After months of rumors of the fight being close to being made only to be shot down wit new stories saying the fight was no where near being a reality, the Floyd Mayweather Jr. (47-0, 26 KOs) versus Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) dream bout was finally made official Friday, when “Money May” announced it via social media platform Shots.
The fight will take place, Saturday, May 2, at Mayweather’s home away from home, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. All three welterweight titles, Mayweather’s WBA super and WBC title and Pacquiao’s WBO, will be on the line, with the fight being at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds.
“Manny is going to try to do what 47 before him failed to do, but he won’t be successful,” Mayweather said in a statement. “He will be number 48.”
Seats for the bout are rumored to start at $1,000 and go up to $10,000 for those willing to plunk down large sums of money to experience the super-fight live in person.
Fans at home won’t have to pay as much as the live gate, but pay-per-view prices are rumored to be over $100, which would more than the average Mayweather or Pacquiao PPV.
The fight will be produced by both HBO and CBS/Showtime with a mix of talent from both networks handling the on-air duties.
The original fight negotiations broke down in 2009, after Pacquiao refused to agree to stringent drug testing. Then over the years both fighters had their own issues and the fight was never produced, that is until today.
Many thought that they would never see the two best fighters of the last decade face each other, but apparently miracles do happen and the world will get to see the big fight, even though many feel it is several years too late.
Mayweather will reportedly receive a 60/40 split of the fights roughly $200 million purse, whihc will net Mayweather around $120 million and Pacquiao $80 million. The higher purse split is something Mayweather feels he deserves being he is undefeated and Pacquiao losing a few times, including his devastating knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.
The press tour will undoubtedly be an extensive and extravagant one, as the biggest fight of a generation will live up to the hype in every way they can.
The televised event will feature three bouts, Mayweather-Pacquiao, a Top Rank bout and Mayweather Promotions fight as well.
A chance meeting at a Miami Heat basketball game in January led to the two fighters meeting face to face later that night at Pacquiao’s hotel. That moment may have been the biggest moment in the last round of negotiations, as up until then, the two had never met in person.
Mayweather and Pacquiao can now finally get the monkey of their backs that stemmed from the two multi-divisional champs never meeting.
There is no rematch clause, making this a one fight-deal no matter who comes out victorious in May. If it is close, it’s hard not to imagine the two squaring off again for the opening of the new AEG/MGM arena across The Strip from the MGM Grand in May 2016.
Okay, we’ll take one fight for now, I guess it didn’t take too much to get to this point.
