Silver Nugget plan undergoes changes

The Silver Nugget's venture into boxing is undergoing a makeover after one card.

The North Las Vegas casino has pulled the plug on its Oct. 28 show after its first attempt at staging a club fight card Sept. 30 drew about 400 people. Instead, the plan is to hold cards every other month.

"We have a small staff, and it puts a strain on them doing monthly fights," said Jeffrey Fine, owner of the Silver Nugget. "But we're committed to boxing, and we will be back in November."

When boxing returns Nov. 25, it probably will be with a different promoter. Richard Steele, who was brought in to promote the cards, might have to work with someone else.

"I don't understand it," Steele said. "They did one shot, and I thought it was a good beginning. The fans who were there had a good time. But you have to be able to have some staying power if you want the fans to come back.

"You've got to give it a chance to grow some roots."

Fine said it was more about going in a different direction than Steele necessitating the change.

"Richard's a great guy with a lot of integrity," Fine said. "We're just going to try something different."

Tom Ficara, manager of Margate Entertainment, which televised the fights on the Internet, said he thinks Steele will remain the promoter of record for now. But someone else will be involved. Fine would not say who that person would be.

Steele is listed as the promoter of record for the Silver Nugget's request of the Nov. 25 date that will go before the Nevada Athletic Commission at its meeting Wednesday.

"It's not an exclusive situation," Ficara said. "I think Richard will still be doing some of the promotion. But there are several other promoters who were at the first show that want to get involved.

"Ultimately, I think it'll all get worked out, and the Silver Nugget will have boxing."

• MALIGNAGGI SPEAKS OUT -- Paulie Malignaggi has been training in Las Vegas for the past month for his Nov. 22 fight with Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand. The Brooklyn, N.Y.-born junior lightweight recently talked about the early move.

"We were training in the Poconos, and everything was good, but we moved to Vegas because I wanted to get used to West Coast time and there are plenty of good fighters in Vegas for sparring," Malignaggi said. "I'm sparring against a lot of different styles of fighters to stay sharp."

Malignaggi said he's not worried about Hatton bringing Floyd Mayweather Sr. in as his trainer.

"Floyd Mayweather Sr. is putting himself in a tough situation and putting a lot of pressure on Hatton," he said. "You can't teach (old) dogs new tricks. He can teach him a few things in two months, but Hatton doesn't have the talent, the natural speed and defensive ability.

"Mayweather's been opening his mouth, and when I beat Hatton everybody is going to say he shouldn't have gotten rid of his trainer (Billy Graham) and blame Mayweather. When they lose, it's going to cost Mayweather a lot of jobs."

Malignaggi said his surgically repaired right hand, which he broke in May, is fine.

"I've been hitting hard," he said. "Everybody's going to find out how good my hand is, especially Ricky Hatton."

• '24/7' -- HBO's promotion for the Nov. 8 world light heavyweight title fight between Roy Jones Jr. and Joe Calzaghe begins Oct. 26.

The first episode of "Calzaghe/Jones 24/7" focuses on the fighters' training camps. The 30-minute episode airs at 8:30 p.m.

The fight from New York's Madison Square Garden will be shown on HBO Pay Per View.

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