Hype Or History? Boxing Banks On Mayweather-Pacquiao Fight For Massive Revenues
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— The old cliché, 'Fight of the Century' is being used once more by promoters involved with Saturday night's boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
"The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight has become larger than life," said former fight and fitness trainer, Paris Alexander. In the late 1990s, Alexander was the former California and U.S. Lightweight Champion, who fought the likes of Oscar De La Hoya and Gabriel Ruelas. He explains how this event is transcending the sport.
"I think it's easy on this one for everybody to do the good-guy, bad guy thing. Mayweather plays the bad guy image. He doesn't mind playing that role. And Pacquiao with his constant smile and his constant humbleness [it's] easy to play the good guy," he said.
Saturday's bout is expected to shatter records with estimates of $350 million in pay-per-view revenue alone.
From a marketing perspective, Bob Dorfman with San Francisco-based Baker Street Advertising, says the fight is unlikely to bring new fans to the sport.
"You shouldn't have to pay $99 to watch this fight. Imagine if the Super Bowl charged $99 to everybody to watch this. I think that's part of the problem boxing is having. They're making it a prohibitive event. They're going to make a lot of money off of it, true," Dorfman said.
Even tickets for the weigh-in were hot and cost around $10 face value, but some were paying a couple hundred dollars according to CBS News correspondent Steve Futterman who was at the event Friday in Las Vegas. He said about 10,000 people were in attendance.
"This is all part of the hype," Futterman said. "The more we talk about it; the promoters feel the more people will buy that pay-per-view tomorrow night. This is clearly the biggest fight in at least a decade, but I wouldn't say this is the biggest event in Vegas history."
