HBO Evaluating Sun Bowl Today For Boxing Event; Boxer Pulls Out
Officials with HBO and the boxing promotion company Top Rank are in El Paso Wednesday, surveying the Sun Bowl as a venue for a sporting event that would draw tens of millions of viewers worldwide.
But the status of the June 16 World Middleweight Championship fight is in doubt with Martin Murray being forced to pull out of the planned championship bout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. due to visa issues.
Hatton Promotions, Murray’s promoter, said that because Murray spent time in prison when he was younger, he encountered delays in getting the necessary visa, forcing him out of the fight. Murray served four stints behind bars, totaling about five years, for crimes such as street fighting and robbery.
“Despite being a model citizen these days, he cannot get the paperwork rubber-stamped in time for a U.S. and Mexican press tour later this month and the fight is now off,” Hatton Promotions said in a statement.
The 29-year-old Murray (23-0-1, 10 KOs) broke out of obscurity in December when he fought middleweight titleholder Felix Sturm to a split draw in Germany.
Murray was, of course, disappointed that he cannot face Chavez.
“I’d signed the contract and everything was agreed, so to be told I cannot box Chavez Jr. because of my past is gut-wrenching,” Murray said. “As a human being, I couldn’t have done any more to turn my life around over the last seven years. I have a fantastic wife, Gemma. We have two wonderful children, Archie and Amelia. They are my life and everything I do is for them.”
Murray said he hoped his situation would be a lesson to kids who are at risk of falling on the wrong side of the law.
“I am a qualified youth worker and spend lots of time working with kids making an effort to help keep them out of trouble,” he said. “I am pleading with the youth of today not to make the same mistakes I did when I was young. Even if you change your life around it can still come back to bite you.”
Boxing promoter Bob Aram said in a news release sent to ABC-7 that the survey of the Sun Bowl is the last step before finalizing the choice for a venue.
Should HBO approve the Sun Bowl as the site of the event, El Paso would be showcased live on the network, as well as to more than 100 foreign countries. The anticipated worldwide audience would be more than 80 million viewers.
This towers over the current record-holder for the most-watched sporting event in El Paso history, which happened in 1998 when Oscar De La Hoya defended his world title against Patrick Charpentier in the Sun Bowl. That event was watched by an estimated 50 million people globally.
Stay with ABC-7 and kvia.com for the official announcement of the venue for the championship boxing match.
ESPN contributed to this report.
