04.09.01 Morales vs. Maidana @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

The arena before doors

7.30p. Katsidis is in the ring. It's round 4 of 12. It's the 1st time I've had a chance to actually come into the arena to catch a fight since doors @ 3.00p. Normally I've got plenty of time and hang around during the undercard fights but tonight I had to handle all the essential tasks for next week since I'll be out of town. I've been holed up in my office for the past 4 hours. Like a caged animal it's time for me to escape. 

MGM stagehands putting on
rope spacers

No major dramas today. Pretty smooth really. Anthem singers are always a cluster. The promoter of the event secures them and usually handles their credentials, access & guides them on where to go and what to do - but invariably I end up babysitting some part of it. Luckily today Raul with GBP handled it. The woman singing it is like 10' tall. It will be interesting to see how she does.

Tecate girls, for your enjoyment

The arena is on it's feet cheering for Guerrero the guy pummeling Katsidis. The Arena isn't very full. It's always a bad thing when you can see green chairs. That means there are no butts in them. 

There's also this weird thing that the boxing promoters have been doing in our building lately - they put up a stage for a band. Yes, that's right. A band. I'm not sure what that's all about and it's even more strange given they also have a DJ. I'm not a fan of the band but whatever. It fills up space & dead air. 

Mick Katsidis in the ring

7.36p there's a fight in the stands. Metro & security go running to section 13. That garners as much attention and cheers from the audience as the fight in the ring. Crowd brawls always do. 

Straight men who might be reading this: pay attention now. We have new ring card girls and brand-spanking-new outfits. The girls are ridiculously tall, thin and boob-a-licious... and sweet. There are usually 3 of them. They take turns during the rounds. I guess men get bored looking at the same hot bods for 50+ rounds and require some variety. If you only knew what a production it is to select them, get them approved, outfit them, do hair & makeup, get them ringside and in & out of the ropes, you'd be shocked. Yes, I realize many of you men (and prob some women) would love to have that job. But alas it's taken by a superb team here @ MGM. If you watch the PPV or HBO broadcasts you might catch a glimpse of Bo. He's the little dude in the tux who holds the rings for the girls. Great man. 

Like a well manicured lawn

7.45p It's round 8 of 12 and people are booing the ref for calling Katsidis on low blows and taking off a point. Boxing pundits have tagged this as the best fight of the night. 

One of the cool things about boxing is the 10 second warning. It's a very distinct sound that not all ringside referees use. The Nevada State Athletic Commission uses, quite simply, 2 wooden blocks - and knocks them together wide side. It's remarkably loud. I've been in boxing for almost 15 years & I've seen and heard other commissions use other methods. None are as effective as the blocks. There's a lesson in that. Sometimes simple is better.

Maidana walks to ring

8.00p The final round of Katsidis & Guerrero. God, Katsidis' face looks like hell. Unrecognizable. He is getting beat to a pulp. Both men are at war. Their bodies are tired but they don't stop. When one gets hit you can see the spray of sweat and blood fly like a sprinkler out into the air. It disgusting yet poetic. You might think it's cool to be a photographer on the apron but lemme tell you. It's gross. You get all kinds of bodily fluids on you. It happened to me once. Once.  That's all it took. I've never been back since.

Robert Guerrero wins by unanimous decision. It was never in question.

Ring clears and we're getting prepped for the main event.

Andres Reyna rehearsing
Mexican Anthem

It's 8.19p Anthems are being sung. HBO getting ready to do the main event ring walks. I'm in the locker room hallway trying to catch a Twitpic. It's not easy with my crappy CrackBerry.

Just finished capturing Maidana & Morales ring walks as they go from the dressing rooms and to the ring. It's all carefully timed and choreographed by HBO. Like a dance only with sweaty men who put vaseline on their faces and kick the shit out of each other. Once they round the corner by me they are stopped by security and Metro so that only 5 cornermen do the ring walk with the fighter. That's all we and the NSAC allow. They always try and push the envelope but we do a good job of stopping it. Having men with guns helps.

Hijo del Santo aka Freaky Mask Guy

There's this scary little man with a silver mask on. One of my tweeps told me he's "Hijo del Santo" a legendary Mexican wrestler. He's about 4' tall with a full mask on a la Pulp Fiction s&m. It's beyond creepy. I may not go to bed tonight for fear of nightmares. 

Morales getting ready to walk

Once again I'm sitting in a chair with DQ standing next to me while I type on my Air. He's watching the fight. I'm watching the audience. They're definitely into it. There are prob close to 6,000 people in here. It doesn't look to bad actually.

