Opening nights.. Legendary Las Vegas debuts..

Boxing has been taking place in Nevada since the late 1800s, Las Vegas in particular has held thousands of historic fights..  Many of the older venues are no longer here, but were opened with huge events, each one attempting to outdo the last..
1959 saw the Showboats first step into the boxing arena with a modest middleweight affair, 72 fight veteran Willie Vaughn outpointing Eddie Andrews in what would be the first of 110 shows..  1960 saw the Las Vegas convention centre hold its first boxing event, heavyweights Howard King and Charlie Powell, the centre would later stage historic matches like the Patterson v Liston rematch 3 years later..
1976 would see both Caesars palace and the Aladdin stage their debut events, with the George Foreman v Ron Lyle barnstormer at Caesars and Duane Bobick v Fred Houpe over the street at the Aladdin.  The Aladdin would add a theatre a year later with Leon Spinks v Scott Ledoux opening the show, whole 1978 saw Caesars build the huge pavilion, a landmark which was opened by another heavyweight firecracker, Larry Holmes v Kenny Norton..
1979 saw the beautiful Dunes Hotel dip it's toe into boxing with Sugar Ray Leonard outpointing tough Adolfo Viruet in future superstar Leonard's 21st pro fight..
In the 1980s the Las Vegas Hilton hosted a whole array of events..  1985 saw the Hilton centre open with the Donald Curry v Milton McCrory superfight, whilst two years later the outdoor arena would open for the WBA / WBC heavyweight unification bout between Mike Tyson and James Bonecrusher smith..  The eventual series would finish in this very arena with Tyson outpointing Tony Tucker to become the first unified champion in over a decade..  The more prominent resorts in the 1990s are still thriving today..  The MGM grand which is still considered the home of championship boxing opened with a double header in 1994, with Hector Camacho v Felix Trinidad and Julio Cesar Chavez suffering his first defeat at the hands of Frankie Randall..
5 years later the gorgeous golden towers of Mandalay bay staged its first event , again a mouthwatering double header, featuring future all time greats Floyd Mayweather boxing Justin Juuko and Oscar Dela Hoya fighting Oba Carr..  Hard acts to follow, Las Vegas always seems to upstage itself..  This coming May the latest arena the brand new T-mobile arena at the rear of New York, New York opens with an epic cinco de Mayo event..  Las Vegas never disappoints..