Mayweather vs Pacquiao 2: Could the rematch be back on?

Mayweather vs Pacquiao: who's betting on Money or Manny

02 May 2015

With just hours to go before the Fight of the Century between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas the bets are flooding in as the experts give their predictions on who will triumph at the MGM Arena on Saturday night.

"Few fighters have embodied the nominal title of people's champion more completely than Manny Pacquiao," reports The Guardian. "It turns out he's also the people's choice at the sports books... More than three-quarters of the bets placed at MGM Resorts sports books have been for Pacquiao."

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And the fight is already one of the biggest betting events in the history of Nevada, according to MGM executive Jay Rood.

Mayweather is favourite, but at much longer odds than usual, while Pacquiao is in the unusual position of being the underdog. "Mayweather hasn't been this cheap since the De La Hoya fight (in 2007) and maybe only once or twice since he’s been a professional. And Manny Pacquiao is normally a pretty solid three-, four-, five-dollar favorite himself, so you’re getting plus money on him, which is great if you believe in Manny Pacquiao," explained Rood.

But while Pacquiao may be attracting the money, it is Money Mayweather who is being tipped to win by the experts.

A Guardian poll poll of 84 boxing "insiders" found that almost three-quarters (73.8 per cent) expected Mayweather to win on points, and 95 per cent of them expected the fight to go the distance.

Boxing bible The Ring magazine polled 50 experts and 42 of them went for a Mayweather victory. Only six backed Pacquaio, although they included the great Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez.

Legendary British middleweight world champion Nigel Benn had no doubt about his tip, however. "The bottom line is Mayweather beats quality fighters and generally makes it look easy, so I think he finds a way to win this one,"

Amir Khan, who still hopes to fight Mayweather, also believes the American will win. "Manny will pose Floyd with a few questions early on before Floyd figures things out and starts to edge away on the scorecards. Floyd being taller and with the longer reach and speed will have the right style to win but nevertheless it’s going to be a great fight," he said.

Another British great, Ricky Hatton, who lost to both fighters, is also tipping Mayweather, by a nose. "Pacquiao has all the attributes to beat Mayweather - if anyone is going to beat Mayweather it will be someone with similar hand speed who is a southpaw," he told the BBC. "Pacquiao will definitely cause problems, it will be Mayweather's toughest task yet."

But Pacquiao has support from heavyweights Mike Tyson and George Foreman. Tyson points out that Pacquiao, by throwing more punches than his defensive opponent, could sway the judges. Foreman agrees and tips the Filipino to win "by one round".

Mayweather vs Pacquiao: is the Money Man running scared?

30 April

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao came face to face for the penultimate time at the final press conference before the most eagerly-anticipated clash in modern boxing history, Saturday night's Fight of the Century in Las Vegas.

The two will meet again at the weigh-in on Friday, but this was their final chance to speak before the action begins.

But "anyone hoping for fireworks or even the slightest trace of ill will from Saturday’s main players was bound to be disappointed", reports Bryan Armen Graham of The Guardian.

Pacquiao was "humble and genial and God-fearing as ever" he says, and his Mayweather attempted to come across as a "self-assured all-time great who's all but sworn off his trademark slander in an apparent effort to exit the sport gracefully".

Neither fighter wanted to give an inch in the psychological battle, says Matt Fleming of the Daily Telegraph. "This was shown by the utter respect shown for each other," he writes. Mayweather "did not utter a word of trash talk, and did his level best to come across as humble".

But is he worried? Kevin Mitchell of the Guardian believes he is. "In trying to affect nonchalance and a detached sense of superiority, Mayweather actually revealed nerves," he claims.

That is certainly the view of Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach, who even suggested that Mayweather might not show up on Saturday. "I don't think he wanted this fight. He was forced into a fight he didn't want to take," he said. "I just don't know why Floyd has gone quiet for this fight. His speech is very subdued."

Mayweather v Pacquaio: money talks as fight time looms

29 April

It was unthinkable that the Floyd Mayweather would allow his welcome to Las Vegas party pass without a few jabs in the direction of his opponent in this weekend's Fight of the Century, Manny Pacquiao, and he chose his favourite topic, money, as he taunted his rival.

Saturday's bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas will be the richest in history, with a purse worth as much as $400m according to some estimates, but the money will not be shared equally – Mayweather negotiated a 60/40 split before the fight was made.

Ignoring the fact that it was his team that brokered the deal, Mayweather declared: "Financially, [Pacquiao] hasn't been treated right for this fight. And [this fight] is all about the money," reports the BBC.

He went on to claim that he would make $200m from the fight and accused his old enemy Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, of standing in the way of the bout.

Mayweather's over the top arrival was typical of both Las Vegas and the man, says Oliver Brown of the Daily Telegraph. "One would like to suppose that there was a streak of postmodern irony in Mayweather's posturing," writes Brown. "But he believes every word. He is the perfect embodiment of the Vegas custom of worshipping money for its own sake.

