After a week in Colorado Springs for our National Sales Meeting, a couple of friends and I ventured out to Sin City aka Las Vegas for a weekend of fun. Mandalay Bay treated us great and anyone going out to Vegas, I would highly recommend this resort and casino to anyone. Temperatures ranged from 105 during the day to the high 80’s at night, much warmer than when I typically go out in March. Mandalay Bay has the only wave pool on the Strip (that I know of) and above the grille area, there is a mini-casino, so when you need a break from the sun or want to play a little without having to walk back to the main casino, this is a GREAT option. On Saturday afternoon, a couple of $10 yo bets hit (at 15-1 odds) back-to-back were a VERY NICE break from the pool. Well, also this fair skinned guy could only handle about 20 minutes by the pool without sunscreen, and I still got a little burn in that time!

            Enough about my gambling at the tables, this is a sports blog and now onto the sports part of my weekend. While I am a much bigger fan of the UFC and MMA, I always have wanted to attend a big-time boxing match in Las Vegas. This past weekend was a rematch of the Fight of the Year in 2009 between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz. While the fight was not a sale out, the fight was jam packed with many boxers from the past. Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley all walked right by me on the way to their seats. I know Mike Tyson has been out of the fight business for a while now, but when he entered the arena, the buzz went to another level. Marquez and Diaz did not disappoint anyone within the Mandalay Bay Special Events Center with a 12 round fight that Marquez easily won by decision. Marquez was able to finish almost every round strong, and to me, that seemed to be a deciding factor in many boarder line rounds. The beginning of the fight was very close and could have gone in either direction, but Marquez clearly was the facilitator in the middle rounds. Diaz looked to gain the upper hand in the last three rounds, but by then, it was too little too late. After the fight, Marquez seemed to be lobbying for another shot at Pacquiao. Diaz on the other hand, seemed to be saying that this may have been his last fight. Diaz is set to take his LSAT this fall and wanted to step back and look at the bigger picture before commenting on his boxing future.

            While this was the main event, the best fight of the evening may have been directly prior to the Marquez-Diaz fight between Russian Dmitry Pirog (17-0, 14 KOs) and Daniel Jacobs (20-1, 17 KO’s) . The Russian stopped the previously unbeaten Jacobs with a 5^th Round TKO. Talking to a few different writers in the building, many believe Jacobs was a victim of his own hype. Many thought that Jacobs had been fighting lower-tiered fighters and that was a major disservice to him, especially for this fight. All of those wins created a great record for Jacobs, but did not really prepare him for a fighter at the level of Pirog. Pirog put on a tremendous display of boxing skills and was rarely in trouble against Jacobs.

            Having been to both a boxing card in Vegas and a UFC Fight Night here in Charlotte, I still think UFC has it mastered. The UFC knows how to keep everyone energized throughout the night playing high energy metal and rap music. The Boxing Card had a band playing songs from Black Eye Peas and others, while very good, just did not keep the energy in the building. Now I would like to see an UFC event in Vegas to see if things are done any differently there for a PPV card versus a fight night event.          

 

 

            Thanks for nothing Jimmie Johnson and the 48 team. While out in Vegas, these guys were 5-1 odds and after seeing the qualifying lap and practice times, these guys were the team to beat. Well, I guess at some point the pit crew decided to have a bad stop or two and cost me some money….THANKS FOR NOTHING 48 TEAM !!!!

            Why is it no matter where I go, I always run into someone from Charlotte? This is not always a bad thing, but walking away from a table in New York New York Saturday night/ early Sunday morning, I saw a few people from Charlotte stumbling away from a club. 

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