The fight card that was set to take place in San Francisco with the overly ambitious goal of breaking the world record for attendance at a boxing event has been cancelled.
The live sports entertainment organization, iVB, headed by Ed Pereira, announced Monday that the fight card that was slated for July 11 at Civic Center Plaza headlined by Anthony Olascuaga defending his WBO flyweight title against Andy Dominguez was cancelled because of "logistical concerns."
"Due to growing logistical concerns, it is with regret that the event scheduled for 11th July at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco has been cancelled," the statement read. "The previously announced card, headlined by Anthony Olascuaga vs. Andy Dominguez, will still be taking place, with a new date and venue to be confirmed in the coming days."
The plan was for the event to draw more than 100,000 fans to the streets of San Francisco and break the record for attendance set by the 1941 fight between Tony Zale and Billy Pryor at Juneau Park in Milwaukee, which drew 135,132 fans.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, things went awry when Silverback, a local events production company, sent an email to city parks officials Monday morning withdrawing the permit application to host the boxing event next month outside City Hall.
Promoter Sampson Lewkowicz told ESPN that Olascuaga vs. Dominguez will be rescheduled for July in Las Vegas at a venue to be determined. He also noted that reports that there were money issues that led to the event's cancelation were untrue.
"Those reports are fake news because I am the promoter of the show and I have the money in the bank," Lewkowicz said. "I was part of the decision to cancel the show and the reason was due to logistical concerns."
Lewkowicz suggested that staffing security for an event of that scale was one of the primary concerns that led to the cancelation.