Boxing News 2015: Canelo Alvarez vs. James Kirkland Fight Will Break Attendance Record, Says Oscar De La Hoya
Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya believes the upcoming fight between Saul Alvarez and James Kirkland will not just do a good number but could also break gate records.
Alvarez, who holds an impressive 44-1-1 record with 31 knockouts, will collide with Kirkland in May, likely at Alamodome in San Antonio. Most analysts are not sold on the upcoming fight, but De La Hoya believes they can prove their doubters wrong.
De La Hoya said in an interview the Alvarez-Kirkland fight has the potential to break the second-highest attendance record set by the showdown between Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and Pernell Whitaker in 1993, which drew 59,995 fans.
Alvarez previously drew around 40,000 fans when he faced and won against Austin Trout in April 2013 at the Alamodome, which can host around 72,000 boxing fans.
"We are going to fill the arena and we will be looking to break the attendance record that Chavez has for his fight against Whitaker at the Alamodome," De La Hoya said via BoxingScene. "San Antonio and the rest of Texas is an extremely important market for us and we are grateful and pleased that we have great partners there to promote our fights."
Promoter Jesse James Leija also said in an interview last week that the Alvarez-Kirkland fight will easily edge the record set by the Chavez-Whitaker fight more than 20 years ago if the proposed non-title bout will be staged in San Antonio, Texas.
"Las Vegas has a lot of money but they do not have as big of a stage like San Antonio," Leija told ESPN Deportes via BoxingScene. "We can get at least 60,000 fans for that fight. Canelo-Kirkland is what we want and we are working on it. I think if we only had five weeks to work with before Austin Trout vs. Canelo and we generated 40,000. Now with two months we could easily get to 65,000."
The fight date has yet to be finalized, but the Alvarez-Kirkland bout will likely happen on Cinco de Mayo weekend on May 2. De La Hoya previously said they are open to moving the fight date to May 9 but only if Floyd Mayweather Jr. decides to face Manny Pacquiao on May 2.
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