"It feels right that an event of such exaggerated magnitude should be hosted in the desert, where the collision of neon excess and the silent wilderness beyond amplifies the disconnect from reality."

But while the figures may be absurd, says Matthew Syed in The Times, they are no Nevada desert mirage. "For all the hyperbole, for all the accoutrements that you would expect to surround an event in a city that has no equal for bravado, this is no speculative bubble. These startling numbers are... the consequence of hundreds of thousands of individual consumer decisions."

Tickets are changing hands for hundreds of thousands of dollars and millions of pay per view packages, costing upwards of $100 each, have been sold in the US. "What seems crystal clear is that boxing, which has been blighted by maladministration and infighting for decades, retains an appeal to rival any other sport. That is what these staggering numbers ultimately attest to."

Mayweather, Pacquiao arrive in Las Vegas as fight time nears

29 April

The bandwagon has finally reached Las Vegas and there were thousands of fans there to greet it ahead of Saturday's 'richest fight in history'.

The MGM Grand will host the world welterweight WBC, WBA and WBO clash between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao with the two boxers set to split £150m between them. With that sort of cash on the table, it was only to be expected that their welcome would be wildly over the top and so it proved.

A promotional squabble between the two camps meant that Pacquiao staged his own 'entrance' in Vegas, choosing to arrive at the Mandalay Bay Hotel instead of the MGM Grand. There to greet the Filipino was a crowd of his supporters, many of whom have arrived from the Philippines to cheer him on against his American opponent. After some hip-hop acts and traditional singers had warmed up his audience, Pacquiao addressed his fans, telling them: "Don't get nervous. I'm the one fighting, so relax."

Asked by journalists how he was feeling ahead of Saturday's showdown, the 36-year-old Pacquiao replied: "I'm very excited and my confidence is 100 per cent. Any time I am the underdog, I like that. It means my killer instinct and focus is fully there. This is the moment I believe he will experience his first loss."

Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, who has worked with the fighter for 14 years was similarly bullish. He told BBC Sport: "We have a very good game-plan to win this fight."

Declaring that he had never seen Pacquiao in better shape before a fight, Roach added: "If a knockout comes, we'll be thrilled. But at welterweight, Manny's really not that big a puncher but his speed will overwhelm Floyd, that's what we're counting on. It will be very difficult for Floyd to win this fight just by running and at some point he will have to exchange."

Over at the MGM Grand meanwhile, approximately 5,000 people were being treated to a show to honour Mayweather's appearance that included "a marching hip-hop band, in full regalia, and dancing girls".

When the 38-year-old Mayweather took questions from the assembled press corps he gave short shrift to the idea that his unbeaten record was on the line. "I'm more calculated, I'm the smarter fighter. He would be a better fighter if he wasn't so reckless," said the American. "He's won a lot of fights by being reckless but you can be reckless and get knocked out. Just compare our fights against Juan Manuel Marquez - I beat Marquez and Marquez knocked him out."

When Marquez, the great Mexican who won seven world titles in four categories during his career, was asked who he thought would prevail on Saturday, he responded: "Mayweather uses distance very well, is hard to hit and lands with counter-punches. Mayweather wins because he's got such a difficult style."

Mayweather Pacquiao sells out in seconds – tickets worth £94k

24 April

The few tickets made available to the public for the Fight of the Century between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao next month sold out less than a minute after going on general sale, nine days before the Las Vegas showdown.

Within minutes of the sale, tickets to the bout began appearing on websites for as much as $141,000 (£94,000) reports the BBC. The most expensive tickets to the fight next Saturday have a face value of $10,000.

The row over tickets threatened to derail the fight but was finally resolved earlier in the week. With tickets worth so much money "the size and location of the rival camps' allocations at the MGM Grand's Garden Arena [became] a key area of negotiation," explains the Daily Telegraph.

The camps have been using their ticket allocations to add to their income. "The more than 16,000 tickets withheld from the public sale will be split among the MGM Grand, the networks and the two camps, allotments that can funnelled directly to brokers at far higher prices than face value since they can fetch still higher prices on the secondary market due to extraordinary demand," says The Guardian.

"The 16,800-seat venue adjacent to the MGM Grand has been scaled to generate a live gate of $74m, which is greater than the top three gates in Nevada boxing history to date... combined."

The two boxers will make even more money from closed-circuit broadcasts of the fight, which will be shown at MGM properties, with up to 50,000 tickets being made available at £100 each.

The weigh-in, due to take place on 1 May, will also be an all-ticket affair. The move is unprecedented, but deemed necessary because of the amount of interest in the fight. Perhaps unusually in the money-obsessed world of boxing, funds from the weigh-in ticket sales will be donated to charity.