the phone so I can get his take and thoughts of the fight and the future.
5:30 p.m.--Newbridge In the house: Welsh Light Heavyweight Nate Cleverly thrills the 4,000 or so visitors from Wales with a body shot dominated victory over Antonio Baker
6 p.m.--British heavyweight Audley Harrison stops Jason Barnett with a body shot. Harrison is one of the enigmatic fighters of the past decade.
Harrison was an Olympic gold medalist who has underperformed as pro to put it mildly.
6:15 p.m.--The show before the show. My seat is right at the entrence for every major celebrity on the Planet walks in to take their respective seat.
Chris Tucker, Jay –Z, Arnold, Whitney, Sly, Michael J. Fox to name a (very) few of what seems like 50 A-Listers that walk 2 feet away from me:
7 p.m.--Ringwalks. Probably my favorite part of the fight. I was fortunate to walk with Cunningham when he defended his title in Germany on December 28. Everything that these two warriors have put themselves over the last three months or so will come to fruition in just a matter of minutes.
7:15 p.m.--DOWN GOES CALZAGHE: Hopkins lands a perfect right hand and drops Calzaghe just one minute into the bout. Hopkins seemed to be dominating over the first three plus rounds. Calzaghe seems to be getting into his rhythm somewhat and his crowd is getting behind him. The fight is tight. Hopkins gets a three minute rest after he suffers a low blow from Calzaghe. The crowd goes wild and bood Hopkins vociferously.
8:15 p.m.--The fight is close down the stretch. I score it two points for Hopkins but the judges that count disagree as the Welshman squeaks out the debatable split-decision,
9 p.m.--Uneventful press conference as Calzaghe takes his accolades and Hopkins refuses to give Calzaghe credit. Heck I think Hopkins won so why give the credit.
Judges have to realize that this is a science and what Hopkins does is perfect that science of countering and making fights rough. Some don’t like it but boxing is made up of many styles, not just click defense and huge punching. Bottom line is that Hopkins made Calzaghe fight a “Hopkins” fight.
Hopkins is non-committal if he will fight again. My two is I hope he calls it a day because he has nothing left to prove. This was a guy that was the ultimate underdog in life after spending five years in prison. The only odds in his favor was that he would return to the penitentiary. Not only did Hopkins not retyrn but he became one of the best fighters of the past quarter century. He also was a pioneer who took on “The system of boxing” and did not fold to the demands of promoters.
10 p.m.--Obermayer, Bottjer, myself and Ring Magazine head honch, Nigel Collins grab a quick bite to eat and we discuss more ins and outs of the business.
11 p.m.-5:30 a.m.--Yes, you read those times right. Bottjer and I hang out the bar and talk more boxing. We interrupt ourselves from time to time to engage in conversations with some of the many Beauties that are hanging at Planet Hollywood.
In between drinks with the ladies, Bottjer gives me a lot of great info and insight about the business. He is known in some circles as one of the smartest men in the game so I am absorbing some of these stories like a sponge.
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Updated Saturday, April 19, 9:25 a.m. ET:
Friday, April 18
One thing that did not make the blog last night happened after we left the media center.
I ran into another hot shot named Danny Garcia. Garcia, 4-0 with four knockouts is fighting on the undercard on Saturday. Garcia, like Hopkins (and me) is from Philadelphia. The eighteen year-old has a tremendous upside and is a quality kid that is managed by Shelly Finkel.
We have a brief conversation and am looking forward to see him fight again.
DAY 2
9:30 a.m.--After a good night's sleep, I get down to the media room and see Roy Jones Jr. I do a brief interview with him until he is whisked away to do the Max Kellerman Radio show.
9:45 a.m.--Breakfast is served. The media room menu offers an assortment of Bagels and doughnuts. This feels like home as I grab a big glass of orange juice and start updating the site.
10:35 a.m.--I want to go along to the Top Rank office with Jack, but “The Creep” is a no-show -- he has a car. Jack decides to leg it down Flamingo to their Howard Hughes Blvd. office.
