WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 SPORTS Megafight numbers add up to new sporting landscape LAS VEGAS: Even in Las Vegas where yet we have said that about a lot of most eagerly anticipated in boxing “When you have a billion people, if and famous with only 500 offered for fortunes are won and lost on the roll of things in global sports: television rights, since the 1975 ‘Thrilla in Manila’ you just get 10 percent of the popula- sale to the general public. the dice, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and $2 billion franchises, billion dollar stadi- between Muhammad Ali and Joe tion to watch a fight on television, you As usual, casinos up and down the Manny Pacquiao have Sin City abuzz ums. Frazier. The current PPV record is 2.5 mil- do the math.” And the numbers are eye- Las Vegas Strip will flash the names of over a megafight that will generate mil- “So nothing surprises me anymore lion buys for a 2007 fight between popping. big-name headliners on their glitzy mar- lions and reshape the sport business but this in many ways is a watershed Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya but While sport fans have grown numb quees but for this weekend the hottest landscape. event for boxing and maybe the busi- Saturday’s bout should obliterate that to multi-million soccer transfer fees and ticket in town once again belongs to From $100,000 ringside seats to $150 ness of sport.” mark with at least 3 million boxing fans routine $100 million player contracts boxing. million paydays, Saturday’s long-await- Even by Las Vegas standards, a desert expected to tune in. “A lot of people the figures surrounding Saturday’s fight “Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is an ed showdown between the greatest city built on excess, Mayweather and over the last half dozen years have been have provided a ‘take notice’ jolt. With event that transcends not just boxing fighters of a generation is expected to Pacquiao will bank a king’s ransom, their saying, ‘Well MMA or UFC is taking over,’” Showtime and HBO predicting unprece- but sport in general,” Peter Nelson, vice be the richest fight of all-time and night’s work likely to land both men at famed ring announcer Michael Buffer dented pay-per-view numbers ticket president of programming for HBO smash records in knockout fashion. the top of Forbes’ 2015 highest-paid told Reuters. “MMA, UFC, no doubt brokers have also been startled at the Sports, told Reuters. “The quality of “It is precedent setting and it breaks athletes list. The undefeated about it, are very successful and have a staggering prices on the resale market competition is what attracts fans. every financial model known to man,” Mayweather (47-0) is guaranteed $120 hard core and loyal group of fans ... but with some ringside seats on StubHub “People want to see athletes at the Rick Horrow, sports lecturer at Harvard million and Filipino Pacquiao (57-5-2) is they don’t have the scope or the world- commanding $109,000. top level of their sport in the toughest Law School, told Reuters. “The pay-per- assured $80 million but could top those wide appeal that boxing does. The MGM Grand Garden Arena, test imaginable. “Greatness is more than view is $100, the tickets are almost unaf- figures depending on pay-per-view “Boxing is huge in Russia and the which has a capacity of 16,800, will be talent, it’s seeking out moments of fordable for even the millionaire fight (PPV) sales. eastern European countries. Asia, of packed with high rollers, A-listers, enter- adversity and moments of reckoning fan. Showtime and HBO will jointly course, with Pacquiao. Chinese fighters tainment moguls and business tycoons, and showing people what you can do in “The numbers are almost unrealistic broadcast the bout, which is one of the now have started to step up. tickets out of reach for all but the rich those moments.”—Reuters plot on how to hit Mayweather LOS ANGELES: Manny Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach have spent the past two months trying to solve the biggest puzzle in modern boxing. How does anybody hit Floyd Mayweather Jr., a fighter whose perfect career is built on being nearly impossible to touch? Pacquiao and Roach will reveal their answer in detail Saturday night in Las Vegas, when the fighters meet in the richest bout in boxing his- tory. But clues to a strategy for breaking Mayweather’s impenetrable defense were evi- dent in Pacquiao’s final workout at Roach’s Wild Card gym in Hollywood on Monday. Pacquiao was a whirlwind of motion from the moment he stepped in the ring, throwing dozens of punches in combinations