Dubai: UAE welterweight Eisa "The Arabian Warrior" Al Dah has appealed to the relevant government bodies in Dubai to realise the true potential of staging a historic Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather bout in the emirate.
Speaking on the sidelines of his own proposed fight against Mexico's Miguel Angel Munguia as part of the Dubai International Boxing Championship - slated for February 2 at the Aviation Club - Al Dah said: "Pacquiao-Mayweather is the kind of event only the government can bring to Dubai. "
"I believe and I hope that if the right people would talk to the government with the right proposals and promote it in such a way that the government would see the potential of bringing it here, then we could have a chance," Al Dah said.
"It would sell out the entire city, we are talking about our travel agencies, hotels and restaurants, our businesses and economy receiving a major boost. The impact would be big for the entire market and it would open the door, not only to Dubai, but the entire region. People would come from all over the world," he said.
"It is my hope and my dream to see these guys fight in the UAE. What I'm saying is a lot of people don't understand the enormity of this event. It's huge and would require US$50 million (Dh185.655 million) to bring it here. But the eyes of the world would be on Dubai and it would go down in history," he said.
"I have already spoken to the likes of Evander Holyfield and Shannon Briggs in recent weeks about the possibilities of fighting here and they are both very interested. Everybody wants to come to the new market, together we can build and promote the emirate as a destination and a new market for sport. Our target - and it's not a small target - is to stage a big name fight at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Sports Complex in front of 15,000," he said.
In the mean time, Al Dah, 33, who has won seven, lost two in nine fights, is looking to events like the DIBC to steadily build the profile of the sport in the emirate. "This is the fourth such event in as many years and each time we have seen the interest increase. We've shifted the venue to the Aviation Club this time to incorporate an even bigger crowd and we've widened our range of disciplines to mixed martial arts and kick-boxing and Muay Thai to provide something for everyone.
"Once you build that relationship between the sport and the people, you can then look to staging even bigger and better events in the future, filling up stadiums and bringing in the world's best fighters."
In all, the DIBC will witness eight mixed discipline fights, with US MMA star Bob "The Beast" Sapp headlining.
The February 2 event runs from 7:30pm to 11:30pm. Tickets are available from Virgin Mega Store, Time Out Tickets and selected stations in Enoc and Epco, as well as on www.boxofficeme.com. Ticket prices are from Dh150 to Dh550.
