Seating Capacity Holding Up Mayweather-Pacquiao
On January 10, pound-for-pound boxing star and alleged domestic violence practitioner Floyd Mayweather took to Twitter to call out his biggest rival, Congressman Asian Sensation, a.k.a. Manny Pacquiao.
“Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see,” tweeted Mayweather. “My Jail Sentence was pushed back because the date was locked in. Step up Punk.”
Long considered the ultimate boxing matchup if not the great brown hope that could “save” boxing, the proposed showdown would have fulfilled the dreams of sweet science freaks all over the world– if Pacquiao bowed to the enormous amount of pressure Mayweather dumped on him by taunting him via social media.
In some ways, Pacquiao was in a no-win situation after that tweet, figuratively and perhaps– if you believe the Editor of this blog and a few thousand others–literally. If he refused Mayweather’s invitation via trash-talk, he would look like a punk. If he accepted, he’d be acceding to a demand made by a rival, which is a bit like solicitously asking “how high?” when someone you hate hollers, “Jump!” By reacting to Mayweather instead of initiating this fight by issuing a challenge of his own, he’d handily step right up– right into the role of “prey”.
I haven’t even mentioned how it would be the end of Pacquiao if he actually lost; as someone who majored in Strategic Communication, I can’t get past the untenable position Mayweather seemed to put him in with his 140-character gauntlet-throwing. What allure would the Filipino congressman hold once there was no longer any need for speculation about his ability to take on Floyd? None.
Enter Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s financial advisor. He told the press today that the fight wouldn’t happen– and he provided a very reasonable explanation for why: money. Currently, a 45,000-seat boxing super arena is being constructed in Vegas. It won’t be ready in time for Mayweather’s preferred date in early May. This may seem like a minor quibble until you recognize that $30 million is no minor sum. That’s the difference in ticket sales if the fight is held at the new arena instead of the MGM Grand, which only seats 17,000. The unfinished joint can hold 28,000 more spectators.
And that’s significant for more than just monetary reasons if you’re one of the fans who believes that this matchup is what a waning sport desperately needs. There are easily more than 17,000 people who’d pay to be in the arena for a fight so historic, they’ll tell their grandchildren stories about what it felt like to pay $5 for a bottle of water that actually costs 20 times less than that, while they were on their way to a battle fans have waited for, for years.
Bob Arum has previously stated that the only foreseeable obstacle to this matchup will be a monetary one; Michael Koncz has just shown a financial defensive technique that may be effective enough to stop the King of the shoulder roll from getting his hasty payday. If Floyd’s mad, hand him a copy of 36 Chambers. It might remind him that while trash talk is great, cash rules everything around him. Get the money, Manny. Dolla dolla bill, y'all.