Saturday’s two biggest sporting events — the megafight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao and the Kentucky Derby — have joined forces. The aptly named Itsaknockout, one of the horses in the 20-horse field at Churchill Downs, is being sponsored by the co-promoters of the fight.
Leo Santa Cruz finally knows who he is fighting Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden. The World Boxing Council super bantamweight champion will meet Jose Cayetano in a scheduled 10-round bout on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao main event.
It could be a 12-round slugfest, with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao trading staggering shots to whip the crowd into a frenzy. It could be one of the most memorable battles in boxing history.
If Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao is indeed the Fight of the Century, it will mean that over the next 85 years, nothing in boxing will approach it in terms of interest, anticipation and how much one is willing pay to split a pay-per-view purchase with one’s chums.
Whether it was ticket allocations or hotel rooms or myriad other smaller details, it has been a frustrating time for Bob Arum, a promoter who has done thousands of fights going back to the 1960s when he started promoting Muhammad Ali’s fights and is used to being in control.
MGM’s Garden Arena will hold about 16,000 spectators for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, but as many as 200,000 boxing fans are expected in Las Vegas over the weekend.
In anticipation of a crush of fight fans swarming the MGM Grand, the host hotel’s Crush restaurant is planning the “ultimate VIP experience.”
Floyd Mayweather Jr. will exceed even his highest expectations on Saturday. He will make close to $200 million for fighting Manny Pacquiao at the sold-out MGM Grand Garden before what is expected to be a record pay-per-view audience.
Veteran referee Vic Drakulich, who has been battling a rare form of abdominal cancer for three years, will work on the undercard of Saturday’s megafight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden.
As the May 2 megafight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden draws closer, the P.R. teams for both fighters decided to have a little fun with the promotion and put together a list of “Did You Know?” facts.
Promoter Bob Arum says Manny Pacquiao may pass on attending Tuesday’s “grand arrival” at the MGM for the megafight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
You’re probably not going to watch the Fight of the Century in person on May 2. But at least you can buy a $35 T-shirt — 0r even a $10,000 charcoal framed pastel — at a pop-up merchandise store that opened in a downtown Las Vegas parking lot at noon Friday.
Tickets — 12,000 at $10 apiece — to watch Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight step on the scale sold out out in just under an hour on Friday. MGM officials are trying to clear room for more closed circuit seating at their properties.
What few tickets that were made available for public sale for the May 2 Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao megafight at the MGM Grand Garden sold out in less than two minutes Thursday. Tickets were priced from $1,500 to $7,500.
The much-hyped megafight between Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is just 9 days away and the biggest names in sports and entertainment are taking sides.
