FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

SPORTS12BFIGHT OF THE CENTURY?

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Boxer Manny Pacquiao speaks during a press conferenceWednesday about his welterweight title fight against FloydMayweather Jr. in Las Vegas on Saturday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. answers questions from the media during a press conference Wednesday in Las Vegas.

PALLADINOBRENNAN

f

B time, but theworld has onlyseen three fights worthy of

tury Ali-Frazier in 1971,Louis-Schmeling in 1938 andJohnson-Jefferies in 1910.

Saturday, for the first timein nearly half a century, weget a new Fight of the Centu-ry. And I was going to try mydarnedest to make sure that Igot to see it in person.

So when the promoters an-nounced in February thatFloyd Mayweather Jr. andManny Pacquiao were finallygoing to fight after more thanfive years of kerfuffle, I de-cided Id have to plan out justwhat it would take to head outto Las Vegas for my genera-tions Fight of the Century.

TICKET

They could have filledCowboys Stadium for thisfight, but instead it will beheld at the MGM Grand Gar-den Arena, which holds16,800.

It took months for ticketsto go on sale to the public,and when they finally did,there were only 500 availablethat sold in a flash.

I dont know anybody inthe two promotions. I dontknow anybody at HBO andShowtime. I dont know any-body at the big casinos. Thatleaves me scouring StubHub.

As of Bloombergs latestupdate, the average ticket isreselling for $6,300. I couldspring for the cheapest ticketat $3,400, but I want a goodseat if this is the last Fight ofthe Century.

Expense: $6,300.

FLIGHT

Im a small-town Americanand therefore have nevereven been inside an airport,much less on an airplane. Iactually considered what itwould take to drive to Vegas heck, I tallyho-ed toNashville last summer un-til I realized it was 2,600miles away.

See TAB, Page 9B

The travelbill of thecentury

T tury. This century?There are 85 years left to this

for many more super-hypedfights.

A boxing fan who has beenaround for even a half-centu-ry has witnessed a dozenfights similarly labeled. Ei-ther we live in a dull centuryor scurrilous promoters willsay anything to get your 100bucks. Most of us pay littleattention to todays lacklus-ter fight game, which is prob-ably why we are easilyfleeced once a decade.

Boxing perfected this elec-tronic thievery we call pay-per-view. It has been part ofthe fight game for more than60 years. The first closed-cir-cuit presentation was in1951, when Joe Louisknocked out Lee Savold at

KYLE JOE

around for a long Fight of the Cen-

being called Fight of the Cen-

oxings been

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015 L M REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN 9B

BY KYLE BRENNANREPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

WATERBURY Satur-day nights superfight be-tween Floyd Mayweather Jr.and Manny Pacquiao is morethan five years in the making.Buffalo Wild Wings in Water-bury hasnt even beenaround that long.

The sports bar at BrassMill Commons might be rela-tively green, but its no rook-ie at planning for big events though this weekendsslate required more thanever.

We probably started inthe first week of March mak-ing plans for this, generalmanager Steve DiBo said.Maybe three weeks out, wedrew up floor plans of everyemployee thats working,how were going to handlethe door, how were going to

handle cover charges, howwere going to handle seat-ing. We have scripts on thephone for somebody whocalls, basically detailingwhats going to happen.

Were hiring out Water-bury police, he continued.Weve had the fire marshalin here this week to go overoccupancy, making sure theexit stuff works in case of afire.

The establishment has alsodeveloped its plan for how itwill handle the $15 covercharge, which will help offsetthe cost to show the event.

DiBo said its only the sec-ond time the restaurant hascharged a cover, the otherbeing a previous Mayweath-er fight.

Were collecting at thedoor from 9 oclock on, DiBosaid. At 9:30, were goingaround the restaurant and

giving anybody who isntsticking around about a 30-minute window to actuallyeat their dinner. If you wantto stay after 9:30, were goingto go around and issuebracelets and collect covercharges.

Its an awful lot of planningfor an event that probablywont stack up well with oth-er pay-per-view events therestaurant shows.

Waterburys Buffalo WildWings buys a package toshow all 12 major UFCevents each year. DiBo saidthat Saturdays boxing card,at between $5,000 and$6,000, will be about triplewhat a single UFC eventcosts the establishment.

I guarantee that well doas much or more from theRonda Rousey fight (UFC184 in February) than we willSaturday, with half the staff,

DiBo said. It was surprisingbecause Ronda Rousey was-nt the top billing, but the topbilling got canceled and shegot shifted in. (UFC) didntknow if she was strongenough to carry the lead on a(card), but now shes topbilling for her next fight (atUFC 190 in August).

