Pacquiao, Mayweather gear up for ‘Fight of the Century’ in Las Vegas
Floyd Mayweather, Jr (Photo: AP)
Las Vegas: Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will put boxing back on the cultural map for at least one glittering night on Saturday with a welterweight title showdown dubbed the Fight of the Century. Prize-fighting has seen plenty of those, but in a sport that once made regular front-page news it has been years since a bout so captured the imagination of non-fight fans.
“This is the biggest fight in boxing history,” Mayweather declared on Wednesday in a spurt of hyperbole befitting the occasion. The massive interest has only been fuelled by the gaudy financial figures surrounding the fight: revenue perhaps reaching $400 million fueled by as many as three million pay-per-view purchases and live gate receipts of some $70 million — all adding up to a possible $200 million payday for Mayweather and a $100 million bonanza for Pacquiao, who agreed to the lesser share of a 60-40 purse split. Certainly Mayweather, 47-0 with 26 knockouts, and Pacquiao, 57-5 with two drawn and 38 knockouts, are two of the most talented fighters of their generation.
Mayweather puts his World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association titles on the line on Saturday and Pacquiao his World Boxing Organisation belt.
But Mayweather is 38 and Pacquiao 36, and many believe this would have been a better fight five years ago, when contractual hurdles and personal animosities prevented it from being made.
The soft-spoken Pacquiao is an iconic figure in his homeland, a two-term congressman tipped as a future president who credits the grace of God for lifting him from youthful poverty and later steering him away from a path of excess that his ring success allowed.
Mayweather, schooled in boxing from his toddler days by his father and trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr and uncle Roger Mayweather, has backed up his brash confidence with his unbeaten record and on the strength of the two surpassed Tiger Woods as the world’s highest-paid sportsman according to Forbes.
Pacquiao, who has earned world titles in an unprecedented eight weight divisions, is an aggressive southpaw, famous for going toe-to-toe and one of the hardest punchers in the welterweight division. But Pacquiao hasn’t knocked out an opponent since 2009, and if any fighter can neutralise his attack it should be the elusive Mayweather, a consummate craftsman with vast ring know-how and the patience to use it.
( Source : AFP )
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