12:45 p.m.--He returns with news that appears to give the edge to The Mandalay Bay to host the July 26 Cotto-Margarito welterweight unification bout. Excuse me; the lunch table is now open.
1 p.m.--As I eat lunch, the media room becomes like an east-coast rush hour as it becomes packed with media and fighters. Within a thirty-minute span, I get interviews with Zab Judah, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Diaz to name a few. I then go outside with Spencer Fearon and I tape an interview for Setanta which will be beamed back on their website. It was a continuation with our disagreements from the previous night. Fearon uses his U.K. contacts to help me secure interviews with Gavin Rees and Nate Cleaverly. Cleaverly is a young light heavyweight from Wales who will appear on the undercard tomorrow night.
2 p.m.--WEIGH-IN: Newbridge west. 95% of the crowd is from Wales. They start singing songs and booing any American fighter that walks into the room. The crowd isn’t as large as the contingent that Ricky Hatton had for him four months ago but they still are loud and are singing in-tune.
When Calzaghe enters the arena, the crowd goes wild. Hopkins gets booed as expected. Both weigh 173 pounds and they have a great staredown. It is the kind of stuff that makes me love what I do. I have long been admirer of Hopkins and when “The Old Master” starts his tricks that some people “get” and some don’t, to these eyes it’s a thing of psychological beauty.
After the weigh-in, I engage in a conversation with the great Vinny Paz. Paz is a great guy to talk to as he still is as exuberant talking about the game as the excitement he brought to the ring.
4 p.m.--My buddy Al “Monster” Marmini shows up and we talk boxing for a while. Marmini was the matchmaker for Silverhawk boxing and we talk some of the ins and outs of the boxing world.
5 p.m.--Al and my friend, cruiserweight B.J. Flores and his wife Stephanie get to the casino after their 4 1/2 turned 6 hour drive from Phoenix. We talk for a while until Chuck Zito and Paz join the conversation.
Zito, the star of OZ is a very recognizable figure at boxing events and has a great knowledge of sport.
6 p.m.--Flores, Stephanie, Marmini and myself head over to the buffet at Planet Hollywood. Flores springs for the check and we have a good chat about all things boxing.
The buffet is amazing here. Every kind of food imaginable and I stuff my face with Asian, Mexican, Beef, and Italian cuisine. I finish up with a chocolate sundae (thanks BJ)
8:30 p.m.--I see one of my favorites, Kevin “Flushing Flash” Kelley, his lovely wife Dawn (who also is a fighter) and their two cute-as-a-button daughters, Brooklyn and Promise.
Kelley fought on a fight in Philly for which I did Public Relations for about three years ago and the couple brought their then infant Brooklyn to town.
10 p.m.--I wrap up this long day (before getting some adult beverages) by finishing up this report in an empty media center where a guy from ITV in Wales and Shelly Finkel are the only others in the room.
TOMORROW---FIGHT DAY
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Over the next four days, I will be chronicling my travels and tales from the scene of the year’s biggest fight, which is The light heavyweight championship bout between Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe.
Thursday, April 17
3:44 a.m.—The day starts off with my shuttle to the airport, Rapid Rover picking me up in my suburban Philadelphia home. The trip was pretty uneventful and I get to the airport in plenty of time to catch my 6:05 a.m. connecter to Chicago.
5:45 a.m.—I board my Southwest Airlines flight to the joy of having my own row. This is key because I did not sleep the night before. The ample room gave me plenty of space to lounge out and catch about 45 minutes of shut-eye.
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8:00 a.m. (Chicago Time)—The plane takes off. I am sitting next to a man named Carl who happens to be a huge fight fan. He is coming out to the strip, not for the fight but for his daughter to see the big Jay-Z concert at the MGM Grand. The plane ride was a little rough and my back started acting up, so I had to take a couple laps down the aisles to keep my sanity.
