David Tua and Shane Cameron will get it on in a fully covered Waikato Stadium. Photo / Paul Estcourt
Play nzherald.co.nz's rugby Pick the Score competition - go to:
pickthescore.nzherald.co.nz
Organisers of the heavyweight bout between David Tua and Shane Cameron have snubbed Auckland in favour of Hamilton.
Fight promoters Duco Events said Waikato Stadium would be fully covered for the event on June 6 and will hold 4000 corporate ring-side seats and 11,000 general admission seats.
The
decision comes after both Auckland, Wellington and Waitakere were considered for the event which organisers have called the "fight of the century".
However, the organisers have clashed with Auckland City councillor Aaron Bhatnagar in the press after Bhatnagar told the Herald he did not buy into the hype of the event and doubted whether it would be one of the year's top sporting events.
Fraser said at a press conference today the promotions company supplied Auckland City Council with confidential planning material which he says then ended up on the councillor's blog.
Mr Fraser said Duco is in the business of promoting events, whereas Bhatnagar "seems to be in the business of trashing them".
Fraser added Hamilton City Council had shown its ability to host large events and cited the Hamilton V8 street race event as an example.
Duco corporate sales head Dean Lonergan said general admission tickets will start at $60 each.
Asked if the Samoan community, Tua's staunchest followers, would be inconvenienced by holding the fight in Hamilton, Lonergan said the price could have been higher if staged at Vector Arena in Auckland.
Tua was up-beat about the venue. He said it was where he won his first title as a lightweight but he has "grown a bit since then".
Tua said he was disappointed the fight was not in Auckland but "it is what it is, it's bad but I'm all for it."
Shane Cameron, who is in training for an upcoming fight against American Robert Davis, did not attend the press conference.
Asked if Cameron was happy with the venue, Lonergan said: "he's getting half-a-million ucks, he'd be happy to be fighting in a phone box in
Antarctica".
The Hamilton City mayor Bob Simcock has not returned phone calls to nzherald.co.nz but in a written statement he said the money to secure the
event had previously been budgeted for a World Rally Championship round,
which has since been cancelled.
A 2006 Hamilton City Council press release said there would be an annual
cost to the council of $125,000 for the rally championship.
