By Joseph Giordano || Staff Writer
The fight that many thought would never happen is finally becoming a reality. After five years of debate, boxing greats Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will finally settle their differences inside the ring on May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. This is being billed as the fight of the century and there are many reasons defending this claim. If you ask any sports fan in this generation to name two boxers they will undoubtedly say Mayweather and Pacquiao. The sport’s pool of stars is drying quickly and does not have the drawing power it once did when the likes of Muhammad Ali and “Iron” Mike Tyson were patrolling the ring. With Mayweather and Pacquiao, boxing’s two last mega stars remaining, reaching the end of their careers, the fight seemed to be now or never and could potentially be boxing’s last “super fight”. This fight seemed to many that it would never happen and many were shocked when it officially came to fruition February 20. For over five years now, the negotiations for the fight seemed to hit a dead end every time any progress was made. To start, there was the ongoing feud between the CEO of Top Rank Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, and Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather accused Arum of underpaying him and for under utilizing his talents and left Bob Arum’s promoting business causing an irreparable split between the two. This made any negotiations between the two highly unlikely. Once Arum stepped aside in the negotiations, there was an issue of whether the pay per view would be broadcast on Showtime or HBO, and eventually the two sides decided on a joint broadcast. Lastly, there were the issues of the two fighters. Mayweather pushed for blood testing up to the weigh-in and Pacquiao felt that this would weaken him before the fight. This lead to Mayweather accusing Pacquiao of steroid use and calling him “a cheater”. Mayweather also requested that the fight purse be split 60-40 and said that he was the bigger entity in the deal and that he deserved it. This led to the Pacquiao camp claiming the Floyd was “running scared” and ESPN analyst Skip Bayless saying “He could keep running, retire undefeated and live with the shame of THIS GLARING ASTERISK: Never Fought Manny Pacquiao. Or he could be dared and goaded and mocked into facing his greatest fear: 47-1.” Even with all of these failed negotiations and name calling, the fight was finally made official and boxing’s most highly anticipated fight was made. This fight will be worth an astounding 200 million dollars and the pay per view cost of the event could potentially cost up to 95 dollars. It will become the richest fight in boxing history by a landslide and is expected to produce well over a million pay per view buys as well. It is a once in a lifetime super fight between two legends and you won’t want to miss it. This may be the last time a fight of such implications ever takes place. Will you be watching on May 2 when history happens?
First-year Joseph Giordano is a staff writer. His email is jgiordano@fandm.edu.