Golden Boy not abandoning sites

The partnership announced last week between Anschutz Entertainment Group and Golden Boy Promotions could dramatically change the boxing scene in Southern Nevada.

With AEG still planning to break ground this summer on a 20,000-seat, $500 million arena behind Bally's and Paris Las Vegas on Koval Lane, that venue would figure to get most, if not all, of Golden Boy's business in Las Vegas.

But that won't necessarily be the case, Golden Boy chief executive officer Richard Schaefer said.

"We don't have an exclusivity deal with them," Schaefer said. "We did that deliberately because we have longtime partnerships in Las Vegas that we don't want to see end. I have a very close relationship with Richard Sturm of the MGM Grand, and we plan to continue to do business with them."

With AEG's arena not scheduled to open until 2010, it would be suicide for Golden Boy to cut ties with MGM Mirage or any other Las Vegas entity right now.

Sturm, president of sports and entertainment for MGM Mirage, didn't seem worried about the AEG-Golden Boy venture, in which the sports conglomerate acquired a significant ownership stake in the promotion company founded by Oscar De La Hoya. AEG owns or operates dozens of sports and entertainment venues, including the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

"We have a great relationship with Golden Boy Promotions, and we look forward to many years of hosting successful events with them," Sturm said in a statement.

Schaefer said just because AEG will have its own arena in Las Vegas doesn't mean it will provide the most lucrative offer for a Golden Boy card.

"I have a responsibility to give the fighters the biggest pot possible," he said. "Obviously, the new arena will be a player in the Las Vegas boxing scene, but I don't see where it will get all the fights."

• CORRALES REMEMBERED -- The one-year anniversary of former lightweight champion Diego Corrales' death was quietly observed Wednesday. Corrales was 29 when he died in a motorcycle accident in southwest Las Vegas on May 7, 2007.

His widow, Michelle, has been raising their three children with virtually no funding from his estate. There was no life insurance policy, and most of Corrales' assets were used to pay legal bills and settle lawsuits and tax debts.

"I have my good days and my bad days," she told the New York Post. "But I knew I had to go on. I couldn't stop living."

• KELLEY IMPACTED -- Kevin Kelley, one of several fighters affected by the cancellation of the May 31 fight between Zab Judah and Shane Mosley, was looking forward to returning to the ring after an 18-month layoff following surgery for a detached retina in his left eye.

"I know I'm at the end of my career, but I feel rejuvenated," said Kelley, 40. "I think the time off was a good thing."

Kelley, a former world featherweight champion, was scheduled to appear on the Judah-Mosley undercard.

• COTTO-MARGARITO OK'D -- The Nevada Athletic Commission approved Top Rank's request to hold the Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito welterweight title fight July 26 at the MGM Grand Garden. But Top Rank had not finalized a deal to hold the fight in Las Vegas, and Madison Square Garden in New York remains a possible venue. An announcement from Top Rank is expected this week.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.