Boxing superstar Oscar De La Hoya is determined to get a whole new crowd interested in boxing, and he's getting creative about it. His latest plan, called LA Fight Club, is going to start with a fight (a sanctioned one, between two people in a ring with gloves on) in the 1926 Belasco Theater, according to KPCC. When the fight's over, the theater will transform into a nightclub so all the jacked-up patrons and bruised boxers can dance it all out.
"Due to all the intense fighting and people beating each other up, you would probably think that's kind of weird to have a nightclub going on. But I think after the fight, all the boxers are just going to be having a good time," says one of the fighters headlining the inaugural LA Fight Club this Friday.
The goal of the odd pairing is to get a broader, younger range of people into pugilism. "We're trying to attract a more casual fan, the fan who just wants to be entertained and at the same time watch some great fights," De La Hoya says.
The Belasco reopened just about four years ago after a 26-year closure. It was designed by the famed architectural firm Morgan, Walls & Clements; another MWC theater, the Mayan, has hosted more than a couple installments of Lucha VaVoom, an evening of burlesque dancing and lucha libre (Mexican wrestling), so maybe combining boxing and a nightclub isn't so unusual after all.
· With LA Fight Club, De La Hoya tries to attract new fans to boxing [SCPR]
· After 26 Years, Downtown's Belasco Theater Re-Opening [Curbed LA]
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