I went to the boxing event last night, my first time watching boxing other than on TV.
Advertised start time was 7:30, first match started at 8:50 pm. Since that seemed to be expected by many there, something to remember if I go again.
Not a large crowd. Lots of empty seats.
First several bouts were full of action, at least on part of one boxer, and didn't last more than a couple of rounds with KO or TKO the reason for all but one. That one was stopped and the boxer who was clearly behind on points was declared the winner because the referee was frustrated by his inability to get the boxer, who was winning, from doing things that the ref felt were not sportsmanlike. Lots of booing from the audience as well as lots of cheers for the loser when he walked through the audience.
Then we had some bouts that raised a lot of eyebrows. Fighters going just one round then taking off the gloves even though no visible damage aand even though the fighters seemed peppy enough. Particullarly the one who, as he passed the crowd, was asked what the problem was and the fighter, with a smile, said "cansado". Based on the one round, he seemed to be at least equal to the other fighter, if not better.
Then there was the bout with one of the fighters a local (Sosua/POP) young man. Lots of cheering when he was introduced. Lots of punches thrown by both boxers in first round, though the other boxer seemed to be the better of the two. Then, hit by a punch from the local, he went down to his knees and stayed there until he was counted out. Consensus among spectators around me was that the fix was in. This was reinforced when the losing boxer was seen in very heated argument with his trainer, or whoever was in this corner. It was clear he was unhappy about having to stop fighting. People around me wondered who was paid and how much.
He was followed by a bout that included his brother. He too, was the winner, but was the better of the two fighters. Lots of cheering for him. At one point the Ref had to temporarily halt the fight and shoo who I think were his mother and sister away from the side of the ring.
The biggest cheers of the night were for the girls who walked around the ring between rounds holding up a sign with round number. Young, good looking, well built, short tight dress, high heels. They were crowd pleasers. Looking at them, you didn't mind that sometimes they had the wrong number on the sign. For example, in one of the fights, if you believed the numbers they had round 3 before round 2.
Hopefully some other posters also were there. I'll be interested in their take on the fights.
All in all, it was an interesting and entertaining evening with enough action to make it interesting, as well as incidents like what looked like taking a dive to give you something to talk about with people who were not there.
For those of you who want to take photos at a boxing event, be aware that unless you have a fast lens that is good in low light you won't get much. I ordered a 50 mm f1/8 from Amazon because it is a fast lens that is good in low light, according to the reviews and evaluations I read. Also, I saw it mentioned in some of the stuff I read when researching how to take boxing photos. But while still in the first bout, I got a notice saying there was a problem in communication between lens and camera, clean contacts on lens. I wiped off contacts, put camera back together and resumed shooting. But almost immediately another notice, and soon after a 3, and then the camera stopped working. So I had to use my basic f4-5.6 lens and none of those photos turned out. Looks like they were taken at midnight on a very dark night.
Fortunately Amazon has a good return policy and my new lens is going back.