Mayweather – Pacquiao, Price tag should be fair to the fans

Posted on Dec. 9th, 2009 by DB News Room

BY: Vitali Shaposhnikov

It seems as though the two boxing giants finally, after many years and fights, have agreed to contractual terms of their suggested mega-fight. After Pacquiao recently defeated Cotto, the instantaneous question in people’s minds was when the Mayweather fight would occur. It was the ‘where, and not the ‘if,’ that people pondered. Now, after the March 13th date has been set and agreed upon, there are lots of interesting things to discuss. This fight will bring many changes to various aspects of boxing. Ticket prices will be inflated, merchandise will flood the market, and overall fan preparations will be on a historical level. Of course some of the things we will be hearing in the near future are nothing more but public generated rumors, but some will be strict facts. In the following few paragraphs, I want to look at some of the major things happening, as of now.

I am not sure whether this is a rumor or indeed a fact, but we have all heard and read, that the starting ticket price for the cheapest seats will be somewhere around $500. Personally, I cannot imagine many people paying $500 to sit somewhere towards the back of the bleachers. In that case, HBO PPV would be a more reasonable choice. Hell, for $1000 one can buy an HDTV, and for another $100 order HBO HD+PPV and watch the fight from every good angle, with clear view of the action. Sure, the whole idea of an event like this is to be there, and be a part of the roaring crowd on their feet in anticipation of something happening. But in this troubling economy, I would expect a lot of hesitation from most die hard fans. All in all, a price tag like that would not be very fair to us the fans.

“The proposed March 13 Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather superfight could end up in an NFL football stadium instead of Las Vegas, the normal home of megafights. The new Dallas Cowboys Stadium, the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans and the Georgia Dome in Atlanta are in the running. It has been agreed that the fight will be for Pacman’s WBO welterweight title and both fighters will wear 8-ounce gloves from the manufacturer of their choice.” There is something great and very important about this proposal. Historically, this is a major deal, and it will house an eye shattering amount of boxing fans in one place. Possibly, it will pave a way for more fights of this stature to happen in arenas of that size. Just imagine, the new Dallas stadium, has an estimated space for 80,000 people, compared to 17,157 people at the MGM Garden Arena. A venue like this, with 80,000 roaring fans, will make this a real memorable “mega” fight.

The next interesting piece of information that I have come upon, is that Amir Khan is going to be Pacquiao’s sparring partner again. Whoever came up with this idea (Freddie Roach) is a genius. What is Mayweather well known for? Speed. What is Khan known for? Speed. In no way am I comparing those two together: I think Mayweather outclasses Khan in all aspects of boxing. Nonetheless, Khan’s speed is very good, his movement is evasive, and his footwork is also solid. Pacquiao will put Khan to good use in preparation for the Mayweather fight, and hopefully will adapt to that lighting fast hand speed.

This is just about all I have for now. As days and weeks go by, more and more information will surface. I will try to follow up on all the things that I mentioned, and will try to bring new interesting updates about the fight here to DiamondBoxing.

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Source: diamondboxing.com