The Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight is less than 10 days away, but one final potential stumbling block was avoided Wednesday.
Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation had the promoters (Top Rank and Mayweather Promotions) and the MGM on a conference call Wednesday to iron out remaining details between the sides, according to a report from Yahoo’s Kevin Iole.
With that, the path finally is open for tickets to be sold, both inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena and at various closed-circuit sites in Las Vegas. A limited number of tickets, reported to be 500 in the MGM, are expected to be made available for the public, possible as soon as Thursday.
The cheapest ticket is set for $1,500. Capacity in the MGM is 16,800.
For those watching from home, the pay-per-view price has been set for $89.95 for standard definition and $99.95 for HD.
It has been reported that tickets will be made available for the weigh-in, likely set for Friday afternoon.
MAYWEATHER BEST EVER?
When it comes down to “The Best Ever” or “Greatest of All Time,” any sort of discussion ends with one name, according to Floyd Mayweather.
In an interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Mayweather stated his claim to be considered the best.
“(Muhammad Ali) only fought in one weight class. No one can ever brainwash me to make believe that Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali was better than me,” Mayweather said.
“But one thing I will do, I’m going to take my hat off to those guys and respect those guys because those are the guys that paved the way for me.”
Mayweather won his first professional title at super lightweight (130), defeating Gernaro Hernandez. He also held titles at lightweight, light welterweight (140), light middleweight and, of course, welterweight.
MORE MAYWEATHER-PACQUIAO
HBO has an interesting special airing Saturday: “Mayweather/Pacquiao: The Legends Speak.” There are several common opponents for Mayweather and Pacquiao, and the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez and Ricky Hatton will give their thoughts on the upcoming fight.
Also, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis and Bernard Hopkins will participate in a roundtable discussion with HBO’s Max Kellerman about training for a big fight.
The episode will air at 12:15 a.m. (delayed) on the West Coast. Also, Showtime will air the second episode of its “Inside Mayweather vs. Pacquiao” series at 7:30 p.m.
NOTES
Thompson Boxing Promotions returns with the latest edition of its Locked N’Loaded show, Friday night from the Doubletree Hotel (222 N. Vineyard Ave., Ontario, 92764). Garden Grove’s Jose Roman (19-1-1, 13 KOs) faces Martin Cardona (18-4, 13 KOs) in the main event. Tickets, starting at $40, can be purchased by calling 714-935-0900. …
The next Premier Boxing Champions card on Spike TV is Friday from Chicago with WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell defending his title against Badou Jack and WBA middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs facing Caleb Truax. The card airs at 9 p.m. (delayed). …
Hailed as the next great Puerto Rican star, undefeated prospect Felix Verdejo (16-0, 12 KOs) returns to the ring Saturday against Marco Antonio Lopez on Solo Boxeo (UniMas, 11 p.m.). …
WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) will defend his title June 6 against Daniel Geale (31-3, 16 KOs) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The fight will be Cotto’s debut under the Roc Nation promotional banner.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
