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Boxing fixture confirms Hamiltons event reputation

Tuesday 24 February 2009, 1:01PM

By Hamilton City Council

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HAMILTON

Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock says the city's ability to secure the David Tua versus Shane Cameron boxing contest cements Hamilton's reputation as an events destination.

"We are delighted to have reached terms with the promoters. We believe our sponsorship arrangement is prudent while offering significant promotional and economic benefits for the city," says Mayor Simcock.

The event will be held at Waikato Stadium on 6 June this year, underlining the multipurpose nature of the venue which in a short period will have hosted international football, motor cross, rugby league and now boxing.

"We are fortunate to have previously developed a soundly based strategy when it comes to securing major events. We were able to activate the processes behind our strategy at short notice … which is consistent with our philosophy of being a 'can do' city. For us the boxing neatly replaces the World Rally Championships which we had earlier budgeted on hosting, but will now not come to New Zealand this year."

The decision to allocate sponsorship funding to the 'Tua versus Cameron' event was made by Council's Event Sponsorship Sub Committee last week after a full meeting of Council had been briefed on the opportunity.

"It is important for people to understand that Council is not the promoter of this event. This is no different from us securing Rugby World Cup fixtures, performing arts festivals or the many other events that we support through sponsorship.

"Council's sponsorship is capped and any risk associated with this event is for Duco, the promoters, to worry about. Having said that we are confident that the event will be hugely successful for the city, coming prior to the Fieldays with no other events scheduled for Hamilton. We expect the economic benefits to be considerable."