Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Premier Boxing Champions already had it penciled in to stage Alvarez’s eighth Mexican Independence Day weekend fight card since 2012 in Las Vegas when the four-division champion learned the UFC was planning a competing show that same Sept. 14 evening at the new Sphere.
A bit later, Alvarez, who never shies from competition, said, “I heard somebody say they’re going to ‘eat me’ or something like that.”
That “somebody” was none other than boxing’s new power broker, Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh, who emerged from a June meeting with UFC CEO Dana White pronouncing that Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season was stepping in as a multi-million-dollar co-sponsor of the UFC 305 card at the Sphere.
So now, beyond the literal fight that boxing’s most popular athlete has to take on inside the T-Mobile Arena ring against Brooklyn’s Edgar Berlanga, Alvarez has found his drawing power in battle against Alalshikh, White and mixed martial arts.
“I didn’t do this fight [to compete with the UFC],” Alvarez told BoxingScene this week. “I don’t want to bother anybody. But I like to fight on my dates, in September. I have my fans. I’m glad and very thankful about that. I just do my job, and that’s it.”
While White has ripped MGM officials for not informing him that PBC head Al Haymon had “snatched” the date away, BoxingScene confirmed that PBC’s request to the Nevada Athletic Commission reserving T-Mobile Arena for Sept. 14 was logged months before UFC requested The Sphere.
In an oddity last year, Alvarez navigated a late-arranged bout with former undisputed junior middleweight titleholder Jermell Charlo and later fought on Sept. 30. That allowed the UFC to book T-Mobile for a minor card at the arena on Mexican Independence Day weekend.
This year, White has estimated production costs for the extravagant Sphere show are at $20 million, as the UFC is reportedly planning an awe-inspiring combat sports retrospective and a tribute to Latino fighting greats. The speculated eight-figure Saudi sponsorship deal likely helped defray some of those costs.
Across The Strip, Mexico’s favorite fighter will appear, expecting his second action-packed fight this year against a younger contender. Berlanga has Puerto Rican bloodlines and knocked out his first 16 opponents in the first round.
In a point refuted by Premier Boxing Champions, White alleged in recent comments to World Boxing News that MGM is “guaranteeing the gate” to PBC for Alvarez-Berlanga.
“Why would they not go if MGM is putting up all the money?” asked White in the World Boxing News story, calling that perceived slight “an extra kick in the balls.”
Two individuals connected to the accounting of tickets for Alvarez-Berlanga told BoxingScene that MGM routinely buys premier and other seats for high-profile combat-sports events on its property – including UFC fights – to distribute to its best customers.
This bout will be like most major boxing matches, one of the sources said, with MGM likely to spend around $1.5 million for Alvarez-Berlanga tickets.
MGM is not affiliated with The Sphere – a Madison Square Garden venue – and thus is not committing to the same ticket purchase for the UFC.
White says he is in discussions with MGM Resorts International CEO and President Bill Hornbuckle to sort out his beef with “[MGM] arena guys” he labeled “douchebags,” and said he’ll return to stage fights on MGM-linked properties, calling the Sphere card a “one-and-done.”
As for the competition for ticket sales, a combat-sports ticket broker said the UFC’s event at the 18,600-seat Sphere will likely surpass live-gate sales at the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena.
At T-Mobile, hundreds of seats in the highest reaches are expected to be curtained off because of pricing reasons, while The Sphere benefits from an extra financial boost thanks to its two dozen suites.
Each promotion committed overpricing missteps at the start, the broker said.
“Both are suffering somewhat under the weight of their own particularly unrealistic views of ticket prices, and both have suffered from multiple [price] reductions,” the ticket broker said.
The initial overpricing is an industry trend in both live sports and concerts, the broker said, driving “customers away and forcing [promoters)]to wait” for sales to resume when prices are lowered.
It happened earlier this year at the Ryan Garcia-Devin Haney boxing match in Brooklyn, New York, and earlier this month at Alalshikh’s card in Los Angeles, headlined by four-division champion Terence Crawford, where massive amounts of tickets were either given away or distributed to a local ticket broker at reduced costs.
“[The UFC] could afford the risk of overshooting the prices at The Sphere because they took the sponsorship money from [Alalshikh-Riyadh Season],” the ticket broker said.
But since starting at $1,250, upper-balcony tickets at The Sphere have dropped to $850 – a 30 percent cut – and floor tickets have dipped from $4,000 to $3,500.
PBC has reduced its opening prices by 10 percent to 30 percent, the broker said.
“I believe you might see some more [price] adjustments in these two weeks before Saturday,” said the broker.
As of Thursday, the Alvarez fight had fewer primary tickets (1,509) remaining, according to the broker, compared to the 2,100 left at The Sphere. Resale, secondary-market seats and an unknown number of tickets being held for future sales aren’t included in those numbers.
Total sales will ultimately be tallied by the Nevada Athletic Commission, and Alvarez admits he’s confident the tradition of his cards falling on a deeply important national holiday will ensure his fight is strongly supported.
“You know, competition is good. I take that as a challenge. I’m just going to do my best and take care of my people who support me,” Alvarez told BoxingScene.
One person basking in the business of both events is Las Vegas-based ticket dealer Ken Solky, who is hawking both UFC and Alvarez tickets at lasvegastickets.com and 1-800-LASVEGAS.
“They both have a unique fan base, and you can be sure both rooms will be absolutely rocking Sept. 14,” Solky said.
“You have The Sphere, in its first year after hosting U2, The Dead and Company and Phish [residencies], with people wanting to come see the first fight and Dana saying it’s a one-off.
“Plus, you have the Mexican tradition of a big boxing card – this rite of passage. The city wins. Combat sports wins. Everybody wins.”
Of course, don’t be surprised to see the side collecting the most live-gate dollars to tout their victory as the most important win of all.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
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