Almost from the day it opened, the MGM Grand Garden Arena has been the de facto home arena for major boxing events. Nearly all of the greats of the last 30 years have competed there.
Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao each fought 15 times in the MGM Grand Garden. Oscar De La Hoya competed there 12 times. Canelo Alvarez, Miguel Cotto, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera were on the bill eight times and Mike Tyson and Juan Manuel Marquez did so seven apiece. Shane Mosley made six appearances inside the MGM Grand Garden.
Nine of those 10 men are now members of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, which emphasizes that point that almost without exception, the MGM Grand Garden was the home to big-time boxing in the late 20th century and early 21st century. Alvarez, the one who isn't in, surely will be when his career is over.
On Saturday, a pair of unbeaten lightweights with aspirations of one day making it into the International Boxing Hall of Fame will square off in the main event of the 100th boxing card since the MGM Grand opened on Dec. 18, 1993. Gervonta Davis will defend his WBA belt against Frank Martin in a Premier Boxing Champions card streamed on pay-per-view via Amazon Prime Video.
The first bout at the MGM Grand was on Jan. 29, 1994 and, quite predictably, was historic. The legendary Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. not only suffered his first defeat in that bout, but he was knocked down for the first time when he was defeated by split decision by Frankie "The Surgeon" Randall. Chavez had entered the bout with an 89-0-1 record, with the draw coming in the controversial 1993 bout in San Antonio, Texas, with Pernell Whitaker.
Chavez lost two points for low blows in the fight and was knocked down in the 11th, so he lost three points during the fight for the WBC super lightweight title.
They had an immediate rematch at the MGM and Chavez won in controversial fashion. On May 7, 1994, they fought again but the bout was stopped due to an accidental head butt in the eighth round.
But a WBC rule that was enforced for the fight penalized Randall a point for what referee Mills Lane ruled was an accidental head butt. That gave Chavez the win, though if the point was not deducted, it would have been a draw and Randall would have retained the belt.
The outrage was enormous because the stakes were so high, and the rule was ridiculous. Randall hadn't committed a foul, but was penalized anyway. Chavez-Randall II has been one of just dozens of high stakes bouts the MGM Grand Garden has hosted.
The most controversial of all of them was the rematch between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield for the heavyweight title on June 28, 1997. Tyson entered their first fight at the MGM Grand on Nov. 9, 1996, as high as a 25-1 favorite. All week, though, Holyfield exuded confidence and insisted he would defeat Tyson. Tyson was 45-1 and coming off of early knockout wins over Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon. Holyfield looked awful earlier in 1996 in a win over Bobby Czyz and there were questions about his health.
Holyfield dispelled those questions emphatically. He bullied the bully, so to speak, and stood his ground against Tyson, blunting Tyson's charge. Holyfield was consistently picking Tyson apart, and the damage because to take its toll in the middle rounds. He stopped him in the 11th in one of the biggest upsets since Tyson lost to Buster Douglas in 1990 as a 42-1 favorite.
That led to the rematch at the MGM Grand on June 28, 1997. The Nevada Athletic Commission again appointed Mitch Halpern as the referee for the bout, but Tyson's camp bitterly complained, and at the last minute, a switch was made to Mills Lane. Tyson's argument was that Halpern ignored head butts by Holyfield that were causing Tyson trouble with his vision.
But Holyfield opened the rematch strong and won the first two rounds on all three judges' cards, swelling Tyson's eye in the process.
In the third, disaster struck. Tyson bit Holyfield, not once but twice. The legendary Jim Murray, arguably the greatest sports columnist in history, wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "Well, Mike Tyson didn’t need a new referee. He needed a rabies shot.
"He has been hailed as having the fighting style of a wild animal.
"He sure has. He proved it here Saturday night. He tried to bite Evander Holyfield’s ear off Saturday. Twice. Referee Mills Lane disqualified him before he tried to bite his nose off.
"America’s Wolfman made a mockery of the Marquess of Queensberry rules."
Though there were calls to suspend him for life, Tyson was back 18 months later, facing Frans Botha at the MGM Grand. Tyson knocked Botha out in the fifth, but he created more controversy when he tried to snap Botha's arm during a clinch. Then, he was back at the MGM on Oct. 23, 1999, facing Orlin Norris. Tyson hit Norris after the first round. Norris went down, injured a knee and couldn't continue.
The Nevada Athletic Commission held his purse pending a hearing.
Lorenzo Fertitta, who less than two years later would become the owner of the UFC, was a member of the Nevada commission at the time. The commission released Tyson's purse but Fertitta said to him, "My advice is to pack Mike Tyson's bags up and take this act on the road. I'm not so sure we need him in the State of Nevada any longer."
It was around that time that De La Hoya had become a massive star and he became a regular at the MGM Grand. His run culminated with a long-anticipated fight against Mayweather on May 5, 2007. De La Hoya had been tried in that era by Mayweather's father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., and had said that out of respect to the elder Mayweather, he didn't want to fight Mayweather Jr.
But De La Hoya finally softened his stance and they met at the MGM Grand Garden in what was hailed as "The Fight to Save" boxing.
De La Hoya was a considerable underdog, but did well early in the fight, using his jab. He went away from it as he tired and the fight progressed, and Mayweather pulled away down the stretch to eke out a split decision victory. The fight became to first PPV bout to surpass 2 million in sales.
De La Hoya helped propel Pacquiao's career into the stratosphere when the met in 2008. There was a school of thought that De La Hoya was far too big for Pacquiao, who started in boxing at minimumweight. But Pacquiao's speed was too much and he battered De La Hoya into submission on Dec. 6, 2008, at the MGM Grand. It was the final fight of "The Golden Boy's" illustrious career.
It sparked Pacquiao, and he began building momentum for a fight of his own with Mayweather. After drubbing De La Hoya, Pacquiao knocked out both Ricky Hatton, in the second, and Cotto, in the 12th, in fights at the MGM. That led to the five-plus year slog toward getting Mayweather and Pacquiao into the ring.
They met in a massive event on May 2, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden. Donald Trump, who in a month would announce his candidacy for the presidency, was in attendance with his wife, future First Lady Melania Trump. It was a celebrity-laden crowd which paid a record gate of $72 million to see the spectacle.
Mayweather was dominant and clearly outboxed Pacquiao to win a unanimous decision in a bout that became the greatest seller in PPV history with 4.6 million sales.
T-Mobile Arena came online in 2016 -- partially owned by MGM Resorts -- and many of the biggest fights began to go there instead of the MGM Grand because of its greater seating capacity. In recent years, an influx of money from Saudi Arabia has caused many mega-fights to move to Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Many of the biggest fights in history, though, were held inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena, creating indelible memories for the fans who attended or watched on television.
And the MGM clearly remains heavily invested as bringing the Davis-Martin fight to the Grand Garden Arena shows.
The big fights have slowed a bit at the MGM Grand Garden, with T-Mobile and Kingdom Arena getting into the act, as well. But history suggests that as long as it's open, the MGM Grand Garden will remain one of the iconic venues in boxing.
Joe Camporeale/USA Today Sports
Tyson Fury enters the ring at the MGM Grand Garden in 2020 with a robe and crown for his rematch with Deontay Wilder.