NEWARK, New Jersey – The last time Shakur Stevenson walked to the ring at Prudential Center felt far different than the first time he headlined in his hometown as a professional prizefighter.
The size of the crowd – announced at 10,107 – and the atmosphere it produced September 23 showed Stevenson that he had arrived as the type of attraction that his detractors doubted he could become. That turnout demonstrated just how far Stevenson had come since the first time the 2016 Olympic silver medalist boxed in a main event at Prudential Center, where a crowd less than half that size assembled for his third-round knockout of unknown late replacement Alberto Guevara in July 2019.
“It felt great,” Stevenson told BoxingScene.com. “When I came out, it felt like an event, like a party. I felt like I was at a place where you go see Drake and the rappers perform, stuff like that. That’s how I felt. I was like, ‘Oh, snap! All of these people are here for me.’ It just felt real good that my city is supporting me and appreciating me.”
According to information obtained from New Jersey’s State Athletic Control Board, there were 8,199 tickets sold to the card topped by Stevenson’s 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over Brazil’s Robson Conceicao six months ago. Those sales generated $813,000 in ticket revenue.
There were 3,888 tickets sold to the Stevenson-Guevara card nearly four years ago. The gate revenue for that event was $301,000 – less than half of what the most recent Stevenson show produced.
“It just showed a lot of people were wrong,” said Stevenson, a southpaw who has won world titles in the 126-pound and 130-pound divisions. “You can’t believe everything you hear. A lotta people say a bunch of things, like I’m not a ticket-seller or I won’t do this or that. I mean, it’s clear and obvious that people rock with me.
“People try to say that my fight with [Oscar] Valdez, the crowd that we had, the great turnout, that it was just Valdez. But Valdez never did those numbers with nobody else. Clearly, I’m an attraction. People, they just need to understand that I’m gonna be going up for years.”
An announced crowd of 10,102 attended the Stevenson-Valdez show last April 30 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Ticket revenue from that event was approximately $1.6 million, in part because ticket prices typically are higher in Las Vegas than virtually everywhere else in the United States.
The crowd for the Stevenson-Conceicao card was the second largest for boxing since Prudential Center, the home arena of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, held its inaugural boxing show in December 2008. Only the Tomasz Adamek-Michael Grant card, which drew an announced audience of 10,972 in August 2010, has drawn more fans for a boxing event at Prudential Center.
Tickets for the show headlined by Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs) and Japanese lightweight contender Shuichiro Yoshino (16-0, 12 KOs) on Saturday night are selling at a pace comparable to the Stevenson-Conceicao card.
Adamek, who was promoted by Main Events, became New Jersey boxing’s best ticket-seller since the late Arturo Gatti. The Polish-born Adamek, who lives in nearby Kearny, fought in nine main events at Prudential Center in less than three years from December 2008 to September 2012.
Adamek attended the final press conference Thursday for the Stevenson-Yoshino show (ESPN; 10 p.m. ET). Prudential Center executive Dylan Wanagiel applauded Adamek’s accomplishments as a fighter and attraction at Newark’s downtown arena and touted Stevenson as his successor.
Carl Moretti – vice president of boxing operations for Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., Stevenson’s promoter – was heavily involved in Gatti’s emergence as a New Jersey legend when Moretti worked for Main Events, which also promoted Gatti throughout his celebrated career.
Gatti, who was raised in Montreal, lived in Jersey City, Hoboken, Mahwah and Marlboro at times when he was an active boxer. One of the most fan-friendly fighters in the history of the sport, Gatti helped draw capacity crowds to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City for each of the last nine fights of his career from 2002-2007, including two wins over rival Micky Ward and his loss to Floyd Mayweather.
“It’s three totally different fan bases, three totally different reasons why people are buying tickets,” Moretti said. “Shakur is the result of the world we live in today with social media, and also his talent. His personality is just starting to come out and I think everybody is starting to realize that, with his talent, you’re really watching somebody special. Adamek was the result of all the Polish fans in North Jersey and New York.
“Gatti was a result of coming up, fighting on smaller shows and what he gave you in the ring. His fan base, as much it was about Jersey, it was about how he fought and you knew you were going to see potentially a fight of the year. That’s what attracted crowds to Gatti, where he, in a traditional way, became an attraction. Plus, he had a manager [Pat Lynch] who knew the ticket business and pricing. It was a combination of things. It’s all good, but it’s also three different examples of how tickets are sold.”
The 25-year-old Stevenson, who resides in the Houston area these days, attended one of Adamek’s fights at Prudential Center when he was “14 or 15,” when he was an emerging amateur boxer. The significance of returning there as a strongly supported “A” side isn’t lost on Stevenson.
“I’m born and raised, from Newark, New Jersey, so Prudential Center is like my home,” Stevenson said. “I’ve done been there a million times before. I’ve done been to a Tomasz Adamek fight a long time ago, when he [packed] the arena. So, it feels amazing to know my city is behind me. And not just my city, my state, because it’s not even just Newark. I know people from all types of areas in New Jersey showed up to support somebody that’s their own. That was an amazing feeling.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.