The Mayweather Vs Pacquiao bout may be coming 5 years late at least, but the world has been gripped by the hype around it nonetheless. Both boxers are viewed as the best pound-for-pound fighters on the face of the planet at the moment and here are six things you’ll need to know about what has been dubbed the “fight of the century”:
#1 : The venue for the fight is the MGM Grand Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Duh.
#2: The fight is on Saturday May 2. The gates will be flung open at the venue at 2pm local time, with the first bout scheduled for 3pm. The main event comes up five hours later around 8pm.
Las Vegas is eight hours behind Nigeria which means Mayweather vs Pacquiao will not begin in this country until around 4am on Sunday Nigerian time.
It’s important to note that boxing matches frequently begin much later than advertised.
#3: In Floyd Mayweather’s corner will be Mayweather Snr. (trainer), Rafael Garcia (cutman), and Roger Mayweather (assistant).
In Pacquiao’s corner will be Freddie Roach (Trainer), Justin Fortune (Cutman), & Buboy Fernandez (Assistant).
#4: If four million people buy the fight, the purse will be around $200m, which is £129m. Of that sum, Mayweather would take home £76m to Pacquiao’s £53m, due to the 60:40 split agreed between the fighters.
#5: Mayweather, 38, is unbeaten in 47 professional fights stretching back to 1996 and has won world titles in five different weight classes.
Pacquiao, 36, is a six-weight world champion and has been beaten five times in 64 fights since turning pro in 1995.
#6: American boxing fans at the arena will have to pay almost $100 (£65) to watch the action.
The Mayweather-Pacquiao bout will shatter the records for pay-per-view buys (2.5m for Mayweather versus De la Hoya in 2007) and pay-per-view revenue ($152m for Mayweather versus Saul Alvarez in 2013).
The live gate at the 16,000-capacity MGM Grand Arena will be $74m, more than triple the previous record and more than this year’s Super Bowl, which was watched by 70,000.
Tickets on the resale market are changing hands for six-figure sums, with most of that money finding its way back to the boxers.
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