Golden Boy Promotions and Showtime on Saturday announced it has moved and re-shaped the Dec. 14 card that will feature Adrien Broner of Cincinnati defending his welterweight title against Marcoa Maidana of Argentina in the main event.
Originally the event was tentatively slated to take place at MGM Grand in Las Vegas and be televised on Showtime’s pay-per-view arm. It has been moved to the Alamodome in San Antonio and will now be available on regular Showtime.
Golden Boy also announced that a Nov. 30 card slated for Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio has been canceled, with the fighters from that card ending up on the Dec. 7 Showtime card at Barclays Center in Brooklyn where the headliner will be Paulie Malignaggi-Zab Judah, and the aforementioned Dec. 14 gig.
Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy, and Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza basically said the changes were made for the better, that Broner will eventually be a headliner in Las Vegas and a pay-per-view star, but that he will be seen by more viewers on regular Showtime and for him, that’s beneficial.
And San Antonio has terrific fight fans. The Alamodome had some 40,000 in it when Saul “Canelo” Alvarez defeated Austin Trout there in April.
“I really feel with what San Antonio has done this year with 40,000 for ‘Canelo,’ I just thought this was the right thing to do as well, not just cancelling the Nov. 30 card, but rewarding San Antonio with another big card,” Schaefer said.
The Nov. 30 headliner was to feature Devon Alexander defending his welterweight title against Shawn Porter. That fight will now be underneath Malignaggi-Judah.
Also on that card, Erislandy Lara of Cuba and Austin Trout will square off for a vacant super welterweight championship. And Sakio Bika will defend his super middleweight belt against 2004 U.S. Olympian Andre Dirrell.
Four fights will be televised on both December cards.
To add to the Dec. 14 card, former champion Victor Ortiz will return to action for the first time since having his jaw broken by Josesito Lopez in June 2012. He will take on Alfonso Gomez.
These changes were announced from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, where Bernard Hopkins is defending his light heavyweight title against Karo Murat on Saturday night on Showtime.
