The governing officials in Nevada will hold its first commission meeting in three months, fittingly to determine whether or not boxing can return to Las Vegas for the first time within that same period.
A monthly commission meeting has been scheduled by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), with the session to take place May 27 at state headquarters in Las Vegas. Among the new business items on the agenda are permit requests filed by Top Rank, Inc. to begin hosting its planned summer boxing series.
Locally-based Top Rank has so far requested dates of June 9 and June 11, with the MGM Grand listed as the tentative hosting site for shows that will air live on an ESPN platform.
Requests for both dates are “pending removal or modification of restrictions created by Declaration of Emergency Directives”, according to the agenda posted on the NSAC website.
The meeting will be the first for the NSAC since February 19. A session was due to take place on March 25, in large part to determine whether to permit events to proceed as planned in March, April and May in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
All events were eventually pulled, as was the meeting itself. Boxing of any kind has not taken place anywhere in the United States since March 13, with mass gatherings of any kind in the country—and throughout the world—barred due to social distancing measures and guidelines.
The last boxing event to take place in Nevada occurred on February 28, when Mayweather Promotions hosted a Showtime ShoBox card live from Sam’s Town in Las Vegas. The event took place six days after Top Rank’s last show, also in Las Vegas and topped by Tyson Fury’s lineal heavyweight championship-winning one-sided 7th round stoppage of Deontay Wilder at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Top Rank co-promoted the event with TGB Promotions, as part of a joint Pay-Per-View venture between ESPN and Fox Sports. They were forced to cancel two shows in mid-March during the initial COVID-19 outbreak, with its March 14 and March 17 dates both to have aired from Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City.
The March 14 show was scheduled to feature unbeaten featherweight titlist Shakur Stevenson in his first title defense versus Colombia’s Miguel Marriaga.
Stevenson (13-0, 7KOs) will reportedly top the June 9 show, although the 22-year old will no longer come versus Marriaga or with his featherweight title at stake. The 2016 Olympic Silver medalist from Newark, New Jersey—who is now based out of Alexandria, Virginia—will officially test the waters at 130 pounds, with an opponent being sought for the occasion.
As previously reported by BoxingScene.com, the June 11 show is slated to feature locally-based former 122-pound titlist Jessie Magdaleno (27-1, 18KOs) in a 128-pound catchweight bout versus Dominican Republic’s Yenifel Vicente (36-4-2, 28KOs). ESPN’s Mark Kriegel reported during the most recent edition of the network’s State Of Boxing show that featherweight contender Adam Lopez (13-2, 6KOs) could also land on the show.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox