Las Vegas is a city where fortunes are won and lost on the roll of a dice, but while the stakes at casinos can be steep, the stakes are even higher inside the boxing rings of Las Vegas. Here, fame is just one big punch away while spectators gamble for a big win. At the same time that Las Vegas was home to famous names from the screen Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, fighters like Sonny Liston and a brash Cassius Clay were stars of the ring.
Vegas started out and is best known for the strip, casinos and gambling. Boxing became popular in Sin City around 1955 as casinos incorporated boxing as entertainment for sports fans and gamblers who have arrived in the city to take their chances on the games available, including those on this Sloto Cash casino review. Vegas took the title of “Boxing Capital of the World” from New York not long after.
While boxing had taken place in Vegas for years, it was the decision to move fights indoors to the brand-new Las Vegas Convention Center in 1960 that saw boxing become much more successful, being broadcast on television which brought the sport to a much wider audience and fame to the sportsmen.
The hotels of Vegas wanted to profit from the success of boxing in the city and began hosting big-time boxing. The real innovator was Caesars Palace manager Cliff Perlman, who put on fights which would bring in gamblers willing to lose around $50,000 over a weekend, which would make the contests viable for Caesars. Additional income would be made from gate and television fees. Today, boxing gives Caesars Palace worldwide exposure, a promotion to get people to book a stay.
For the 1980 rematch between Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes, Perlman built a 24,000-seat outdoor arena at a cost of nearly $1 million. All future outdoor fights at Caesars were flagged as megafights and created famous boxers including “Sugar” Ray Leonard whose win against Tommy Hearns in 1981 is considered by many as the greatest fight in the history of Las Vegas. Over time, the Las Vegas Hilton, the Mirage and other hotels began to showcase matches big and small.
The 1990s saw the building of specialized arenas the MGM Grand and the Mandalay Bay which has kept boxing as a major attraction in the city, with new stars like Evander Holyfield, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayfield and Oscar De La Hoya who all made millions from their fights on the strip in the MGM Grand and the Mandalay Bay.
Floyd Mayweather started and ended his career in Las Vegas following many other stars in the city including Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson and Oscar De La Hoya. Mayweather is a 15-time world champion in five weight divisions and probably the greatest self-promoter of modern times. His 2017 victory over Ireland’s UFC star Conor McGregor at the T-Mobile Arena in Vegas was one of the most lucrative fights in boxing history.