:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69041269/1308142550.0.jpg)
Matchroom Boxing are expecting over 60,000 fans in attendance for the May 8 fight between Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and over 40,000 are already gone after the pre-sale for the event, with general sale tickets now up for grabs. The pre-sale broke a record for the broker Seat Geek.
This will be — by quite a bit — the biggest boxing event since the initial COVID-19 setbacks hit the sport just over a year ago. We have seen events with fans in attendance at stadiums in the United States and Australia and New Zealand, but nothing like 60,000.
“The pre-sale numbers were fantastic, and I am sure that on Cinco de Mayo weekend, we’re going to have a full house to watch this massive unification fight,” said promoter Eddie Hearn.
“It’s great to be able to stage a fight of such huge global significance to the home of the Dallas Cowboys and fill that wonderful stadium with fans. We’re going to be putting on a night that those lucky enough to be in there will never forget.”
Whether or not an attendance this big is a good idea in six weeks, I don’t know, but it’s going to happen, and it’s clear the demand is very much there.
Canelo (55-1-2, 37 KO) will be defending the WBC and WBA super middleweight titles, while Saunders (30-0, 14 KO) puts his WBO belt up for the fight. The event will stream live on DAZN.