Tag: madison square garden

Amanda Serrano wins and becomes undisputed champ

Amanda Serrano finally has all four belts in her weight class.

Next, she can have revenge on Katie Taylor.

Serrano wore down a bloody Erika Cruz and won a unanimous decision Saturday night at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden to become the undisputed featherweight champion and set up a rematch with fellow champ Taylor.

They fought a thriller last year at Madison Square Garden and are expecting nothing less in Ireland on May 20.

“The last fight was an epic fight and I think the next one’s going to be exactly the same,” Taylor said.

Before that, Serrano got the better of a bout in which the fighters stood close and kept swinging throughout, emerging with the victory by scores of 98-92 on two cards and 97-93 on the other.

Cruz spent much of the fight wiping away blood from near her eyes after a clash of heads in the third round. With the Mexican’s light blue outfit turning progressively redder during the bout, perhaps Serrano was helped find the range with her combinations.

Afterward, promoter Eddie Hearn said Serrano (44-2-1, 30 KOs) and Taylor, who joined him in the ring, would meet again. Taylor, the undisputed champion at lightweight, edged Serrano by split decision last April 30 before a sold-out crowd in the first women’s match to headline at Madison Square Garden.


Amanda Serrano (left) delivers a hard body blow to Erika Cruz during her unanimous decision victory.
AP

Back in the Garden, this time in the smaller Hulu Theater, Serrano found herself with another tough test, but this one went her way.

And she thinks her next match will, too.

“I’ve done enough and I will do more,” Serrano said of the rematch.

The match with Taylor was one of the most significant in women’s boxing history and lived up to the hype, earning numerous fight of the year awards. Taylor won most of the late rounds to pull it out, perhaps a little stronger with Serrano moving up two weight classes to fight her.

Back at her preferred weight of 126, Serrano appeared to be the fresher fighter Saturday. She won the final eight rounds on one card and the last seven on another.

Cruz (15-2) held the fourth and final belt that Serrano needed to complete her goal of becoming the first undisputed champion from Puerto Rico, and made her work for it.

The fighters stood close — close enough to bang heads and open a cut on Cruz’s forehead — and traded combinations for what largely an even first few rounds. But the pace appeared to catch up with Cruz in the fifth, and fatigue might have been a factor when Serrano caught her with a good shot in the final seconds of the round.

Serrano than accelerated the pressure in the sixth, the most decisive round of the fight. A quick, short right froze Cruz and Serrano followed up with a flurry that drove the Mexican from one side of the ring to the other.


Amanda Serrano poses with all the belts after defeating Erika Cruz during their fight for Serrano's WBC, WBO and IBF featherweight titles and Cruz's WBA featherweight title at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Amanda Serrano poses with all the belts after defeating Erika Cruz during their fight for Serrano’s WBC, WBO and IBF featherweight titles and Cruz’s WBA featherweight title at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Getty Images

The 34-year-old Serrano, a champion in seven weight classes who decided late in her career to focus on featherweight, smiled throughout the ring introductions. She pumped her arms to encourage louder cheers from her Puerto Rican fans — who moments later began booing when Taylor was shown on a large video screen in the arena.

Both they were all smiles in the ring together afterward talking about what will be the unbeaten Taylor’s first pro fight in Ireland.

“Now she deserves to fight in Ireland and it’s going to be a bigger and better fight over there,” Serrano said.

Alycia Baumgardner gave the 130-pound division an undisputed champion with a unanimous decision victory over Elhem Mekhaled. Baumgardner (14-1, 7 KOs) added the vacant WBA belt to the three she had held since last year, using a pair of knockdowns to cruise to scores of 99-89 on two cards and 98-90 on the other.

After a couple competitive rounds to start, Baumgardner landed a right in the third round that momentarily buckled Mekhaled’s legs. She quickly pounced and dropped her, and after Mekhaled (15-2) got up, Baumgardner swarmed her with a sustained attack that sent her to the canvas again.

Baumgardner had Mekhaled hurt again in the seventh, driving her back into the ropes and appearing close to stopping her before Mekhaled was able to escape the round and they had a good exchange in the eighth.

