Oscar De La Hoya, shown after his May 6 victory over Ricardo Mayorga for the WBC 154-pound title, has a 38-4 record with 30 knockouts. Photo by John Locher.
Super welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., with a 37-0 record and 24 knockouts, is regarded as the best fighter in the world. Photo by Clint Karlsen.
Oscar De La Hoya ceded the home-court advantage to unbeaten Las Vegan Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Wednesday, announcing the MGM Grand as the site of their May 5 bout for a super welterweight title.
A paid gate of nearly $19.3 million will probably ease some of De La Hoya's pain of not fighting at home in the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the other site that was considered.
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The Grand Garden will be set up to hold 15,799.
The 1999 heavyweight rematch between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield attracted a paid gate of $16.8 million to the Thomas & Mack Center, the largest gate in North American boxing history.
The bout between De La Hoya (38-4, 30 knockouts), the sport's most popular attraction, and Mayweather (37-0, 24 KOs), widely regarded as its best fighter, is expected to be the largest-grossing bout in history.
Pay-per-view sales are expected to exceed the nonheavyweight record of 1.4 million set in 1999 when De La Hoya lost to Felix Trinidad at Mandalay Bay in a battle of unbeaten welterweights.
Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO Sports, said De La Hoya-Mayweather has a chance to break the pay-per-view record of 2 million set in 2002 for a heavyweight title fight between Lewis and Mike Tyson.
Tickets will go on sale in January, but Richard Schaefer, CEO of De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, said he doubts many will be available to the public. Most will be purchased by the casino and other sponsors before any public sale is offered.
Fans on a budget might want to consider other entertainment options that weekend. The top ticket price will be a state-record $2,000, while the most inexpensive will be $350 -- the same as 35 pavilion seats at Dodger Stadium in 2007.
"This is going to be the biggest boxing event in history," Schaefer said. "Every revenue stream is setting records: HBO, the foreign rights, closed circuit, sponsorships. I think it's an indication of how the pay per view is going to do.
"We have a long time to promote this fight and we'll be able to do it properly. Already, there is extraordinary interest and we still have about six months to go."
Mayweather remains the favorite at the MGM Mirage sports book. He was bet up to minus-225 from the opening number of minus-220. De La Hoya has gone from an opening plus-180 to plus-185.
