Manny Pacquiao, of the Philippines, raises his arms after his workout in front of reporters and photographers Wednesday, April 15, 2015, in Los Angeles. Pacquiao is scheduled to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a welterweight boxing match in Las Vegas on May 2. AP
Everything is set for the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. super fight on May 2, except for one thing: The tickets.
In a Los Angeles Times report, the two boxing sides and MGM hasn’t finalized the ticket terms less than three weeks before the boxing’s most expensive fight.
Michael Koncz said Mayweather’s manager, Al Haymon, is trying to secure more tickets from MGM than what was originally agreed upon.
“Now, the other side is attempting to manipulate the term sheet, but you can’t do that because it’s in black and white,” Koncz told LA Times. “It’s the biggest nightmare I’ve ever seen.”
According to the report, there would be less than 1,000 tickets that would be sold to the public, the face value ranging from $1,500 from the upper-deck seats to $10,000 for the floor ones.
The delay in the availability of the tickets is holding up even the official signing of the contract between MGM and the promoters, Top Rank and Mayweather Promotions.
“No contract has been signed,” Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum told the LA Times. “Something’s going to be signed, but it hasn’t been signed now.”
Koncz said there was an agreement that MGM would take some chunk of the tickets and the two promotions, Mayweather Promotions and Top Rank, would split the remainder evenly.
“My understanding is Mayweather Promotions is trying to increase [its] amount and make some kind of side deal with the MGM to get extra tickets, which is not what we agreed to,” Koncz said. “It’s not going to do anything to the fight. The fight will still go on. But tickets might not be available until the week of the fight. That’s what I was told.”
Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe said the tickets would go on sale “this week.”
He also said the line “this week” for the past two weeks.
“How can they be on sale [this week] when there’s no written agreement?” Koncz asked. AU