by David P. Greisman

The March 2 card featuring a main event of Richard Abril vs. Sharif Bogere had 1,137 tickets sold and another 311 tickets given away for free, according to figures provided by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Another 209 tickets went unsold.

The seven-fight card — held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and aired on Showtime and Showtime Extreme — pulled in a total gate of $116,250. That is an average of $102.24 per ticket sold.

These figures are comparable with the Jan. 26 card featuring a main event of Lucas Matthysse against late replacement Mike Dallas Jr. That card also had 1,137 tickets sold, with 376 tickets given away for free and 145 tickets going unsold. The gate was $116,925, for an average of $102.84 per ticket sold.

Abril vs. Bogere wasn’t initially going to take place in Las Vegas, nor was it to be the main event. It was supposed to be a supporting bout to a featherweight title bout featuring Daniel Ponce De Leon vs. Jayson Velez at the Apollo Theater in New York City. But when Velez got injured prior to that bout, the card was moved out west.

Abril, who holds a lightweight title belt, scored a unanimous decision over Bogere and improved to 18-3-1 with 8 knockouts. Bogere suffered his first pro loss and is now 23-1 with 15 knockouts.

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter @fightingwords2 or send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com