Nonstop scrutiny for Mayweather vs Pacquiao

Every step made by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will be studied by the world’s boxing media, now that the biggest match of their lives is less than a month away.

Both fighters will be under the endless glare of the spotlight while they train for the most anticipated fight in ring history at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 2.

A voice that stands out from the chorus of the best-known sportswriters on the planet writing about all aspects of the bout is that of sports columnist Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times.

It is the same Dwyre who held his pen when his colleagues expected, anticipated, speculated and even cajoled while the most lucrative fight ever was under negotiation.

“Until they sign a contract, I won’t believe it will happen,” Dwyre once told me.

A former Times sports editor, Dwyre said then that he wasn’t speaking for all media, but he thought the talks for the fight should be played down “because when something is anticipated this long and does not happen, and when both fighters are constantly quoted on the subject and nothing happens, the entire thing loses credibility.”

But now that welterweight unification championship is on, Dwyre to use his own words, is not “as chatty as a mime” any longer.

True to his status, he is writing not so furiously but incisively and authoritatively about Mayweather vs Pacquiao.

Here are a few eye-poppers from Dwyer’s latest column about the fight.

From talking with Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum, the columnist writes that… “the Ft. Know side of this side is mystifying.”

Dwyre said that from Arum comes these numbers expected from the fight:

“Live gate $73 million; pay-per-view, at $89.95 regular TV and $99.95 HD, at perhaps 3 million homes and $300 million; foreign TV rights $35 million; national closed-circuit TV $7 million; Las Vegas closed-circuit $3 million, and general fight sponsorship $12 million.”

Dwyre also quotes Arum who says: “If the pay-per-view does come in at $300 million, this 36 minutes (or less) of prizefighting will generate $430 million. And that’s before anybody sells a beer or T-shirt. I sit (at) ringside with my wife. The scalpers are already asking for $90,000 for seats like mine. Can you imagine? I’ve set the target at $200,000 a seat now. For that, I’ll go watch anywhere else.”

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Former Bulletin sportswriter Bert Eljera, now in his 60s, is raring to return home from the United States to seek a live kidney donor from among relatives in Eastern Samar.

Bert made the decision after two hospitals he went to in Nevada and Arizona for kidney transplant evaluation told him honestly that the wait for a donor could be up to five years.

“I am getting sicker each day, and my only hope is to jump ahead of the line with a living donor at home,” said Bert, whose media sojourn in the US landed him jobs at the Orange County edition of the LA Times and the Stockton (California) Record, among others.

Bert is back on dialysis after his kidney transplanted 12 years ago failed. “I only have Medicare insurance that does not cover medical costs outside the US,” says Bert.

Help for Bert is pouring in from relatives, friends and even strangers.

Please donate by visiting: gofundme.com/mof2t0