It has been more than 5 years in the making, but we have finally have the fight all boxing fans have wanted. Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather Jr vs Manny ‘Pac-Man’ Pacquiao, in what is now being dubbed the ‘Fight Of The Century’.
Arguably the 2 best ‘pound-for-pound’ boxers in the last 20 years will do battle on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Tickets for this colossal clash will range from $3500 to $250’000, although it is very unlikely any tickets will actually make their way on to general sale, and it is expected to make more than $300 million in per-per-view buys.
Pilipino Pacquaio has won World Titles in 8 different weight divisions, whereas American Mayweather has World Titles over 5 different divisions.
Whilst the anticipation for the fight is going through the roof, it is tinged with some slight sadness that we really aren’t getting the 2 fighters in the prime of their careers - Mayweather is 38, and Pacquiao is 36 years old.
And you have to go back to 2009 for the last time Pacquiao stopped an opponent going the distance. And Mayweather has only stopped 2 opponents since 2005, with one being the controversial KO of Victor Ortiz, and the other being the 10th round stoppage of our own Ricky Hatton. Pacquiao meanwhile stopped the Brit in under 2 rounds.
Now whilst Pacquiao has a very impressive resume of 57 wins, which includes victories over Marco Antonio Berrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, and Timothy Bradley to name but a handful, the fact of the matter is that he has tasted defeat, which is something that hasn’t befallen Money Mayweather, as his current record stands at 47-0.
A victory for Mayweather would lift him to 48-0, and with 2 fights still left on his contact this would take him to 50-0 which would be one more than the legendary Rocky Marciano.
The winner of the bout will also walk away with a specially made $1 million emerald encrusted WBC belt, although the much bigger prize is the fact they can call themselves the best.