February must be ‘C’mon, show us what you got month’

Usually a once in a lifetime opportunity. Local heavyweight, Gerald Washington of Vallejo, Calif., gets his shot at the World Heavyweight title.

As they say – breaking news – the 34-year-old, 6’6″ Gerald “El Gallo Negro” Washington (18-0, 12 KOs) from Vallejo, Calif. has agreed to fight the undefeated Deontay Wilder (37-0, KOs), on February 25th at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. Washington, a marine veteran, former University of Southern California tight end and now, world title contender, is getting his shot at the ultimate prize, the world heavyweight title. Let me repeat that – the world Heavyweight Title. For someone who grew up with a single Mom in San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco, Mexico, this big, charismatic individual has quite a resume.

“I lived on a ranch,  took care of myself, went to school and we operated a restaurant. Arriving in high school, I decided to join the military, and then I played football. From there I returned to boxing, my first love and passion.”

With his accuracy and extremely fast hands plus phenomenal reach, Deontay Wilder (r) has had little problem sending fighters like Artur Szpilka to the canvas. This photo caught the frightful moment when Szpilka went down in round #9 of his match with Wilder. The ringside physician and emergency medical personnel wasted no time getting out of their seats and into the ring. 

To say the least, getting this opportunity to go up against a U. S. A. heavyweight Olympic medalist and now WBC World champion, Washington (18-0-1 and 12 KOs) is now taking on a monumental task. Still, Mr. Washington, like actor Jimmy Stewart who starred in the movie Mr. Smith goes to Washington, Washington is supremely confident that he can pull off this major upset. Detractors are not so sure, especially after his lackluster performance in his last couple of outings. Against Philadelphia’s Eddie Chambers, one boxing scribe wrote: “Washington is a quiet, slow-motion, cautious defensive heavyweight who circles the edge of the ring and fails to penetrate his opponent’s defense other than throwing his long jab.” The draw he gained versus Amir Mansour in October of 2015 was much the same and the patrons let their disappointment be known. We’re hoping on Saturday, February 25, 2017, Washington can change that perspective. The same courage, invincible attitude is being displayed by MMA fighter, Derek Anderson.

At Bellator 179 at the SSE Arena in London, England they’re going to have the 26-year-old Derek Anderson (14-3) from the North County MMA & Fitness Gym in Escondido take on the Brit Michael “Venom” Page (12-0, 10 KOs).

Gosh, that name Page, sure sounds familiar. Oh yes, he’s that 6’3” dynamo who has been unstoppable thus far in his MMA career. He’s now won eight straight under the Bellator banner and is coming off a split decision victory over Fernando Gonzalez at Bellator 165: Chandler vs. Henderson. Prior to that decision win, Page had four stoppages in four bouts to include that horrific second-round highlight reel KO of Evangelista Santos at Bellator 158 at the O2 Arena in London, England on July 16th of last year. If you follow the sport it’s for sure you will never, ever forget that flying knee he landed on Santos’ forehead and the later gross photo that was taken at the hospital. Santos’ local ties? While married to another local favorite Cris Cyborg Santos, the popular Evan was one of the coaches/trainers at the Arena MMA Gym in Point Loma. 

Anderson (14-3-0 MMA) was on a two-fight winning streak before heading into his last bout against Derek Campos at Bellator 170: Ortiz vs. Sonnen. He lost that match via a unanimous decision. Prior to that fight, Anderson had earned both a split decision and unanimous decision victory over the always tough Patricky Freire at Bellator 147: Thomson vs. Villaseca, a unanimous decision victory over Saad Awad at Bellator 160: Henderson vs. Pitbull, plus a KO victory over Brandon Girtz at Bellator 113. That my friend is what you call “having street cred”.

Since Page knows the sport inside and out and will undoubtedly have both the height and reach advantage, Anderson will need to get inside his defenses and land his fight ending left and right uppercuts.

StubHub Center, Carson, Calif.

$192 per ticket, plus travel – expenses? Sorry, not worth it.

Word is you’ve been scratching your head in regards to the Charger’s new plan of making more money from fewer fans. With the NFL’s highest ticket price (average ticket price $192) the Chargers claim they can sell every seat at their new facility, the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.  With their new venue being a 30,000 seat soccer stadium, surely the smallest stadium in the NFL, the Chargers’ plan is to make even more profit from scarcity pricing.

Word is the Chicago Bears are expected to have the second-most expensive ticket price, around $135 a game. That price is also a huge increase from their average ticket price of 2016 which was $84.55, according to their marketing report. 

Last season, the Chargers had an average home attendance of 57,024, which means their average gate for a home game was around $4.8 million. To top that figure in 2017, the Chargers would only have to sell 26,000 tickets per game at $192 a ticket. Even as NFL attendance has been on the decline, the Chargers figure selling 26,000 tickets is going to be a slam dunk and expect their season ticket inventory to sell out. For the diehard Charger fan added it all up: your ticket of $192, parking at the stadium had been $15 – good luck with that, eats at the stadium – “they claim a little over the top”, souvenirs – “extremely over the top”, your gas expense $$$$ – you should forget about driving that big gas guzzler and the biggest perk of them all, being tied up in “LA’s rush hour” traffic.