Megafight brings big bucks to Strip hawkers

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao weren’t the only ones making money Saturday.

A street hawker by the name of “Taco Johnson” from Los Angeles was standing on Las Vegas Boulevard in front of the MGM Grand and peddling unlicensed hats and T-shirts that he bought for $6 each and sold for $15 each to tourists.

Maybe he didn’t make more than $100 million like Mayweather and Pacquaio, but a $9 profit multiplied by several hundred meant that he made an easy $2,000 for handing over caps and shirts for cash.

“I usually ask for $20, but I don’t turn down $15,” Johnson said

A nearby MayPacStore.com truck was selling licensed T-shirts for $35 each while the hotels were huckstering shirts for $55 and more, so Johnson enjoyed brisk business by undercutting the licensed merchandise purveyors.

“You don’t have to work to sell this stuff,” he said. “This stuff sells itself.”

An eager customer was Naomi Bailey of San Diego, who said she was half-black and half-Filipino, so she decided to buy both Mayweather and Pacquaio items from the street peddler.

Bailey’s friend Kelly, a San Diego resident who declined to give her last name, observed, “Everybody has their hustle.”

Just because Johnson was busy hustling didn’t mean the MayPacStore truck wasn’t busy. A line of merchandise-hungry tourists led from a truck side window to the Las Vegas Boulevard sidewalk. Japanese tourists Daisuke Sakai and Kentaro Onuma flew in for fight weekend, and each bought a T-shirt for $35 a pop.

The chaotic street scene of tourists packing the Strip sidewalk and buying fight merchandise startled Sakai.

“It’s crazy. People are just psyched. You don’t see this kind of chaos in Japan,” said Sakai, who planned on sneaking into a Las Vegas bar to watch the fight on TV.

Inside the arena, fight fan Mike Lee from Chicago understood why fans bought bootlegged merchandise because he said a store inside Mandalay Bay was selling T-shirts for $70.

“The prices are ridiculous,” Lee said.

The merchandise sellers are well aware of the street sales. At one of the MGM Grand Garden arena merchandise stands, vendor Jay Zuniga said undercover officers were paid to hit the streets and confiscate the unlicensed items.

Business was busy inside the arena, where about 16,700 fans generated a $72 million gate. Throw in 3 million to 4 million pay-per-view buys at $99.95 each, and you see why Mayweather and Pacquaio enjoyed the most lucrative night of their lives.

Contact Alan Snel at asnel@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273. Find him on Twitter: @BicycleManSnel.