9:40 a.m. (Las Vegas Time)—the plane lands twenty minutes early and the traveling is complete after I pick up my luggage and then get in a swanky shuttle bus to the Planet Hollywood. I get my room key to this state of the art hotel and my room is better than advertised. Two king-sized beds fully equipped with a 60 inch High Definition television.
11:00 a.m.—I get down the media center to see Enzo Calzaghe hold court. He is a very affable guy who has a great personality. He has a great confidence about him and his son. They seem to have the right attitude as they are just over two days from their first foray on American soil.
I run into former WBO cruiserweight champion, Enzo Maccarinelli and do a video interview that will be seen later on www.15rounds.com. Maccarinelli is in great spirits despite being knocked out by David Haye last month in London.
11:30 a.m.-- Hopkins training team of Freddie Roach, Nazeem Richardson, John David Jackson and Mackie Shilstone enter the media center and hold a roundtable conversation of their own.
My good friend & East Coast traveling buddy, Jack "K.O. J.O." Obermayer, finally arrived, being chauffeured from the airport by his surrogate son, distinguished matchmaker, Eric "The Creep" Bottjer.
Jack was going to stay with Bottjer but upon hearing about the "suite" from yours truly, Obermayer decided he would occupy the other king size bed for the weekend.
1:30 p.m.—As the three of us enjoy the fine cuisine that Planet Hollywood has supplied the media, Joe Calzaghe enters the media center to do “Radio Row”.
“Radio Row” consists of about seven radio stations that are broadcasting live in the media center. There is an overwhelming amount of British media here. I start to feel like an outcast in my own country.
2 p.m.—Hopkins comes in to do his interviews with the radio guys. While this is going on I get a chance to catch up with Richardson and long time Hopkins trainer Danny Davis.
Davis is a former bantamweight from Philly who now works with a lot of Philly fighters and has been by the side of Hopkins for a while. The three of us discuss the Philly fight scene and look at the past week’s show from The Legendary Blue Horizon which was broadcasted on www.gofightlive.tv.
4 p.m.—This was a picturesque day on the strip and Jack & I take a walk to stretch out the legs before promoter Frank Warren holds a 5:30 press conference to introduce brand new online technology that will make it easy to watch live fights through your television via the internet.
5:30 p.m.—Warren’s new venture is very impressive as he will be putting up his whole library of fights plus live fights for a minimal fee, which is exciting to me as I will be able to watch more boxing from all parts of the globe.
6 p.m.—A first for me happens as during an interview with super-prospect Amir Kahn, I am interrupted by the prodigy’s manager as he seemed to be upset that I dint not ask permission to interview Kahn. For the past five years, I have been able to walk up to Mayweather, Hopkins and De La Hoya and ask the questions that world wanted to know and here it is that I interview a future star of the sport and I am asked to wait until Saturday to finish my interview as Kahn and his team have scheduled a news conference to introduce Kahn to American media. Oh well, I still got four minutes of tape with Kahn. Seems like a good kid with a good head on his shoulders and he has the goods to go a long way in the sport.
7 p.m. -- It’s movie time as in the media center, Rocky Balboa is being shown. Very sparsely attended but Shelly Finkel and Chuck Zito peek their head in to watch Stallone and Tarver go at it on the big screen.
8:42 p.m.—The famous Rocky song starts to signal the end of the movie. That movie fits as like Balboa, Hopkins is a Philly fighting legend (ok, I tried to transition the fight we are here to see and Balboa into the same sentence).
9:15 p.m.—I get into a hardcore boxing conversation with former fighter, and now Setanta sports reporter/pundit/historian, Spencer Fearon. We start disagreeing on everything ranging from who is better between Floyd Mayweather and Pernell Whitaker to David Haye and Steve Cunningham and all fighters in between.
It is good to get a point of view from someone outside the United States. As the discussion goes on, we can’t agree if the sky is blue or grass is green.
This discussion goes on until we get kicked out of the media center.
Fearon is now a promoter and we plan to business together in the future. ONLY IN AMERICA AND ENGLAND!!!!!
