Top Rank promoter Bob Arum reveals that he plans on setting aside 1,000 tickets for British fans to purchase for the May 22nd unification fight between Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Arum wants IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs) to have some of his British fans in attendance on the night to give him support rather than it having it all for Ramirez. Taylor needs all the support he can get for him to beat WBC/WBO 140-lb champion Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs).
Arum is looking at staging the Taylor-Ramirez clash at the MGM Grand or the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and he sees there being between 6,000 to 7,000 tickets available for the fight, and possibly more.
If Arum’s prediction of Nevada allowing crowds of 50% capacity by May 1st, his talk of 7,000 tickets being available to hold, but he believes that by the middle of May, almost everyone in the U.S will have been inoculated with the COVID 19 vaccine.
In that case, Arum believes that it’s possible we could get 100% capacity by May 22nd, which means there could be twice as many tickets available.
So we’re talking, 14,000 tickets, and Arum would likely bump up the 1,000 tickets available for UK fans to 2,000. Anyway, this is all speculation on Arum’s part.
If the Americans choose to be resistant to being inoculated for fear of the side effects, plain laziness because they’re caught up in the talk of them part of a conspiracy to turn people into zombies, they won’t bother getting vaccinated. The result will be a smaller crowd than what Arum is hoping for.
“They’re [United Kingdom government] not allowing UK citizens to leave on tourism. Hopefully, that’ll change by May 22,” said Arum to Talk Sport about the Taylor vs. Ramirez fight.
“So what we’re trying to do is reserve as many as 1,000 tickets – because I don’t think it’s fair for Josh [Taylor] if we do this fight with virtually everyone rooting for Jose.
“I know if that were the case, many many Scots and Brits would look to come over to Vegas.”
Taylor is a fighter that thrives on competing in front of loud fans, and he might not be able to perform at 100% if he’s not being given support.
The concern that Arum is showing for Taylor to have a lot of his loyal British fans being in attendance reflects his worry.
Taylor fell apart somewhat in his fight with Regis Prograis in the later rounds when the British fans started cheering the American when he was rallying.
It was a completely different Taylor when the fans started cheering for his adversary Prograis. The way that Prograis was coming on in the last six rounds, Taylor was lucky to win.
Ramirez is the type of fighter that can fight in front of small crowds and do just as well as when he’s fighting in front of large groups. He doesn’t need to be cheered for him to fight at 100%.