Townsville comes out as a winner after epic Horn v Tszyu fight night
Tim Tszyu’s domination of Jeff Horn at Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Wednesday night has delivered a major boost for Townsville – and maybe the chance of a world title fight.
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Tim Tszyu’s domination of Jeff Horn at Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Wednesday night has delivered a major boost for Townsville – and maybe the chance of a world title fight.
The blockbuster drew more than 13,000 fans with many staying on in the city for the Supercars green light tomorrow.
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The influx of people to the fight and the motor racing means for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, accommodation houses have been booked out.
Townsville Enterprise director of visitor economy and marketing Lisa Woolfe said it had been a really exciting week for the tourism and events industry.
She said the CBD was extremely busy on Wednesday night with most pubs and clubs booked out before and after the bout.
“In total over the next two weeks – including the boxing, and the double-header Supercars weekends – these events will inject $5 million into our economy at a time when our community needs it most.
“There is still a long road ahead for our tourism industry and this has been a welcome boost but it won’t last long, so we need to continue to encourage locals, and Queenslanders to support our industry, and continue to look for ways to stimulate our visitor economy.”
Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill congratulated the event organisers on how well the night ran.
She watched the fight from the front row with Tourism Minister Kate Jones, NRL legend Jonathan Thurston and former Cowboys coach Paul Green.
She said Townsville showed it could put on an event to rival the big cities, a sentiment echoed by boxing promoters Matt Rose and Dean Lonergan.
Both said that they would love to return to Townsville to hold a world title fight.
Even newly crowned Australian champion, Tim Tszyu, was impressed with the stadium, saying he was eager to return for another bout.
Cr Hill said the benefit to Townsville was hard to calculate because the fight was broadcast all around the world and the region was promoted heavily.
“I was speaking to people watching it in Melbourne and they said they hadn’t seen the town look so good,” Cr Hill said.
“It made them envious.”
She hopes the fight will get people talking about Townsville and thinking it would be a great place to visit, or even live and work.
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“It showed we are the events capital of Northern Australia,” Cr Hill said.
“So I am really hopeful that we can get more events like this.
“A lot of promoters are keen to come to Townsville and I would love to see a world title fight held at the stadium.
“We showed we have the ability to do it as well as any of the capital cities.”
Originally published as Townsville comes out as a winner after epic Horn v Tszyu fight night