Las Vegas remains one of the biggest celebrity hotspots in the world. The West’s gambling and entertainment Mecca continues to stage some of the biggest events in the world and even has its own sports teams now. The Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, and the UFC call Sin City home, delivering a very unique take on their respective sports throughout the year.
As such, it’s a bit of a surprise that one of The Strip’s main attractions has faded from being one of the most prominent venues in another hit sport. Caesars Palace has put on some of the most legendary fights in boxing history. These days, the best boxers and the most famed celebrities in and around boxing go elsewhere. So, where did Caesars Palace go?
Realigning the focus at Caesars Palace
Source: Unsplash
Caesars Palace is commonly cited as a hotspot for celebrity sightings. Barack Obama is a known enjoyer of the famed venue, as are the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Khloe Kardashian, and Perez Hilton. In the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s, heavyweight boxers were very much A-listers, and Caesars played host to just about all of the biggest names.
To put on these bouts, Caesars Palace would often erect temporary outdoor arenas to meet the demand. As the 90s progressed, Caesars Palace began to fade from the spotlight in boxing. As the LA Times writes, its sister property, the Mandalay Bay, and MGM Grand began to take over hosting duties, and now there’s the T-Mobile Arena.
Since then, Caesars Palace has gone much more all-in on the gambling side of its business and live performances in-house. As the United States began to open up to online gambling, Caesars Palace opted to utilise its name recognition to dive into the new arena. Now, it’s regularly ranked by BonusFinder as one of the best sites. It even sits atop the chart of all welcome bonuses with a perfect five-out-of-five star rating.
In-house, usually in The Colosseum, Caesars Palace puts on a world-class schedule of variety performances. Right now, it’s all about the Weekends with Adele, but many others join the songstress. These include Garth Brooks, The Killers, Rod Stewart, Luis Miguel, Hins Cheung, stand-up comic Jerry Seinfeld, and the surreal act Absinthe.
Las Vegas remains a draw in boxing
Source: Pixabay
Even without Caesars Palace, Las Vegas has, rather tactically, kept itself as a major boxing venue by essentially setting up world champions with residencies. Floyd Mayweather rarely left Sin City when he decided which boxers he’d fight. Canelo Álvarez has followed suit as Mayweather’s successor, staging five of his last six fights in Paradise with one trip to his native Mexico for Cinco de Mayo.
Still, the city doesn’t quite have the draw in boxing that it once did with Caesars Palace in the equation. It put on the classic rumbles between George Foreman and Ron Lyle, Marvin Hagler versus Thomas Hearns, and Larry Holmes versus Ken Norton.
Of the best three boxers in the world right now, only one has visited Sin City recently. In July 2023, Terence Crawford met Errol Spence Jr to become the undisputed welterweight king. Naoya Inoue came to Paradise for a brace of bouts in 2020 and 2021, but has since returned to Japan to showcase his skills in front of his adoring home crowd. Oleksandr Usyk has come to the US three times, with the closest to Nevada being his trip to California in 2016.
Caesars Palace is world-renowned, so its removal from the boxing scene will have certainly lessened Las Vegas’ appeal. Still, there’s money in Sin City, and if a casino sees an opportunity to make money on a champion coming to town, they’ll certainly pay up.
