Cory Spinks paid a hefty professional price for defending his undisputed welterweight championship against skilled contender Zab Judah Saturday night at the Savvis Center and live on Showtime. But Spinks, the Savvis Center and Don King Productions were paid handsomely for their efforts, and St. Louis shone as a championship city capable of staging and supporting a spectacular and historic sporting event.
After an uneven undercard that culminated in a dramatic heavyweight slugfest n and an arena entrace with local superstar Nelly that entralled the crowd and even jaded ringside officials n Spinks was hammered by Judah throughout their title fight, until it was stopped by a technical knockout at 2:49 in the 9th round of a bout scheduled to go 12.
The TKO was not disputed by Kevin Cunningham, Spinks’ manager and trainer, who was in fact climbing his corner steps with a towel in his hand to stop the action himself when referee Armando Garcia called the fight.
The pounding taken by the defeated hometown hero left a stunned silence in the Savvis Center as supporters of the two fighters swarmed the ring. Brawls, which had rippled through the capacity crowd throughout the event, flared up again, and for a tense moment it seemed that anything could happen.
There were edgy street scenes as the crowd filed out, but in the end the electricity of the event dissipated without disaster. Police reported five arrests, and said that the crowd was orderly for the most part.
There were also joyful images on the streets that called to mind the civic pride, especially for black St. Louis, at the heart of this historic event.
Members of the Beaumont High School Marching Band and its auxiliaries, who had been invited by Don King to perform “Meet Me in St. Louis” at the event, broke into an impromptu pep rally behind the Savvis Center after the fight, blaring their brass and dancing with joy from having shared with Cory a moment in the spotlight.
“I am very disappointed,” Spinks said, immediately after the fight. “I let a lot of people down. But I have to hold my head up. I have to take it like a man.”
The former champion could console himself with the fact that he pulled in $1.2 million for his effort. Judah n the challenger, regarded by many to be one loss from oblivion n netted just over $150,000, and that included a $50,000 cash bonus presented to him by King at Thursday’s pre-fight press conference.
“It wasn’t about the money this time. Cory gave me a shot. Don King stood behind me when no one else would,” Judah told the American following the post-fight press conference.
“I knew I was going to win. I know I’ll get mine in the future.”
After making 12 times less than the former champion, Judah immediately threw out the name of Oscar de la Hoya as the man he most wants to fight. A fight with de la Hoya could easily net the new undisputed welterweight champion upwards of $3 million, according to the Judah camp.
Dennis Petrullo, Savvis executive vice president, needed from 13-14,000 tickets sold to “make money,” and when the fight sold out with more than 20,000 tickets purchased, he was ecstatic.
Many of the tickets sold to the fight were purchased at the Savvis Center and with cash, eliminating the financial burdens of credit card transactions and Ticketmaster charges. Half of the tickets were bought at the Savvis box office and 40 percent of the tickets were paid for with cash, Petrullo said.
While this is a testament to African Americans not having credit cards, it also proves that there is a major untapped sports market in St. Louis.
As for King, his guaranteed take on the fight was not released, but a source close to Don King Productions said “it was near or at seven figures.”
King’s only concern with bringing more big-time fights to St. Louis is with a situation that plagues all the professional sports teams in St. Louis n taxes.
When the St. Louis Cardinals were first seeking public funding for a new stadium three years ago, the team said it is unreasonably taxed. King said at the Thursday press conference that the city’s tax structure is a detriment to St. Louis.
In a deal that certainly hails back to the “Wrestling at the Chase” days, boxing and wrestling are taxed even heavier than other sports.
There is a 5 percent Missouri athletic tax on each ticket sold. As the Cardinals said in 2002, the 12.5 percent in taxes levied by a combination of city and state taxes makes it almost impossible to keep ticket prices low and n in the case of boxing n to land major events.
According to Don King Productions, 17.6 percent of proceeds from every ticket purchased went to the city and state. That would mean about $370,000 of the proceeds from Spinks-Judah will be paid out in taxes. Keep in mind that the Savvis Center did reap the benefit of parking and concessions.
“The tax laws they have here will prevent or dissuade interested parties from bringing any events here,” King said at Thursday’s press conference.
“They need to understand that the very thing they desire and need, they prohibit.”
