Chris Robinson
From the moment the fight became official, people simply couldn’t stop talking about the May 7th Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight. Set to take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the contest features the man widely regarded as the world’s preimier fighter facing off against another great boxer who looks to be a few steps past his best given his recent performances, an obvious reason why some criticism has been shoveled in the direction of the Pacquiao-Mosley tussle.
Growing star Manny Pacquiao
Despite the fight not being at the top of many’s wish lists, the fact that the bout sold over 16,000 tickets in its first three hours is a testament to Pacquiao’s growing star power, according to Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer. The Chicago native and I had a brief talk about the impact Pacquiao has had in Las Vegas over the years, how he compares to other stars such as Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather in terms of generating buzz, and how the Pacquiao-Mosley fight stacks up with other notable events of the past ten-plus years.
Continue on to the slideshow for a few select sound bytes from Kizer…
Selling well…
“Obviously it’s a huge fight and even though we’ve had economic issues here with less travelers, or less money being spent per trip by the travelers, when you have a big fight like that in the fight capital of the world, it doesn’t surprise me that it sold well.”
Coming together…
“You have two very well known fighters. One guy is kind of seen as the top guy in the world right now, the top active guy in the world right now. And you have it at the MGM Grand Garden Arena which is one of the top, if not the top, venues in the world today. All that stuff coming together really helps. You have to give a lot of credit to the fighters and their camps as well as Top Rank for doing such a good job of building this fight to the point where it does so well.”
Double-edged sword…
“On the flip side, I know a lot of people think, when they hear that the tickets sold so well they kind of get depressed, because they say ‘I priced them too low’. It’s kind of a double-edged sword but I’m sure Top Rank has more smiles than frowns right now.”
Fights of the past with the most success…
“De La Hoya-Trinidad was definitely one that I recall. Even though it was years ago. That was one, of course, where we had amazing ticket sales. A lot of the De La Hoya fights, a lot of the Mayweather fights. A lot of the Pacquiao fights before this one had similar buzz and did well at the box office. It’s good to have those and we actually have three really good fights before that. February 19th, March 12th, and April 9th and hopefully these tickets can adjust their schedules on attending some of those other fights.”
Sizing up Mayweather-De La Hoya…
“That was still our biggest gate of all time. And I don’t know what the total gate will be on this fight, but I would think it would be less than that as far as total gate goes. But it will still be a very healthy gate. There are plans of having a lot of exposure on CBS. I wouldn’t be surprised if it set the record for the biggest pay-per-view of all time. All that is good news for the fight scene in general and these two individuals in particular.”
The buzz is here…
“It definitely seems that the buzz that comes to Nevada from a mega-fight, be it a Pacquiao or a De La Hoya or Mayweather or back in the day guys like Mike Tyson, it definitely seems that the buzz is still here. Even three months out the buzz is here for this fight.”
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at Trimond@aol.com