HK shapes up for $100m fist-fest
THE Hong Kong Stadium will showpiece the most expensive sporting event ever staged in the territory in October as World Boxing Organisation (WBO) heavyweight champion Herbie Hide highlights a three-crown showdown between top American and British boxers.
Organisers are heralding ''High Noon in Hong Kong'' on October 23 as the ''biggest event this side of the world'' with the event costing in excess of $100 million.
Hollywood-based Hemdale Special Events are putting together the three 12-round world title fights which will feature the eagerly anticipated heavyweight encounter between ''Dancing Destroyer'' Hide of Britain and former WBO champion Tommy Morrison of the US - scheduled at high noon (HK time).
Two other world championship titles will also be contested with American Rafael Ruelas putting his International Boxing Federation (IBF) lightweight belt on the line against Britain's Billy Schwer and another American, Zachary Padilla making his fifth defence of the WBO junior welterweight title against rugged Englishman Ross Hale.
A 10-round heavyweight bout is also being planned and spectators will no doubt relish a hit-out between British ''bulldog'' Frank Bruno and American Ray Mercer, the former WBO heavyweight champion.
Bill Dobbins, director of Hemdale, responsible for staging the famous ''Rumble in the Jungle'' between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire 20 years ago, is confident the Hong Kong Stadium will be packed.
''It's the first time an event of this magnitude has ever been staged in the territory,'' said Dobbins.
''The Hong Kong Stadium will be packed full on October 23 for what promises to be the biggest, and most widely seen, sports event ever to be held in Hong Kong. Forget Asia, forget America, forget Britain, this event will be a global knockout.
''We expect a sell-out crowd of about 45,000 including about 5,000 on the pitch. The Hong Kong Stadium would be ideal for it because nobody is going to be a couple of hundred feet away from the ring.'' The event's main source of revenue will come from the US where a pay-per-view audience of millions will tune into the event ''live''.
The extravaganza will be blacked out on local television.
Dobbins would not disclose the purse for the Hide-Morrison fight, but hinted it was in the region of between US$10 and US$20 million.
Training camps will be set up two to three weeks before the event - one camp for the British and one for the Americans - with a number of celebrities joining the roadshow.
Morrison, 25, (41-2-1) the nephew of the late actor John Wayne, punished former world champion George Foreman in capturing the WBO title on June 7, 1993. He lost the belt to Michael Bentt in October, who, in turn was defeated by Herbie Hide on March 19. The Morrison/Hide match-up pits two lethal knockout sluggers, who between them, have 60 KOs in 66 outings.
Nigerian-born Hide, 23, (26-0) won the title when he knocked out Bentt in March in London. The six-foot-two-inch Hide is powerfully athletic and a quick starter. Thirteen of his 25 knockouts have come in the first or second round.
Mercer, 33, who won the gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games, has twice come within one fight of challenging for the world heavyweight title and has had impressive victories over Morrison and ex-European champion Francesco Damiani, but following an eight-month lay-off, he was only able to manage a draw in his last fight in July against Marion Wilson.
Wildly popular Bruno, who has met Tim Witherspoon, Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis in world championship clashes falling short each time, will severely test Mercer.
Since losing to Lewis last October, Bruno, announced his comeback by knocking out Jesse Ferguson in the first round on March 16.
The 23-year-old Ruelas staged an amazing comeback to win his IBF crown in February against then-champion Freddie Pendleton.
Schwer, who will face Ruelas, is ranked fifth by the WBC and seventh by the IBF and WBO.
Padilla came back from a 51/2-year lay-off to bowl over former two-time world champion Roger Mayweather and then WBO title-holder Carlos Gonzales last year.
Hale, 26, is the current British and Commonwealth champion.
Ringside tickets, priced at $3,900 go on sale today and general tickets ranging from $125 to $2,900 go on sale from September 12.