State Government to help Danny Green's title fight bid for Perth

8/12/04
The State Government today announced it would support Perth being chosen for the undisputed world boxing title bid of Western Australian boxer Danny Green.
If the bid is successful over Germany, the $500,000 package will help Green Machine promotions fund the staging of the event in Perth in areas such as venue preparation, seating and promotion.
Premier Geoff Gallop said Danny Green was a passionate Western Australian who was keen to see his super middle weight division bout with German Markus Beyer in February held here in Perth.
"Danny told me that support by Western Australians - both financially through the State Government and through well-wishes - would add enormously to his chances of winning," Dr Gallop said.

"It would be a milestone to have a world title fight held here in Perth and give Western Australians a chance to support Danny.
"It would also be an excellent investment for WA, because the bout would be screened across the world - putting the spotlight on WA as an exciting and attractive place to visit.
"My Government wants to continue to demonstrate that WA is more than capable of staging world class international sporting events."
The event is sanctioned by the World Boxing Commission as a mandatory competition and is required to be staged within three months of a location being agreed between both parties. The decision to host this event will be made on December 11 in Mexico where both groups will put their bids on the table for the right to stage the event.
The Premier said this world championship boxing title bout was expected to rival the attention received by the Kostya Tszyu (Australia) - vs - Jesse James Leija (USA) bout held at Victoria's Telstra Dome last year, where there was an audience of more than 28,000 people and an estimated television viewing of 25 million in the USA alone.
Dr Gallop said it was estimated 15,000 people would attend the Green event, planned for the Burswood Dome, with more than 500 interstate and international visitors expected to arrive just for the fight, and significant world media attention focusing on Perth in the lead-up to the event.
"We have an opportunity to capitalise on the worldwide television audience generated by this event in some of WA's core tourism markets - including Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Malaysia, Japan, New Zealand and the USA," the Premier said.
The State Government, through EventsCorp, has successfully staged other major sporting events including the Hopman Cup, Johnnie Walker Golf Classic, the Gravity Games and the Iron Man Western Australia event. It is estimated these types of events generated more than $35million in economic activity this year.
The Government is also awaiting the announcement of whether its decision to provide $25million for Rugby WA's bid to have a Super 14 Rugby side based in Perth will be successful. The rugby announcement is expected this Friday, December 10.
Premier's office: 9222 9475