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When promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing announced he would stage the first fight featuring his newly-signed attraction Jaron "Boots" Ennis at South Philly's Wells Fargo Center, I thought the British boxing promoter might be crazy. Yes, Ennis is one of Philly's best young fighters. Yes, the fight is Jaron's first hometown fight in nearly six years. Yes, it is his very first title defense as the full IBF welterweight champion. And yes, every expectation is that in the near future, Ennis will grow into the world's best pound-for-pound boxer. However, even the most optimistic Philly boxing fan (namely me) worry that a highly-hyped fight at an arena with a 21,000 seating capacity is the grossest of miscalculations. Surely, this was an embarrasment waiting to happen. After all, no fight in Philadelphia has come close to selling 10,000 seats since Mike Tyson - MIKE TYSON - visited the City of Brotherly Love in 1995. The attendance estimates for Tyson versus Buster Mathis Jr. (no official numbers were ever released) were between 8,500 and 10,000. I was there that Saturday night, almost 29 years ago, and the Spectrum was more than half empty. My own estimate is that about 7,000 fans "filled" the arena for Tyson's only-ever fight on Philly. By the middle of this week, with just a few days until fight night, indications were that 10,000 to 12,000 tickets for Ennis vs. David Avanesyan had already been sold and the expectations for the final attendance number was rising. Matchroom opened up additional seating sections at the top of the arena to accomodate increased demand. With all these tickets already in the bank and clearly more coming by Saturday, I can't help but wonder where this fight will land on the all-time list of top indoor attendance for boxing in Philadelphia. Is it possible that Ennis-Avanesyan could vie for the top spot? Here are the top selling boxing matches to take place in an indoor Philadelphia arena. 1. Alfredo Escalera vs. Tyrone Everett - Nov. 30, 1976 - 16,019 - Spectrum 2. Joe Louis vs. Gus Dorazio, Feb. 17, 1941 - 15,425 - Convention Hall 3. Marvelous Marvin Hagler vs. Bennie Briscoe, Aug. 24, 1978 - 14,930 - Spectrum 4. Bob Montgomery vs. Ike Williams I, Jan. 25, 1944 - 14,807 - Convention Hall 5. Sugar Ray Robinson vs. Jose Basora, May 14, 1945 - 14,653 - Convention Hall 6. Emile Griffith vs Gypsy Joe Harris, August 6, 1968 - 13,875 - Spectrum 7. Steve Hamas vs. Max Schmeling, February 13, 1943 - 13,500 - Convention Hall 8. Henry Armstrong vs. Al Tribuani, March 22, 1943 - 12,633 - Convention Hall 10. Bob Montgomery vs. Wesley Mouzon II, November 26, 1946 - 12,416 - Convention Hall. At Friday's weigh-in, Eddie Hearn said that the extra tickets were selling and that he expected the crowd could clock in as high as 14,000 on Saturday night. Within 24 hours, we'll know how accurate these numbers for the Ennis fight are. We already know that Jaron Ennis has the abilityto punch his way into the Pound-for-Pound Top Ten. Tommorow night, we'll see if he can sell his way onto the list of the top Philadelphia attendance records for boxing events. |
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