Tickets for Mayweather-Pacquiao weigh-in sell out

When the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao megafight got announced Feb. 20, Bob Arum was asked if it was possible that admission could be charged to attend the weigh-in the day before the fight.

“Are you (expletive) crazy?” Arum said. “They’re not going to charge people to get into the weigh-in.”

But Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, has come around on the issue. On Friday, 12,000 seats were put on sale at $10 apiece for fans to watch the two fighters step on the scale the day before their May 2 world welterweight unification title showdown at the MGM Grand Garden. Those seats sold out in just under an hour.

For many, the weigh-in is their only chance to be part of the fight. What few tickets that were available inside the 16,700-seat Grand Garden that were put on public sale at noon Thursday were gone in a flash. Virtually all of the 50,000 closed circuit television seats at 10 different MGM Resorts International properties on the Las Vegas Strip were sold Thursday afternoon.

According to an MGM spokesman, as of late Friday afternoon, a few CCTV seats were still available at New York-New York — and the MGM was looking at clearing more space at its properties to set up additional viewing areas and sell more tickets. The MGM is charging $150 plus handling to watch the fight on closed circuit.

But Friday was a day to hone in on the weigh-in. The MGM’s call center was swamped with requests from out-of-town buyers while local fans headed to the box office and grabbed whatever they could. All seats were reserved so the first in line, either in person or on the phone, got to be closest to the stage where the weigh-in will take place.

The money generated from the weigh-in ticket sales will be donated to charity, split evenly between the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which is Mayweather’s charity of choice, and the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, which Pacquiao will designate to receive the other half.

“It’s a win-win situation for all,” Arum said. “The charge of $10 will benefit two great charities. All proceeds will go right to them.”

The primary reason fans are going to need tickets is because of security. The promoters and the MGM don’t want an incident where capacity is reached and hundreds or even thousands of angry fans who can’t get in start causing problems. There have been previous weigh-ins where capacity was capped at a certain number and late-arriving fans were told there was no room and were denied admission, leaving them angry and confused.

The promoters and the hotel are hoping to avoid a similar scene from playing out next week. And while many fans will grumble about having to pay for something they’ve watched for free their entire lives and then having to go through a process to purchase tickets, the Grand Garden will still be filled for the Mayweather-Pacquiao weigh-in.

It also will give the MGM a chance to test-drive the heightened security measures which will be implemented on fight night. Fans will go through screening, have bags and purses checked and there will be a list of banned items which will not be permitted inside the arena.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter:

@stevecarprj