8.44p people are chanting Meh-he-co and stomping on the seats. Lots of moans & groans. Good stuff. The atmosphere is electric. This is what fight fans come to see and feel. This is what the MGM Grand Garden Arena is known for.

8.53p Crowd loves these two. They're putting on a great fight. They're little dudes too. It's always surprising to me that the fighters are so small. And when you see them up close you think, "I could take you." Morales has a big bump on his eye. That's gonna mean a trip to the hospital. (Note: it did. Morales went to the hospital after the fight. According to Golden Boy Promotions, he's ok.)

Oscar @ the post fight presser

One great thing about boxing - and I've probably mentioned it in my blogs & tweets - they end early. Unlike a concert where the main act doesn't hit the stage until 9.00p sometimes. And if the fight ends in a KO we close up shop even earlier. It's a fun atmosphere but I'm never sad when they end. I try not to take the benefits of my job for granted but like everyone, after a long day I just want to go home and chill.

Favorite part of the night - chair racks

I still have about an hour of stuff to wrap up before I leave for a week so I'm going back to my office and leaving the arena bowl. I'll hear who won on my walkie. (Maidana by majority decision 116-112, 116-112, 114-114.)

If you were here I hope you had a great time. If you weren't here, come to the MGM Grand Garden Arena sometime and experience a fight live. You won't regret it. And let me know if you do. I'll hook you up with some goodies.

Zopfi. Out.

What A Girl Wants

The ACM stage in pieces

So much to tell but for now What A Girl Wants is bed. Tomorrow it's all about the official arrivals of Morales & Maidana @ the MGM Grand. Five days of boxing then off to Mexico for a little r & r. Can't wait...

Back at it around 10.30a. The arena floor looks like one big erector set. My favorite part is watching the strike. It's amazing that everyone knows exactly where each piece goes, bit by bit. It's a masterful dance, truly with the production manager, stage manager, executive producer, lighting designer, riggers & stagehands all working like a symphony. I love it. 

The remnants 5 hours later

At the same time the ACMs are loading out, Golden Boy Promotions is moving in with Morales vs. Maidana. So far it's just a couple staffers in their production office. We ramp up to a full show by tomorrow. Arrivals for the fighters were today. I missed them. I was at a strategic lunch with the 2/3rds of the Brain Trust and by strategic lunch I mean we had to get the hell off property. We're all going a little stir crazy being trapped in here for 2 weeks. 

The rest of the day is uneventful. I'm not fan of boxing as a sport but the people are like family to me so it makes all the fire drills and drama ok. We just kind of yell at each other, get thru it and then kiss & make up after. It's a blast. 

Tomorrow are closed workouts for the press. Very uneventful. I could use an uneventful day, gladly.

Hard Habit To Break

MGM Grand Garden Arena
dressing room hallway

Today is going pretty well. Just your typical award show kind of drama. Credentials & wristbands are always a bit of a cluster. There are so many issued and every year when we think we have it down, there are always exceptions, changes, additions, subtractions. Some of it necessary, a great portion of it ridiculous, but all of it manageable.

Reba's dressing room

This year we had some oddities with who could and who couldn't eat in the Chipotle catered crew room. What should have taken 10 minutes to solve ended up taking 2 days. I blame the fact that the production manager who normally handles the full show went over to Mandalay to run the Sugarland & Rihanna portion. It was the right thing to do for the show but sucked for us, the house. He's just tremendously talented for handling things before they spiral out of control. By the time it got to me it was already a mess so I called him and he came over to fix it. You really never know how good someone is until he's gone. I think that's a lyric in the sappy Chicago love song Hard Habit To Break.

Is Blake Shelton in there?

I spent the majority of the day in my office working on Morales vs. Maidana stuff, the event we have immediately following the ACMs. I was also working on some high profile events that haven't been announced yet so I'll leave it a mystery. That's the cool thing about working for a major arena. There aren't many acts that we DON'T get simply because you don't pass up Vegas. There's too much money involved. About every hour I popped out to make the rounds, get some fresh air, a little exercise, stretch the legs. 

Door to rehearsals

Around 4ish I was up in catering checking out the catering fiasco and noticed a performance on the screen. I managed to catch Rihanna and Jennifer Nettles' rehearsal from Mandalay Bay. I'm not a fan of either but good God can those girls sing. 

8.30p Right now the team is getting ready for Taylor Swift's closed sound check. It means we have to sweep everyone out of the arena except non-essential crew. The good thing is I know all the hidden places in the arena where no one can see me so just because someone is telling me I can't, I'm probably going to watch it. It's childish, I know. But I'm pretty tired and need to entertain myself somehow.