Mayweather vs Pacquiao – The Last Mile

There isn’t a podium large enough for this type of announcement. “Boxing legions,” states a boisterous orator, “lend me your ears…or better yet your wallets.”

We asked and they delivered. Sort of. Remember the old days when we’d subscribe to a magazine or order something through the mail? Although some wait times haven’t changed too much to this day, we were all accustomed to the disclaimer which read, “please allow six to eight weeks for processing and delivery.”

Friday’s long awaited and evisceration style of gut wrenching delay was much of the same type of frustration, except we had to replace the “weeks” to “years.”

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is really going to fight Manny Pacquiao and vice versa. No, that wasn’t a misprint and no one is having a bad trip or flashback. There may as well be a countdown and grand arrival show for this bout in line with the Grammys or the Oscars, with a Seven Seas’ worth of celebrities and attention-mongers who care more about being seen than the bout itself. If someone is going to get the ceremonial Las Vegas shaft and pay disgustingly high fees for a ticket, then why not have that sucker be a singer whose bedmate of choice is an autotuner or a washout Hollywood stiff who hasn’t appeared in a movie in years?

Hopefully, those of us who are planning to make the trip to Vegas to either attend the bout in person or just be a part of the fun booked a hotel room sometime before last Friday afternoon. Should one choose to do so now, please assure yourself that you are sitting down when you are presented with the current rates. Comparatively speaking, they are no less obscene than ticket prices. The weekend will no doubt do wonders for the Clark County economy, but where will we be on May 3rd? More specifically, what else will it take to keep the normally uninterested crowd well, interested? Think of it this way. There have been more websites and boxing “insiders” than should be legally permissible for as long as this bout has been on the radar, or at least on the pugilistic sonar. So many of them don’t have a seat available for Mayweather versus Pacquiao, yet for other, lesser known bouts, they don’t care to even give tickets away. The all time pay per view record should undoubtedly be smashed, especially if the telecast costs upward of $100. We know why the bout is being held at the MGM Grand. Money talks, literally and figuratively. However, how truthfully grand matters could have been if whoever would bend would do so enough to hold the bout in a 70,000 seat stadium just about anywhere else. (Or a 100,000 one..or a 150,000 seat one..does that exist? –EDITOR NOTE)

Regardless, the city of Las Vegas is likely to swell with visitors from around the globe to the tune of the pre-fight weigh in being held on a landing strip at the airport just across the street from the MGM. The anticipation has been likened to such classics as Louis/Schmeling II, Ali/Frazier, Hagler/Hearns and/or Leonard, Tyson/Lewis and others, just to name a few. We know how those went down. If one has followed the respective competitors for the May 2 bout, then they should know what to expect. One may push the action, while the other seeks to win by fighting back rather than fighting first. A win’s a win however we care to see it. Will that be enough?

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