Boxing

A poster on the door of the Platinum gym in Sosua this morning announced boxing on February 16 at the Gran Arena del Cibao. 9 fights starting at 7:30 pm.

Ticket prices on the sign are RD$300, 500, 800, 2000 and 4000 for VIP.

Alternatively, pasted at the bottom of the poster:

Tickets RD2500, VIP 4000 including transportation to and from. Oliver 809-924-1445

I just spoke with Oliver, who told me to go to his store and he would give me all the details. His store is the last store before you get to Casa Marina, separated from Casa Marina by the Sea Breeze Hotel and Jewish museum.

He said bus would leave about 7 pm from either in front of the Sosua Bay casino or Casa Marina.

Among the fighters listd are Amanda Serrano, Juan Dominguez and Marlin Cabera.

I hope they have a better opponent for Serrano than at the fights on December 15

I just talked to Oliver.


He said the VIP seats are at ringside like at the fights December 15 and the RD$2000 seats are right behind them.

He said both the VIP ticket he is selling and the RD$2500 (2000 seat plus transportation) include transportation to and from. He also has some of the lower price tickets. If you buy one of them, you can get the transportation for an additional RD$500.

He said the arena where fights to be held is a 5000 seat arena.

Of possible interest is what he told me about Amanda's fight on December 15. The fighter scheduled to fight her dropped out close to the fight date, so they rounded up an opponent they new was not in her class and asked Amanda to make the fight interesting. So Amanda was carrying the other fighter, until the other gal hit her on the jaw. With that Amanda got serious and quickly put her on the floor.

DavidZ said:

Is the transportation timing right? Leaving Sosua at 7:00pm for a 7:30 pm start time in Santiago doesn't make sense...

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I was wondering the same. But that is what Oliver said. I will be talking with him again and will see what he says.

He may be thinking that in the DR the start time is not usually when the event starts. :classic:

DavidZ said:

Is the transportation timing right? Leaving Sosua at 7:00pm for a 7:30 pm start time in Santiago doesn't make sense...

Click to expand...

Just spoke with Oliver. He said he misspoke. Bus will leave at 5 pm.

I was talking with Mike Duzant yesterday, the promoter of boxing here about the fights on the 16th.

I told him I saw that Amanda was on the card again and hoped she would be facing a much better fighter than when she "fought" in Sosua recently.

Mike said the other fighter is very good and that this would be a "legimate" (his word) international title fight. He said
the other fighter had to be approved by the world boxing organization before the fight could be scheduled as a title fight.

To explain to those who didn't go to the fights in Sosua in December, it was called a "title fight" but it was obvious the other fighter was badly outclassed. That is why when talking with me Mike stressed that the fight on the 16th would truly be a title fight.

Oliver says that the bus from Sosua to Santiago for the fights on Saturday, the 16th, will leave from in front of the Sosua Bay Casino. He is planning a 4:30 departure. If the bus arrives at the casino on time and we leave at the scheduled time, we will get there a little early. If the bus arrives at the casino late, we should still get to Santiago before the start of the fights at 7:30.

I'm not familiar with the location of the Gran Arena del Cibao in Santiago. Does anybody know where there is a restaurant nearby where we can get at least a sandwich of the bus gets to Santiago early?

Boxing tomorrow night, Saturday, in Santiago. Bus going from Sosua. RD$500 for the bus. If you want a seat and haven't already made arrangements, call Oliver at 809-924-1445. Bus leaving from Sosua Bay Casino at 4:30. Fights start at 7:30

I was there, also.

A long night, including round trip from Sosua. Left here about 4:45 and got back to Sosua about 2:30. Would have been later if all the fights had gone the distance.

Yes, a number of fighters quit before bout was over, but in most cases they did more fighting before quitting than in the fights in Sosua in December. Less time in the clinch, also.

My main interest was the photo op, and the conditions for photography at Santiago were outstanding. Much, much better lighting than at Sosua Bay. I'll go again for that reason alone, although maybe next time I will spend the night at Hotel Colonial.

The lighting was so good I was also able to shoot from the stands with a zoom lens. Some of my best shots came from there. Shooting at ringside hard because the light weight fighters are moving around the ring so fast it is hard to maintain focus. Much easier from the stands.

I'll post a link to the photos when they are up somewhere, but here are a couple as a preview.