Ed Pereira was wandering around midtown Manhattan when the cold reality of his new job began to hit.
‘I was on a video call to the team, it was minus 18, and the wind was biting,’ Pereira recalls. ‘I could barely talk.’ Who would have blamed him for wondering: what have I signed up for?
It was in December when Turki Alalshikh, the Saudi royal adviser-turned kingmaker of professional boxing, first floated his latest brainchild: a ‘full takeover’ of Times Square for a historic fight night in New York. Pereira was tasked with turning fantasy into reality.
He is the CEO of iVisit Media, a marketing and events company that works with giants such as Apple, Manchester United and the Olympic Games. Its mantra is ‘making the impossible, possible’. And yet, among all the challenges they have taken on over the past three decades? This is ‘No 1,’ Pereira says. ‘By a long, long way.’
Alalshikh has teased future shows on Alcatraz Island and at the Roman Coliseum. First, though, on Friday night, three of America’s biggest boxing stars – Ryan Garcia, Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney – will fight in the middle of Manhattan’s most chaotic, teeming intersection.
‘This has never been done before,’ Pereira says. ‘The amount of moving parts… it’s just another level.’
Up to around 300,000 people pass through Times Square in Manhattan every single day
Three of boxing’s biggest stars will fight in the heart of Times Square in New York City
Turk Alalshikh (pictured) is chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority
They will headline an event six months in the making. An event that began with a 200-page pitch and has required nearly 60 meetings a week. An event that has involved 40-odd backers including the NYPD, the FDNY, the New York State Athletic Commission, NYC parks, the Mayor’s Office. And the Times Square Alliance, which helps look after the pedestrian plazas and sky-scraping billboards.
‘We’ve done wrestling, we’ve done bull riding… we’ve done a lot,’ TSA president Tom Harris says. ‘We haven’t had professional boxing, and it’s about time…. (it’s) the center of the world.’
The Alliance is used to carnage. A typical day will see around 300,000 people pass through this half-square mile of mayhem. Every December 31, around 1million people jostle for a view of the iconic ball drop. On New Year’s Eve, though, the area is sealed off and the neighborhood ‘slows down’.
This Friday, tourists will still pour out of subway stations, traffic will continue to edge down Seventh Avenue and more Broadway shows than ever will open their doors. ‘That’s the beauty,’ Pereira says. ‘Times Square is going to be open all the way through.’ The only difference? A boxing ring will at the epicenter of the anarchy.
Precise details of how organizers would navigate all of the people and all of the chaos have been kept under wraps. Images of the final plans remain top secret. There were suggestions that ‘half a million’ fans would watch for free. But the Daily Mail can now reveal Saudi Arabia’s blueprint for ‘Fatal Fury Times Square’:
- A ‘full takeover’ of four pedestrian plazas, including Military Island, where a ‘bubble’ will house a ring, a jumbotron and seating for around 300 invited guests
- The other plazas will feature pens where a few thousand fans can watch on big screens. Tickets for these areas are being given away, with some going to boxing clubs from the five boroughs of New York City
- No tickets are available to buy and the ring ‘bubble’ will be enclosed by a canopy, ensuring the action is out of sight to passers by
- Almost all of Times Square’s LED billboards will be transformed into a story board for the historic event
- The undercard will feature a fight between the best boxers of the NYPD and the FDNY, with both turning up in their department vehicles
Teofimo Lopez (left) will face Arnold Barboza Jr. for the WBO World super lightweight title
Ryan Garcia returns to the ring against Rolly Romero on the historic New York fight night
New York has a rich fighting tradition. Madison Square Garden hosted The Fight of the Century between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1971, while many modern greats have fought at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Here, though, it was ‘one hell of a ride’ just to reach a point in early March when this show could be announced. Organizers have had to walk a ‘fine tight rope’ to keep everyone happy: the authorities, the local businesses, the commission, the promoters and those holding the purse strings.
It does not require the sharpest business mind to foresee that working in Times Square will come with some logistical challenges. The people, the traffic, the noise, the never-ending churn. ‘We can’t bring New York to a standstill,’ Pereira says.
But they have had to bend some rules. Most events in Times Square can only be announced a few days out. If a big name is appearing, that might be cut to 30 minutes. It’s a safety measure to prevent a possible flood of visitors. An exception was made here because boxing cannot survive without prolonged promotion.
Unfortunately, there was no way round some of Manhattan’s other hurdles. That wind, for one. Any breeze that blows in off the Hudson River is funnelled through the grid of high-rise buildings. ‘They use the word “canyon”. And it really is,’ Pereira says.
So thanks to an engineering ‘marvel’, a new canopy has been specially designed. It will be secured with giant concrete ballasts. Funnily enough, there aren’t many places to fix guide ropes in Times Square.
And if there were, you’d need sign-off for every peg. ‘Everything requires a permit,’ Pereira says. ‘It’s different to anywhere else in the world.’
That includes even the most basic infrastructure: ‘the handrails, the steps, the positioning of the toilet…,’ Pereira explains. ‘When you put a cable down, that’s one permit… if you just want (it) to cross a street, it’s permit per street that you cross.’
Every New Year’s Eve, around 1million people jostle for a view of the iconic ball drop
There is only one advantage to all that bureaucracy – nothing can be left until the last minute. Except the actual construction. ‘You might expect a build to take 36 hours, this is going to take four days,’ Pereira says. Crews must work amid all the anarchy and within Times Square’s tiny ‘footprint’. Construction will begin midnight on Tuesday and any remnants of the show should be gone by Sunday.
‘What’s different about this than a lot of events, is we only have one shot. There’s no dress rehearsal,’ Harris says.
The aim is to minimize disruption to Times Square’s residents – the restaurants and stores and theaters. ‘It is their home,’ Pereira says.
So work has gone in to ensure the noise of fight night will – where possible – confined to the bubble and the surrounding pens. ‘We’re trying to keep as much of the ambience of Times Square as we possibly can,’ Pereira says.
But organizers are taking over two blocks – either side of 42nd and 43rd street – just to carve out space for staff and parked cars.
As payback, they have struck deals with local businesses. Some might house VIPs or makeup staff or broadcast crews. To thank others, Pereira explains, ‘we’re just buying lots of their coffee or lots of their cake’.
By allowing everyone else to operate as normal, the safety and security threat is obvious. So they have designed a quit exit route for ambulances and there will be hundreds of cops on hand – including counter-terrorism, intelligence and traffic officers. ‘NYPD have been probably our greatest advocates,’ Pereira says.
Many of the iconic billboards of Times Square will be taken over for the event on Friday night
Devin Haney will take on the experienced Jose Ramirez when boxing comes to Times Square
Times Square Alliance, meanwhile, gave the green light after at least half a dozen initial meetings, when Pereira and Co presented their plans in a 200-odd-page dossier.
‘My first reaction was excitement,’ Harris says. ‘It was “wow”… there was never a doubt that we could make it work.’ But? ‘The trick is making sure everyone understands what will work and what won’t work.’
Organizers have flirted ‘close to the wire’ at times but, as fight night approaches, most boxes have been ticked. ‘We were given a vision,’ Pereira says. ‘We’ve delivered on that vision.’
All that’s left to do? The simple task of managing Times Square’s ‘moving pieces’ before the bell sounds. ‘This boxing match goes off without a hitch, everyone gets to their Broadway show on time and to their dinner reservation on time,’ Harris says. ‘That is success.’
