By Andy Young and Gifford Lee
Last week’s Friday Night Fight between Danny Green and Anthony Mundine saw a huge boost for venues who took up the Main Event pay-per-view (PPV).
The crowds watch the fight at the Settlers Inn in Port Macquarie
Although the fight fell just short of the all-time Main Event PPV record, which was set when the pair first clashed 10 years ago, it still produced substantially better sales than the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight in 2015.
The bout also saw consumers flooding into venues, and despite the fight’s controversy the crowds were largely well behaved.
Alex Farquhar, General Manager of The Caxton Hotel in Brisbane, told TheShout: “We had a fantastic night putting on the Mundine v Green fight. With the Brisbane Roar finishing their match down at Suncorp Stadium at almost the perfect time to coincide with the main three bouts, we had a fantastic crowd roll into the Caxton Hotel.
“Our food and beverage went well and everyone was well behaved, although I'm sure there were a few in the crowd less-than-thrilled with the result of the bout itself.
“It will be interesting to see where the punters' interest in Australian boxing will lie now that this bout has been fought.”
Kaine Bayfield, Chief Operating Officer of Bayfield Hotels, whose venue The Light Brigade was highly commended as the Best Sports Venue at the 2016 Australian Liquor Industry Awards, told TheShout that it was “definitely worth” putting the fight on.
“We showed the fight at both Dee Why Hotel and the Light Brigade and it was definitely worth putting on,” Bayfield said. “We weren’t sure what kind of turnout we would get for the fight but thought it was worth the risk considering their history. The turnout was one of the best we have had for boxing since their first fight. It was great to see.”
Owen White, the Marketing Manager at the Bathurst Panthers, said: "Wow. The Mundine Green II fight attracted a huge crowd. It was the biggest night we have had in 20 years. We had to shut the front doors at 10pm, as we had reached capacity.
"We had the Bathurst 12-hour race on this weekend, so lots of visitors plus locals made a crowd of 800 people. People were standing in the car park watching through the window."
White added: "Thanks to Foxtel, our venue was delighted with the result. What an historic sporting event."
A spokesperson for The Palace Hotel in South Melbourne told TheShout they also had a "big turnout" for the fight. "We did pretty much double our usual Friday night. It was a full house, with all heads watching the fight."
Alistair Flower of the Settlers Inn Hotel in Port Macquarie (pictured above) agreed that it was definitely worthwhile putting the fight on.
“We show all Main Event fights and although surprised with the increase in price for Mundine fight, I was certainly rewarded with the patronage on the night. An even better result was that we had zero issues with our patrons,” Flower told TheShout.
Friday night’s fight has kick-started what will be another knockout year for boxing fans with several big interest events on the horizon in 2017. Fights coming up this year include a heavyweight world title bout between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko (April 30) and a Mexican super-fight between Saul Alvarez and Julio Ceasar Chavez Jr (May 7) plus many more. These bouts will be available via Pay-Per-View on Main Event through either Fox Sports Venues or Foxtel for Business.