HOPKINS-CALZAGHE LAS VEGAS BLOG: DAY 1

By Marc Abrams

Over the next four days I will be chronicling my travels and tales from the scene of the year’s biggest fight which is The Light Heavyweight championship bout between Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe.

Thursday-3:44 A.M.—the day starts off with my shuttle to the airport, Rapid Rover picking me up in my suburban Philadelphia home. The trip was pretty uneventful and I get to the airport in plenty of time to catch my 6:05 a.m. connecter to Chicago.

5:45 A.M.—I board my Southwest Airlines flight to the joy of having my own row. This is key because I did not sleep the night before. The ample room gave me plenty of space to lounge out and catch about 45 minutes of shut-eye.

7:10 A.M. (Chicago Time)—I arrive in Chicago after a smooth flight. I met some kids in line coming out to Vegas for a bachelor party. Of the three, the groom to be is one of them and he is excited for one last weekend of freedom. His buddy is making his first trip to Las Vegas. Boy he is in for a treat.

8:00 A.M. (Chicago Time)—the plane takes off. I am sitting next to a man named Carl who happens to be a huge fight fan. He is coming out to the strip, not for the fight but for his daughter to see the big Jay-Z concert at the MGM Grand. The plane ride was a little rough as my back started acting up so I had to take a couple laps down the aisles to keep my sanity.

9:40 A.M. (Las Vegas Time)—the plane lands twenty minutes early and the traveling is complete after I pick up my luggage and then get in a swanky shuttle bus to the Planet Hollywood. I get my room key to this state of the art hotel and my room is better than advertised. Two King sized beds fully equipped with a 60 inch High Definition television.

11:00 am—I get down the media center to see Enzo Calzaghe hold court. He is a very affable guy who has a great personality. He has a great confidence about him and his son. They seem to have the right attitude as they are just over two days from their first foray on American soil.

I run into former WBO cruiserweight champion, Enzo Maccarinelli and do a video interview that will be seen later on www.15rounds.com Maccarinelli is in great spirits despite being knocked out by David Haye last month in London.

At 11:30-- Hopkins training team of Freddie Roach, Nazeem Richardson, John David Jackson and Mackie Shilstone enter the media center and hold a roundtable conversation of their own.

My good friend & East Coast traveling buddy, Jack “K.O. J.O.” Obermayer, finally arrived, being chauffeured from the airport by his surrogate son, distinguished matchmaker, Eric “The Creep” Bottjer.

Jack was going to stay with Bottjer but upon hearing about the “suite” of yours truly, Obermayer decided he would occupy the other king size bed for the weekend.

1:30—As the three of us enjoy the fine cuisine that Planet Hollywood has supplied the media, Joe Calzaghe enters the media center to do “Radio Row”.

“Radio Row” consists of about seven radio stations that are broadcasting live in the media center. There is an overwhelming amount of British media here. I start to feel like an outcast in my own country.

2:00—Hopkins comes in to do his interviews with the radio guys. While this is going on I get a chance to catch up with Richardson and long time Hopkins trainer Danny Davis.
Davis is a former bantamweight from Philly who now works with a lot of Philly fighters and has been by the side of Hopkins for a while. The three of us discuss the Philly fight scene and look at the past week’s show from The Legendary Blue Horizon which was broadcasted on www.gofightlive.tv

4:00—This was a picturesque day on the strip and Jack & I take a walk to stretch out the legs before promoter Frank Warren hold a 5:30 press conference to introduce brand new online technology that will make it easy to watch live fights through your television via the internet.

5:30—Warren’s new venture is very impressive as he will be putting his whole library of fights plus live fights for a minimal fee which is exciting to me as I will be able to watch more boxing from all parts of the globe.

6:00—a first for me happens as during an interview with super-prospect, Amir Kahn, I am interrupted by the prodigy’s manager as he seemed to be upset that I dint not ask permission to interview Kahn. For the past five years, I have been able to walk up to Mayweather, Hopkins and De La Hoya and ask the questions that world wanted to know and here it is that I interview a future star of the sport and I am asked to wait until Saturday to finish my interview as Kahn and his team have scheduled a news conference to introduce Kahn to American media. Oh well, I still got four minutes of tape with Kahn. Seems like a good kid with a good head on his shoulders and he has the goods to go a long way in the sport.

7:00 It’s Movie time as in the media center, Rocky Balboa is being shown. Very sparsely attended but Shelly Finkel and Chuck Zito peek their head in to watch Stallone and Tarver go at it on the big screen.

8:42—the famous “Rocky” song starts to signal the end of the movie. That movie fits as like Balboa, Hopkins is a Philly fighting legend (ok I tried to transition the fight we are here to see and Balboa in the same sentence)

9:15—I get into a hard core boxing conversation with former fighter, and now Setanta sports reporter/pundit/historian, Spencer Fearon. We start disagreeing from everything ranging from who is better between Floyd Mayweather & Pernell Whitaker to David Haye and Steve Cunningham and all fighters in between.

It is good to get a point of view from someone outside the United States. As the discussion goes on, we can’t agree if the sky is blue or grass is green.

This discussion goes on until we get kicked out of the media center.

Fearon is now a promoter and we plan to business together in the future. ONLY IN AMERICA AND ENGLAND!!!!!

for comments....mabrams@15rounds.com