How big a deal is Saturday’s Khan/Peterson fight?
Jim Lampley‘s coming to town for it! That’s how big!
And top this: Michael Buffer‘s doing the announcing! We get to hear “Let’s get ready to rumble!” live!
Oh, right. Buffer’s pretty possessive and he’s got good lawyers: What I meant was, We get to hear “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!™” live!
But still. This is big, people.
The media blitz for the fight, in which Amir Khan will put up his IBF and WBA Junior Welterweight belts against betting underdog but prohibitive sentimental favorite Lamont Peterson, kicked into high gear this week.
Both combatants are doing lots of local radio. Oscar De La Hoya, top dog at Golden Boy Promotions, which is promoting the fight, scheduled an appearance with Mayor Vince Gray. De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins, the formerly eternal middleweight champ and now light-heavyweight belt wearer, are both billed to attend the weigh-in on Friday at 2 p.m. at the Carnegie Library near the Convention Center.
Khan and Peterson, obviously, will also be in the house. A big contingent of British hooligans/Khan rooters and a bigger contingent for Peterson, a local kid who used to train in the furnace room of a Columbia Heights junior high, will be there too. The weigh-in is open to the public and free, so if you show up you better be ready to rumble! Oh, heck: Ready to Rumble!™
Even before the hype machine hit overdrive, the fight was selling itself pretty dang well. According to a source with the promotion, as of this morning ticket sales were already “well over 6,000” for the 9000-capacity venue.
In other words, D.C. really is ready to rumble!
Dang, there I go again: Ready to Rumble!™
(Buffer really does go after folks who say his copyrighted catchphrase without paying him. Which is weird. But dang if it ain’t awesome!)