against Roach’s mitts and chest protector. While Roach took a much-deserved break, Pacquiao shad- owboxed across the canvas, peppering the air with hundreds of rapid-fire punches long after his workout could have been over. “You can beat Floyd Mayweather if you out- work him and never give him a chance to do the things he does best,” Roach said. “Manny is punching real hard, but I want him to outscore (Mayweather) in every round. I think we can win a 12-round decision. We want to throw a ton of punches.” Pacquiao is betting on aggression, activity and punch volume to defeat Mayweather, according to the fighter and his longtime train- er. The eight-division world champion has trained fiercely to fight 12 rounds of nonstop offense against the pre-eminent defensive fighter of his generation. “I’m not really looking for a knockout,” Pacquiao said. “We’re not looking only for a knockout, but for throwing a lot of punches, and also making sure that every round, we’re LAS VEGAS: At left, in a May 4, 2013, file photo, Floyd Mayweather Jr. exchanges punches with Robert Guerrero (not shown) in aWBC welterweight title fight. At right, in a Nov. 12, ahead on points.” 2011, file photo, Manny Pacquiao exchanges punches with Juan Manuel Marquez (not shown) during a WBO welterweight title fight inLas Vegas.—AP Pacquiao has built his remarkable career on otherworldly quickness and old-fashioned vol- ume punching, both outmaneuvering and out- working nearly all of his opponents over the Heavyweight appetizer for Mayweather, Pacquiao past 10 years. He has never faced a fighter with Mayweather’s skills in defense and counter- punching, but Roach believes Mayweather has NEW YORK: Wladimir Klitschko joined Joe Louis shadowed by Saturday’s upcoming bout. the legs? They were bigger opponents, but were lenger Jennings, said Pacquiao’s attitude would never dealt with an opponent as relentless as in the record books with his title bout on Saturday “Thankfully, it’s not the undercard,” Klitschko they slower? Were they southpaw, were they be key. “Depends which Pacquiao comes,” Shaw the southpaw Filipino congressman. but the event took a decided back seat to box- said with a laugh, acknowledging how he would energetic?” he rattled off. “Were they on him like a said. “If it’s the real religious Pacquiao that comes “Our volume of combinations is much high- ing’s latest ‘Fight of the Century’-Mayweather v have ranked in the billing for the extravaganza. swarm of wild bees after you disturbed the bees’ in and doesn’t have the killer instinct he had years er than Mayweather’s,” Roach said. Pacquiao. Klitschko matched the legendary Louis “Obviously, Jennings and Klitschko is not the nest and they’re all over you? That is how ago, I don’t think he has a chance. “Mayweather waits for you to finish your com- by climbing into the ring for his record-tying 27th mega-fight.” The Las Vegas bout is expected to be Pacquiao fights.” Promoter/manager Shelly Finkel “If he goes in and takes Mayweather into a bination and throws back with the big right world heavyweight championship fight but the boxing’s richest and there was no shortage of said he thought the fight would be tougher than street fight, maybe he hits him low, gets a point hand or the check hook, and we’re not going Ukrainian’s win against Bryant Jennings was a comment. many think.“I believe Mayweather will win taken away, pushes him... “I remember (Evander) to be there for that. We’re going to be in and mere prelude to bigger things. Most favored Mayweather, as do the odds- because he’s just a better fighter,” Finkel said. “But Holyfield telling me the night before he went in out, and I plan on Manny outscoring him that “This event with Wladimir Klitschko, heavy- makers. Bernard Hopkins, a longtime mid- this is not going to be easy. Pacquiao is coming the ring with (Mike) Tyson, ‘I’m going to push him way.” Roach also seems confident Pacquiao can weight champion of the world returning to dleweight champion who became the oldest to fight. He has to. His whole country depends on into the ropes. If he hits me once, I’m going to hit move better than Mayweather in a 12-round Madison Square Garden, is the perfect hors d’oeu- world champion by taking the light-heavyweight it.” him twice. If he pushes me once, I’m going to fight, a remarkable prediction based on obser- vre to what the main course will be next week,” crown at age 46 and won again at 49, expects the Iran Barkley, the former world middleweight, push him twice.’” vation. The trainer believes Mayweather’s legs Peter Nelson, HBO sports programming vice pres- aging combatants to wage a lively battle.