Las Vegas Weekly

May 10, 2009 · 4:33 PM

Fight night was fine, but The Joint gets uplifting business elsewhere

By John Katsilometes

The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, in its fight configuration.

Photo: Steve Marcus

Last night’s “Bad Chad” Dawson-Antonio Tarver light-heavyweight title bout at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel drew a paid crowd of 2,156. Pretty good turnout, and The Joint serves well as a fight venue. Even the seats in the balcony put fans right atop the action. The ring is planted in front of the stage, similar to the ring setup at the Planet Hollywood Theatre for the Performing Arts. After gazing down on Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton, who appeared like a pair of performing fleas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena the weekend prior, I moved around The Joint to find a truly bad seat. Still looking.

As a public event venue, The Joint is built for music exclusively -- except for boxing and mixed martial arts events. But Hard Rock Hotel officials are encouraged by what they say is an unexpected rise in corporate events. The Clio Awards, the international advertising and design competition convention, has booked The Joint and its related conference rooms from Tuesday through Thursday.

“These events are like a PowerPoint presentation on steroids,” Hard Rock President of Entertainment Paul Davis said after Dawson’s victory by unanimous decision, in which he retained his IBF and IBO titles. “They can have meetings in the ballroom space, but then you get into The Joint, and you have a real rock 'n' roll vibe, with the guitars we have on display and the big stage. The response for corporate events has taken us by surprise.”

Maybe not so surprising is a corporate booking from last week: a company that develops breast implants. It wouldn’t be the first time that product has been paraded at the Hard Rock Hotel. Call it an inspired example of taking a product to its target demographic.

More notes, from the fight and elsewhere:

I was seated along press row next to someone I hadn’t talked to in about a dozen years, ESPN 1100-AM sports talk-show host Dave Cokin. If you’ve ever scanned across the AM dial (and, for anyone under age 25, click here for a definition of what AM broadcasting actually is), you recognize Cokin’s raspy delivery. The bout was good but not great, competitive in the sense that Tarver did well enough to finish the 12 rounds but didn’t do enough damage to Dawson to snare the decision. One point he (Cokin) made midway through the fight: Tarver, at 40, still knows what to do in the ring. His brain is sending the proper messages, but his body is unable to quickly respond. It’s as if he’s thinking “jab!” while eating a left hook. It’s a dangerous place for a fighter to be. … Mike Tyson was in the crowd, too. Has there ever been a more tragic figure to spark such a strong crowd response? People still love this man, who today looks like he weighs about three bills and doesn't seem altogether aware. ... I have always loved post-fight news conferences, where freeloading third cousins and hired yes-men who make up fighters’ entourages outnumber journalists something like 12-to-1. It’s a place where you see someone that looks like former heavyweight contender Oliver McCall and it is Oliver McCall. The man who once melted down in a title bout against Lennox Lewis is forging a comeback. He fights Australian John Hopoate on May 22 at The Orleans’ Mardi Gras Room. Two things to know about that fight: Hopoate is 11-0 and a knockout specialist, and McCall is 44. Wait, that's three things. ... Speaking of public conflict, three Metro units were combing the parking lot at Commercial Center around midnight last night in an effort to get a handle on the nefarious weekend activity by young club-goers in the big strip mall. It’s something of a collision of sensibilities late on weekend nights, where people attending 12-step meetings at the Center are concerned about parking there for an hour while the lot is filled with the energetic (and in many cases, staggering) club dwellers. … Tom Stevens, the singer-impressionist at the Riviera’s Le Bistro Theatre, is said to be doing solid business for his campy, throwback-to-Old Vegas show. He’s onstage Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 4 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 6 p.m., prices are $60 but you get half-off as a local if you’re carrying a discount coupon available at the hotel. Stevens does impressions of Dean Martin, Columbo and Cher, so how can you lose? … Southern Wine & Spirits exec Michael Severino, connected in every which way after spending 35 years in Vegas, has an idea to host his own Old Vegas-themed radio show, inviting longtime bellmen and ushers who have been around town for decades to swap and share stories. Sounds like a project for AM radio, and ever-poised Severino would be an ideal host. … The first couple who checked into the Cabana Suites at El Cortez were actually upgraded from standard rooms they booked at the main hotel. They had reserved rooms through a travel site and were offered a room across the street as part of a hotel promotion. … There were reports from some of the 6 billion gossip sites on the Web that Holly Madison and Russell Brand, who were seen together last weekend in Vegas (including at the Pacquiao-Hatton bout at the MGM), engaged in sexual relations loud enough for guests in nearby rooms at The Venetian to hear. No truth to it, says Steve Flynn, Madison’s PR rep in Las Vegas. But if I’m Brand, I’m not so quick to dispel that one … Why is the Gene Simmons-autographed guitar on display at The Joint a six-string when Simmons plays bass? Remind me to ask Paul Davis, Paul Stanley or Simmons himself that question. … The new definition of a Las Vegas local should be anyone whose home has lost 50 percent of its value. Prove that, and you get all sorts of bargains -- half-off Tom Stevens tickets, for starters.

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