Fight Nights In Las Vegas

How Sin City Has Changed

Say what you will about the fat cat money men who own chunks of Las Vegas real estate, you cannot deny that they go out of their way to deliver amazing entertainment for the visiting masses. Sure, most of the money spent may go right back into their pockets, but they still try to find creative ways to pull people into that shining oasis in the desert. The latest venture is a new NHL hockey franchise, which is doing incredibly well, with an NFL franchise also coming in the next couple of years. Professional sports are finally a viable option in Vegas, but if you look at the business of boxing, we might suggest that this has always been the case.

Legalized gambling is an issue that professional sports organizations tried to steer clear of, with the major leagues deciding until recently that putting a franchise in Las Vegas might be sending the wrong message. Those concerns did not seem to be an issue for the powers that be in boxing, although it’s also fair to say that the arrival of big fights in Vegas came at a time when the sport needed a real lifeline. Friday Night Fights were a TV staple in the 1950’s, but overexposure and poor matchups saw boxing take a bit of a hit in terms of popularity. To that point, it had been Madison Square Garden in New York that served as the home to title fights, but with popularity waning, a new venue was sought out, and Las Vegas seemed liked the perfect spot. Prior to 1960, there had only been one major fight held in Vegas, and while the event at Cashman Field was not a huge success, it did well enough to make promoters believe that the future of the sport lay in the desert.

Most of the punches thrown in anger in Las Vegas prior to 1960 were from gamblers taking a swing at slot machines that has just swallowed their last quarter, but the building of the Las Vegas Convention Center changed all that. Promoters now had a state of the art venue in which to host fight, and the arrival of bigger and better hotels in the years that followed created even more. Before long, places like Caesars Palace, Mandalay Bay, and the MGM Grand served as hosts for big boxing events, with fighters like Ali, Tyson, de la Hoya, and Mayweather all frequently fighting there, with many of them even setting up home in Las Vegas after the fact.

Fight nights in Vegas are now a major draw, and it’s a great time to visit, even if you aren’t a big fan of the fight game. The action is wild in the casinos during fight weekends, with the big money whales landing in town with a splash, and the chance to see a celebrity up close and personal increasing over those few days. We all have different reasons to want to visit Las Vegas, and for many, fight nights are on that list.

Directions From Downtown Las Vegas

1. Get on I-515 N/US-93 N/US-95 N from Stewart Aveand N 4th St
2. Head northwest on Fremont St toward N 9th St
3. Turn right at the 1st cross street onto N 9th St
4. Turn left onto Stewart Ave
5. Turn right onto N 4th St
6. Use any lane to take the ramp onto I-515 N/US-93 N/US-95 N
7. Follow US-95 N to W Lake Mead Blvd. Take exit 82B from US-95 N
8. Merge onto I-515 N/US-93 N/US-95 N
9. Take exit 82B for Lake Mead W
10. Turn right after Wells Fargo Bank (on the right)
11. Turn left onto Regatta Dr