“Pacquiao-Mayweather would be the biggest Money Fight in History”

“Pacquiao-Mayweather would be the biggest Money Fight in History”
By
Rondo Docille

Promoter Richard Steele, a Las Vegas insider and a hall of fame referee thinks that a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather would definitely break the 2.2 million pay per view record set by De La Hoya-Mayweather and commented, “I’m looking forward to the biggest fight in history with Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. That [match] would be the biggest money fight in history, without a doubt.”
Only five non-heavyweight fights in history have eclipsed the one million pay per view mark and those are De La Hoya-Trinidad with 1.4 millions buys, De La Hoya-Hopkins with 1 million buys, De La Hoya-Mayweather with 2.2 million buys, De La Hoya-Pacquiao with 1.25 million buys, and Mayweather-Marquez with 1 million sells.
De La Hoya’s heavily hyped bout with Mayweather in May of 2007 shattered even the most optimistic forecasts and is the only fight in history to break the 2 million-buy thresh-hold. And even though Golden Boy Promotion’s Richard Schaeffer stated before the bout that he thought it would break the non-heavyweight record established by De La Hoya-Trinidad in 1999, the bout which generated 120 million dollars in revenue, exceeded all expectations.
More recently, despite not selling out the MGM Grand, insiders were surprised that Mayweather’s fight with Marquez did a million buys, in lieu of the fact that Mayweather entered the bout as a prohibitive favorite with overwhelming advantages in age, speed, and size. The success of Mayweather-Marquez clearly established Floyd as the sport’s star attraction.
Because of the prospective revenue and media attention a clash between Pacquiao and Mayweather would generate, a number of insiders have stated that they are hoping that Pacquiao wins his upcoming fight with Miguel Cotto. Showtime’s Jim Gray noted, “I know we are all pointing towards Mayweather and Pacquiao so I don’t want to see this [Pacquiao-Cotto] upset that.”
Although the negotiations involving a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao would be contentious and laborious, prospective revenue exceeding 100 million dollars, which could translate into 30 million dollar pay-days for both Mayweather and Pacquiao will most likely persuade all the parties involved to come to the negotiating table to make the atch in the event that Pacquiao is victorious against Miguel Cotto on November 14.

Notes:
Favorite Quote:
In an interview at USA Today conducted by Michael Falgoust, Don King commented, “I’ve got all the time in the world to rest when I get to heaven.”
All weekend long, Don King was vocally displaying his gratitude to Phil Ruffin for enabling him to come back to the Las Vegas Strip. So just who is Phil Ruffin and why did King mention his name so often this past weekend? Well he’s one of the world’s billionaires, number 215 on the Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans, and bought the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas for 165 million dollars in 1998 and sold it in 2007 for 1.2 billion and then this past March he delved back into the Vegas casino industry when he bought the Treasure Island hotel for a reported 775 million dollars. Let’s hope that Ruffin decides to use boxing as a means of bringing in new clientele because he has the resources to make it happen.
Thomas Hauser has repeatedly criticized HBO’s Ross Greenburg in the media in a number of essays that have been scornful. Now I don’t think Greenburg has been as adept at maneuvering HBO Boxing as Lou Dibella or Seth Abrahams, but he deserves credit for starting HBO’s 24/7 series, which has reinvigorated pay per view boxing. He just needs to put his foot down and make the best fight the best. And if the fighters don’t want to, then he needs to tell them to try to get Showtime or ESPN to pony up the money.
I went into the sports book at the mirage on Sunday and Miguel Cotto with a straight win was a +260 underdog.


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