Five things you should know about Mayweather-Pacquiao
The May 2 welterweight championship unification bout between undefeated Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will be the most lucrative fight of all time, with revenues estimated to be $400 million or more, well above the current record of $150 million. Here are five things you need to know about a fight that has been six years in the making.
1. Tickets: If you're looking for tickets to the biggest fight, certainly of this century, well, good luck. Initial ticket prices were announced at $7,500 for ringside seats with nosebleeds at $1,500. But where do you find them? There are none available on StubHub, which says it will not list them until there are actual tickets printed, and as of Sunday, less than two weeks before the fight, that has not happened. Only about 1,000 tickets are expected to be released to the public. Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, has said that he believes only high rollers with $250,000 lines of credit at the MGM Grand will get ringside seats. On the secondary market, be prepared to pay a steep mark-up. On the web site MasterTicket.Center, prices range from $6,099 per for "cheap" seats to $84,088 for ringside seats. Even the weigh-in, traditionally free, will cost $10 to see Mayweather and Pacquiao strip down to their underwear, step on the scale and then scowl at each other. Fortunately, all that money will go to charity.
2. Pay-per-view stars: The Mayweather-Pacquiao mega fight is expected to break the record for pay-per-view buys with between 3 million and 4 million at $89 to $99 each. That would put Mayweather in five of the top 10 PPV fights of all time, including the top three. The current record is 2.48 million for his fight against Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, and followed by 2.2 million for his fight with Canelo Alvarez in 2013. Mike Tyson holds four spots in the top 10. Manny Pacquaio's name is missing from the top 10, though he has exceeded 1 million in PPV buys six times, same as Mayweather.
3. Knockout power: While Mayweather and Pacquiao are ranked 1-2 on most pound-for-pound lists, they are not in the ballpark for top knockout artists. Mayweather has knocked out 55% of his opponents and Pacquiao 59%. Neither has registered a knockout since Mayweather's controversial fourth-round KO of Victor Ortiz on Sept. 17, 2011. Many called it a sucker punch as Mayweather floored Ortiz while Ortiz had his head turned talking to referee Joe Cortez. Pacquiao's last knockout - besides the one where he was knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012 - came nearly six years ago, a 12th-round TKO against Miguel Cotto. That was the last of four consecutive knockouts for the Filipino superstar, the others being Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and David Diaz. Mayweather also KO'd Hatton in 2007. De La Hoya says neither has real knockout power anymore, relying more on quickness, footwork and smarts.
4. Crossing divisional lines: Both fighters started small. Mayweather's first title was at super featherweight (130 pounds), and he has won titles all the way up to light middleweight (154 pounds). He currently holds both welterweight and light middleweight belts. He has also won titles at lightweight and super lightweight. Pacquiao has won titles at flyweight (112 pounds), super bantamweight (122 pounds), featherweight (126) super featherweight (130), lightweight (135), super lightweight (140), welterweight (147) and junior middleweight (154). Pacquiao's eight division titles is a record, and two better than De La Hoya. The winner on May 2 will be the lineal welterweight champion.
5. Favoring Floyd: Mayweather will receive a 60% revenue split, with Pacquiao getting 40%. Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, has said that on the Monday morning following the fight, he will hand Pacquiao a check for $50 million - guaranteed - and that's just a down payment. Mayweather's initial check will be considerably bigger. Bottom line is both players will earn well over $100 million. Per their contract, Mayweather's name is mentioned first in the billing. He will walk to the ring second, be introduced second and will have his choice of ring corner and locker room in the arena. And there will be no Glovegate, as Mayweather and Marcos Maidana had in their first fight. The gloves were settled in the contract.