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James Dolan eyes sale of Tao nightclub and restaurant empire

Billionaire James Dolan has quietly moved to auction off the upscale Tao nightclub and restaurant chain — a move that insiders said looks like a desperate bid to fund the ballooning tab for a costly project in another arm of his entertainment empire, The Post has learned.

The New York mogul’s Madison Square Garden Entertainment — the conglomerate that owns not only the landmark home to the New York Knicks and Rangers, but also Radio City Music Hall and the Rockettes, among other properties — has hired Goldman Sachs to explore a sale of Tao Group, sources close to the situation said.

First-round bids for Tao — whose pricey clubs have long been playgrounds for Wall Street financiers and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Bella Hadid and Justin Bieber — are being submitted now, two sources with knowledge of the situation said.

Houston Rockets and Golden Nugget Casino owner Tilman Fertitta is a rumored suitor for Tao, one of the sources said.

Insiders say James Dolan wants a premium price well above Morgan Stanley’s valuation as Tao expands beyond its New York City and Las Vegas base to the Middle East.
Robert Sabo for NY Post

Last month, a Morgan Stanley analyst calculated that Tao — which operates 32 New York City restaurants and clubs like Beauty & Essex, Lavo and Bar Moxy, as well as dozens of other venues in hotspots like London, Singapore and Dubai — was worth $524 million.

By that estimate, MSGE’s 67% stake in Tao would be worth $274 million, when subtracting Tao’s $85 million in debt. Insiders say that’s a sum that could help Dolan close a $600 million gap in the construction budget for the MSG Sphere, a state-of-the-art entertainment venue he’s building in Las Vegas whose price tag has nearly doubled to $2.2 billion.

Nevertheless, insiders say Dolan wants a premium price well above Morgan Stanley’s valuation as Tao expands beyond its New York City and Las Vegas base to the Middle East and Miami.

Tao’s pricey clubs have long been playgrounds for Wall Street financiers and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Bella Hadid, above, and Justin Bieber.
Getty Images for Tao Group Hospi

“Jim is looking at a 12 times Ebitda multiple,” a source with close knowledge of the sale said, which would be nearly $800 million. “It’s probably worth seven to eight.”

“Lots of rents on Tao properties are up in the next five years,” the source added, explaining why the multiple should be in the single digits. “You also have to continually reinvest.”

The source believes Dolan needing money to fund The Sphere might take a more reasonable price, although the source added that Dolan has a history of exploring and then canceling auctions.

The price tag of Dolan’s state-of-the-art entertainment venue Sphere has nearly doubled to $2.2 billion.
AP

MSGE declined to comment when contacted by The Post on Wednesday.

In 2017, Madison Square Garden had acquired its controlling stake in Tao for $181 million, with Tao founders Marc Packer, Rich Wolf, Noah Tepperberg and Jason Strauss retaining a minority stake in the business.

Tao has lately recovered from business woes that started even before the pandemic. The company was at risk of defaulting on its debt in 2019 after its revenue fell in half. MSG came in and loaned Tao $49 million after Tao lender JPMorgan refused to roll over its full $100 million loan, sources said.

Houston Rockets and Golden Nugget Casino owner Tilman Fertitta is a rumored suitor for Tao, sources said.
USA TODAY Sports

Last year, Tao Group paid $99 million to acquire Hakkasan Group — a global chain of upscale restaurants and clubs with outposts in London, Las Vegas the Middle East and Asia — a deal that was generally considered to be shrewd and lucrative, sources said.

Sources said the Tao sale looks like a key source of cash for Dolan as he looks to raise money for the MSG Sphere. On Dec. 22, the project announced it had borrowed $275 million from a JPMorgan-led lender group.

On Dec. 6, MSGE announced it was going to spin off its namesake arena, along with Radio City Music Hall, the Radio City Rockettes and Christmas Spectacular and other live-entertainment properties into a separate, publicly traded company this spring. Proceeds from that spinoff could total nearly $600 million if it’s successful, according to analysts.