While Rousey has provenherself to be a profitabledraw, theres no doubt thatMayweather-Pacquiao willbe the most emotional drawthe restaurant has seen.

Itll be electric, DiBosaid. I think there are a lotof people who do root forPacquiao, but I think its 2-to-1 for Mayweather. Hopefullyits not one of those thingswhere you wait all this timefor a 12-second fight. Id justlike to see them throw bombslike the other Pacquiaofights.

Getting wild over Mayweather-PacquiaoBOXING

Continued from 12B

Anyway, a prudent manwould book his plane ticketin advance to avoid the ab-surd last-minute bookingcosts the planes still go-ing whether Im on boardor not, so why gouge me? at about $400 for a round-trip ticket. Plus a bottle ofPepto-Bismol.

Expense: $406.

HOTEL

Hotels seem pretty niceand bright in Vegas.Theyve actually comedown to an average of $420over the last few weeks,according to Bloomberg,because people have can-celed their original reser-vations after seeing howabsurdly hard to watch thisfight will be.

By the way, whats upwith a continental break-fast? It seems like a stupidname.

I did a little research andfound out that it comesfrom the old differencesbetween breakfast eaten

by the British (meat, eggs,bread hearty!) andbreakfast eaten by thosefrom continental Europe(pastry, cereal, fruit cute!).

Thats right: Now I knowwhat a petit dejeuner real-ly is, and its not the hilari-ous category from Satur-day Night Lives CelebrityJeopardy.

Expense: $840.

GAMBLING

When in Rome, right?Not only is Saturday the

big fight Id put down$100 on Pacquiao becausethe odds are nicer and Ithink hell come out swing-ing early but its alsoKentucky Derby day.

Tencendur, which willstart from the No. 4 post at30-1 odds, is owned by thefather of one of my bestcollege friends. Lets go!

Id stick $100 on that,plus another $50 some-where in some casino.

Expense: $250.

MISCELLANEOUSI have to throw in about

$250 for incidentals, includ-ing food, drinks and taxirides. (Ive also never beenin a taxi. I hate going any-where that precludes mefrom driving.)

Im also resigned to thefact that Id definitely losemy phone. Im not one ofthose people Ive had mycurrent HTC One for almosttwo years but Im prettysure that Vegas has the high-est percentage of lost phonesby tourists of any city in theworld. Ill pony up $450 for anew one.

Some things on this trip, ofcourse, would be priceless.Like watching two guys tryto steal a giant flamingofrom the front lawn of theFlamingo casino before be-ing arrested with the cam-eras from COPS rolling.

(Seriously, that happenedin an episode I watched afew weeks ago while I wasplaying my self-inventedCOPS Bingo, and I want topretend it happens all thetime.)

Expense: $700.

SUMMARY

Add up my well-organizedand explained ledger, andwe come up with the pricetag of $8,496 to enjoy theFight of the Century.

Surely I can afford it. ANigerian prince named Mr.Kumalo still owes me 20percent of the diamond for-tune left by his assassinatedfather. He emailed me a fewweeks ago and should bewiring over some U.S. dol-lars any day now.

Aw, who am I kidding? Icant make it happen. Illhave to enjoy the Fight of theCentury from here in theValley.

Someone let me knowwhere the partys gonna be.Ill throw in $10 toward thepay-per-view, $12 for a 12-pack of Narragansett and $3to tip the host a savings of$8,471!

Reach Kyle Brennan atkbrennan@rep-am.com oron Twitter @kylebrennan1.

TAB: All you need is 8 grand in Vegas

Continued from 12B

and make arrangementswell in advance.

Edwards said he paid$6,000 for the fight. Lanzasaid the cost was about thesame for him. Steve DiBo,general manager of BuffaloWild Wings, said the costwill be in that same neigh-borhood for him dependingon how many franchises(there are 1,090 of them, butDiBo estimated maybe 10percent of them will haveMayweather-Pacquiao)show the fight. The BuffaloWild Wings in Southingtonis also showing it.

Smaller establishmentssimply cant get in on the ac-tion this time.

I dont think they can af-ford to show it, DiBo said.I think a lot of people are

priced out of this one. I wassurprised at the pricing. Iwas expecting it to be about$3,000 or $3,500. I thoughtthat would be pushing it,and its much more thanthat.

Still, he didnt hesitate topurchase the fight.

Its our brand. Our brandis wings, beer, sports, DiBosaid. How can you have thefight of the decade, not showit and think youre a sportsbar? We have to show it be-cause of what our brand is.

Edwards is charging $20for advance tickets, Lanza$25 and DiBo $15. None ofthem expects to do morethan hopefully break evenwith the cover charge,though its likely all threewill do a brisker businessthan normal Saturday.

