That's certainly what ESPN executives thought, and they wanted to tie in Stevenson's fight against Edwin De Los Santos for the vacant WBC lightweight world championship with the opening night of the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix.
It certainly makes sense from a programming standpoint, giving ESPN a Las Vegas lead-in as it promotes both events.
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum told fighthype.com that's also why a fight will take place on the Thursday before the Super Bowl, which is Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.
Top Rank president Todd duBoef said, however, other events such as the NFL draft in Las Vegas last year had other attractions tied to them that made the overall experience a success.
That led to discussions about staging a fight night that could feed off the F1 publicity and even draw those in town primarily to see the race.
Persons:
— Shakur Stevenson, That's, Edwin De Los Santos, Bob Arum, fighthype.com that's, I'm, ” Arum, Todd duBoef, ” duBoef, “, we've, duBoef, ” DuBoef, Stevenson, De Los Santos, Mexico’s Emanuel “ Vaquero, Brazil's Robson Conceição, Conceição
Organizations:
LAS VEGAS, ESPN, WBC, Las, Formula One, Mobile, Las Vegas, Super, WBO
Locations:
Las Vegas, Vegas, Newark , New Jersey, Dominican Republic