Meanwhile, MSG Networks — the so-called regional sports networks, or RSNs that air local cable-TV broadcasts of Knicks games, as well as those of the NHL’s Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils — will remain at the parent company that currently houses the Tao Group and the MSG Sphere.

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Scalpers sue MSG after Knicks, Rangers tix aren’t renewed

No matter who wins this lawsuit, fans will likely lose.

Two dozen Knicks and Rangers season ticket holders — self described “resellers” who glom up tickets and then sell them on StubHub and secondary markets at inflated prices — accuse Madison Square Garden of cutting them off to increase its own profits, according to a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.

The plaintiffs, mostly tri-state area residents and one Israeli, say MSG for years willingly sold them ducats, but now that the Rangers are “a perennial playoff contender” and the Knicks “relevant” again, the Garden wants its tickets back.

The Sept. 7 filing has fueled an epic battle between the plaintiffs’ attorneys and MSG. On Friday, the Post reported that nearly 60 lawyers at the commercial law and government relations firm of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron have been banned from Rangers and Knicks games because their clients are suing MSG, new court papers allege.

The plaintiffs said the Knicks are finally “relevant” again.
for the NY POST

In the September case, the scorned scalpers contend “MSG’s end game is to reclaim the tickets, create a monopoly, and reap a windfall by selling the tickets exclusively through its own ‘authorized’ out-of-state reseller,” the Sept. 7 filing says. Currently, face-value tickets can only be purchased directly from Ticketmaster or the Garden’s box office.

“After many years of relying on [the local resellers] to purchase Knicks and Rangers season tickets at exorbitant prices when the teams respective performance and records were abysmal, MSG has in utter bad faith elected to not renew” their season tickets, the suit says.

The 21-page complaint paints the scalpers in a noble light.

Now, face-value tickets can only be purchased from Ticketmaster or the Garden’s box office.
AP

“For years plaintiffs have been loyal to MSG through playoff droughts, postseason
failures, coaching musical chairs, and constant disruptive sideshows. During that same time period, it was MSG who actively solicited plaintiffs’ business, including through the COVID-19 pandemic,” the suits says.

An MSG spokesman countered, “We want our season ticket memberships to be made up of our loyal Knicks and Rangers fans, not professional ticket brokers. This lawsuit is without merit, and we maintain the right to not offer season tickets.”

In the latest salvo, the legal eagles allege MSG declared the historic arena was “banning” the firm’s “attorneys from entering venues owned and operated” by MSG, according to a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit from Thursday.

It came as a surprise to most of the firm’s team who aren’t involved in the legal brawl with MSG, and who now find themselves “pariahs,” the Thursday filing claims. The suit is asking for an emergency order from a judge to reinstate firm co-founder and managing partner Larry Hutcher’s season tickets and overturn the ban against the firm.

Either way, there is no free lunch for Rangers or Knicks fans.

The plaintiffs also allege that the Rangers are “a perennial playoff contender.”
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Po

A center-ice seat for the Rangers-Tampa Bay Lightning opening-night game on Oct. 11 ran $1,100 if you purchased through MSG-partner Ticketmaster, but upwards of $2,000 on the secondary market. A ticket near the floor at the Knicks’ opening game Oct. 21 vs. the Detroit Pistons will cost you $1,991 if you buy on the secondary market, and $490 through Ticketmaster, according to recent listings.

The Garden’s actions restrict the “existing free market” and will drive up ticket prices, the scalpers claim.

“There is no doubt that the average ticket buyer would be benefited by our success in the lawsuit because it will establish a real market place for the tickets,” said Hutcher, the attorney for the ticket brokers who is now in crosshairs of the latest litigation.

At least one sports junkie wasn’t buying either side’s spiel in the original dispute.

“It’s a lose-lose situation for the fans,” said diehard Knicks follower Michael Alcazar, 55. “It’s hard for me to feel sorry for the [resellers]. In the end, I’m still paying a high mark-up for the tickets and the Garden prices are exorbitant too,” the Queens-bred criminal justice professor said.

The suit seeks unspecified damages.

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