Its not your average

sports day. Included in theday are the Kentucky Der-by, NFL draft, NBA andNHL playoffs and Yankees-Red Sox from Fenway Park.Adding the fight to his menumakes things a bit more in-teresting for Lanza.

Sports Rock, the smallestof the three spaces, has con-sistently had comedians andconcerts and every othermonth plays host to male re-vues. The fight is far less la-bor intensive no need tomove pool tables and chairsand make room for lightingand a disc jockey so half-naked guys can dance butit is something different.

This is my first fight, butits the fight to have, saidLanza, who also managesLakewood Lanes, which isplaying host to a bowlingtournament Saturday. This

is boxings last hurrah. Ifyou have it in your budget,its not really a tough deci-sion.

Edwards expects to hit hiscapacity of 375 people andalso expects to have a lineoutside the building Satur-day night. DiBo figures oncapacity of 350, too, and ex-pects to have some folks try-ing to peer in the windows.

It was a different story forLanza on Wednesday.

Ill be happy with 80 peo-ple at this point, helaughed. The phone is ring-ing off the hook, but Im notgetting any pre-sales. Mydad (a co-owner) is givingaway free tickets and (tick-ing) me off. Were just try-ing to make the room lookgood.

I think by that night thejoint will be packed.

BARS: Expect packed crowds everywhere

Continued from 12B

Alis comeback fight wasin October 1970. He bludg-eoned Jerry Quarry. Just 42days later, on Dec. 7, 1970,Ali met Oscar Bonavena inMadison Square Garden,but also in a sold-out PalaceTheater in front of 2,500fans.

It was an enormous suc-cess for Waterbury promot-er Tony Paoli. Once theonly man in New Englandpromoting live professionalfights, Paoli recognizedthat closed-circuit feedscould save boxing in Con-necticut.

I am glad to be doingsomething, Paoli told theWaterbury Republican onthe eve of Ali-Bonavena.We are the only ones inthe area to have this. I real-ly think were going to sellout.

He was right. Paoli went toe-to-toe with

legendary boxing promotorBob Arum for closed-cir-cuit rights in New England.

We used to get in thecar, me, (promotor) BennySingleton and my father,and drive all over trying tofind theaters willing toclose down (to show afight), recalled Paolis son,Jack Paolino (the originalfamily name), at the time ofhis fathers death in 2011.

By showing the Ali-Bonavena fight, Paoliearned the right to carryclosed-circuit boxingsgrandest event, the Ali-JoeFrazier fight of March 8,1971. It was set for Water-burys now lost State The-ater.

But the fights backers, agroup led by Jack KentCooke, also claimed exclu-sive theater rights and theysuccessfully wrested theevent away from Paoli. Ali-Frazier I was screened in apacked Palace Theater. Top

ticket was $15.That night, across the

street at the State, the fea-tured movie was When Di-nosaurs Ruled The Earth,with a second big show,Prehistoric Women. Atthe Palace, it was Good-bye, Dolly!

For one night only, Bar-bra Streisand was kicked tothe curb.

The Palace was Water-burys boxing home untilthe advent of cable TV andset-top descramblers.There was nothing betterthan a sold-out Palace onfight night. The floors weresticky, the seats were bro-ken and you didnt care.

For the Thrilla in Manila,you could hear the crowdschant even on East MainStreet. It grew in fury whenyou hit the lobby. In thetheater, it was deafening. Itnever stopped: Ali, Ali,Ali, Ali.

The Palace was as elec-

tric as Quezon City. Thats just a guess.It is all too convenient

now to press a button onyour TV remote and orderup a boxing match. Thecharge is tacked onto yourmonthly bill.

Painless, efficient, dull. If you were there, then

cherish those nights at thePalace, when the raucouscrowd drowned out DonDunphy, when you kickedover countless bottles ofbooze to get to your seat (ifyou found a seat) and whengrainy, ghostlike, washed-out figures on the screenpunched their way into his-tory.

Now you pay 100 bucksand watch from the sofa inyour jammies.

It had better be the fightof the century.

Send comments to jpal-ladino@rep-am.com, andfollow on Twitter@RAOffTheRecord.

FIGHT: For the price, this better be a classic

New Milfords Kyle Poeti follows through with a chip shot.

PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER MASSA REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Under blue skies, Pomperaugs Matt Van Doren chips ontothe green during a golf match against New Milford at Her-itage Village Country Club in Southbury on Thursday. ThePanthers won, 162-186, to improve to 8-0. Results on 8B.

FAIRWAY FOLLOW THROUGH

Pomperaugs Mike VanDerLaan shows off his form, keepinghis head down on a shot to the green.

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