[BOXING] Morales vs Garcia - The Road To Fight Night

This assignment for the Houston Press was to shoot the events leading up to fight night as well as shooting the fights. I shot the public workouts/media event, I opted not to shoot the press conference but shot the weigh-ins, the fights and the post fight press conference.

For the actual fights I was not going to be shooting ringside. For one, we requested our credentials just a little beyond the media deadline. I also shoot for an alternative weekly, it's not a sports publication but we do cover sports. So therefore I was assigned to shoot the fights from a media area. The media area was the last row (21st row) of the top bowl of Reliant Arena. While Reliant Arena (not Reliant Stadium) is big, it's not huge so while I was not ringside, armed with my 300mm, I was able to get a few decent shots of the fight action.

The goal of my slideshow was to get a feel for the weeks events. Morales vs Garcia wasn't the only fight that night, there were at least a dozen fights. I opted to mostly concentrate on the main event. I knew I wasn't going to be able to publish very many shots and I limited myself to almost all shots of the main event fighters throughout the week.

While I would've loved to have shot ringside, just being there was cool and having media access was a huge perk. I was able to walk the main floor, although I wasn't supposed to shoot the action from anywhere other than my perch high above the ring. I had access to the back of the house where HBO Sports had their production trailers set up, I had access to non-public restrooms (another perk in an arena where almost everyone is drinking and having to wait in long restroom lines), free coffee and water and access to the media area on the second floor of the arena.

The complete slideshow can be found here, HBO Boxing: Morales vs Garcia

Equipment used: Canon 5D, Canon 5D Mark II, 300mm F/4.0L, 70-200mm F/2.8L, 24-70mm F/2.8L, 17-35mm F/2.8-4.0, 15mm F/2.8 Fisheye.

1.

Fighter Workouts - 03.21.12 - Houston, TX - 5DII_5398b by groovehouse, on Flickr

2.

Fighter Workouts - 03.21.12 - Houston, TX - 5DII_5431b by groovehouse, on Flickr

3. The local hispanic media went nuts for Morales. Morales opted not to workout on this day and used his time in the gym for interviews and photo ops.


Fighter Workouts - 03.21.12 - Houston, TX - 5DII_5546b by groovehouse, on Flickr

4. The actual weigh in was a madhouse. It was held in a predominantly mall that was predominantly hispanic, PlazAmericas Mall. The area was cordoned off but it was soon over-run with fans. I didn't realize the main event fighters were going to be first. I thought they would weigh all the undercards then the main event, but it was first and I wasn't prepared. I missed some photo ops but walked away with a couple of good images. This being one.


WBC Weigh In - 03.23.12 - Houston, TX - 5DII_5880b by groovehouse, on Flickr

5. This was a Golden Boy Promotions fight, so Oscar De La Hoya was all over the place and everywhere he went he was mobbed.


WBC Weigh In - 03.23.12 - Houston, TX - 5D_5420b by groovehouse, on Flickr

6. A near sold out arena. Shot with my fisheye, I wanted a feel for the arena and the fisheye encompasses the whole thing.


HBO Boxing - WBC - 03.24.12 - Houston, TX - 5D_5561b by groovehouse, on Flickr

7. One of my best action shots from my perch high above. This shot shows the force of one of Morales's punches. Look at Garcia's ribs! Check out the depth of that punch! Don't tell me that didn't hurt. I have a few other action shots on my Flickr, but I didn't get many of these published as they are all from the same angle and honestly kinda boring after viewing a couple.


HBO Boxing - WBC - 03.24.12 - Houston, TX - 5DII_6562b by groovehouse, on Flickr

8. This photo was taken just as one of the spotlights reflected into my lens. The original image is almost all blue. I edited this photo to try to get a more natural look but the aberration of the spotlight was too difficult to correct. While I really like this image, I didn't submit it for the assignment because of the bad color but I liked it enough to keep it.

HBO Boxing - WBC - 03.24.12 - Houston, TX - 5DII_7086b by groovehouse, on Flickr

9. This is a shot of the #2 contender, standing in the dreadlocks, for Danny Garcia's new title. Danny was challenged during the press conference to a title fight. Oscar De La Hoya diffused the challenge and told both parties this could be discussed at a later date.


HBO Boxing - WBC - 03.24.12 - Houston, TX - 5DII_7216b by groovehouse, on Flickr

10. The arena after the fights. Crews working hard to clear the place out.


HBO Boxing - WBC - 03.24.12 - Houston, TX - 5DII_7258b by groovehouse, on Flickr

 

I thought about it but figured it belonged here in Other Sports.