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July 22, 2010
Brooklyn arena positioned to host boxing events
AP
by Dave Skretta
The fertile boxing ground that produced dozens of world champions, from Mike Tyson to Riddick Bowe, will soon have a regular series of fights in a glimmering new arena.
By "soon," they mean "in a few years."
Golden Boy Promotions has agreed to bring at least 12 shows each year to the New Jersey Nets' new home in Brooklyn. The announcement was made Wednesday by Los Angeles-based Golden Boy and Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, which is behind the 22-acre Atlantic Yards development.
The centerpiece of it, the 18,000-seat Barclays Center, is scheduled to open in 2012.
"There's a rich heritage in this marketplace," Brett Yormark, president and chief executive of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, told The Associated Press. "We're going to work very closely with Golden Boy, and we're very excited about the possibilities."
The agreement is exclusive in the fact that Golden Boy will not have similar agreements to develop other boxing franchises in the New York area, but Yormark said it will not prevent local promoters from working with Golden Boy to stage fights at the Barclays Center.
"The exclusive word is a little overstated," Yormark said.
NoLandGrab: Overstated? Until now, we didn't know that Yormark knew the meaning of the word.
Posted by eric at July 22, 2010 10:47 AM