MEMO: Police commissioner Andrew Scipioni.
If you want to stop the spate of drive-by shootings that's been plaguing Sydney, all you have to do is stage a world title eliminator between Garth Woodand Sam Soliman at Homebush.
"It will be the most eclectic mob a sporting event could garner," said promoter Barry Wood, former personal trainer of Kerry Packer and a tough old Newtown and Norths halfback.
"It will be made up of the hoi poloi, the battlers, the bikies, the punters, mobile snipers and colourful racing identities.
"It's said, that this is the fight that will stop drive-bys ... for a day."
Wood has been pounding the streets of Sydney this week, wearing a sandwich board proclaiming that this will be no "Mundane" fight.
He's right on plenty of fronts, especially when it comes to the crowd, which will be full of "colourful identities".
Notorious underworld figures and their entourages are coming from Melbourne to support Sam Soliman.
Kings Cross nightclub identities and their associates have booked seats in the opposite corner to cheer Garth Wood.
A well known strip club on the Golden Mile has purchased a table.
There will be the bikie gangs, too not that Wood Senior will mention which ones.
"They tend to have no sense of humour when you highlight their presence," he said, "just say they'll be seated well apart."
That the February 19 fight will not be televised means they can't watch from their usual haunts.
"Nobody will be asked for references when they buy tickets," Wood said. "And the security will be tighter than Gina Reinhart's purse strings."
