Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao: Where are the tickets for the fight?

There are just two weeks to go until Mayweather meets Pacquiao – yet legitimate seats are still not available to buy. Steve Bunce reports on a Vegas farce that is seeing the boxing fan lose out

Floyd Mayweather hits the speed bag as he poses for photographers ahead of the big fight (AFP/Getty Images)

The Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on 2 May is currently a flop at the box office: with just 14 days to go until the first bell, not one ticket has been sold. Well, not sold through an official outlet.

There are, in theory, 16,800 tickets available and, according to spokesmen and women for both camps, the breakdown for ticket distribution is simple and the so-called “complimentary commitments” go something like this: Mayweather and Pacquiao get 30 per cent each and the MGM takes possession of 40 per cent. These they can distribute how they see fit, which is why big-fight tickets end up with ticket brokers, who invariably sell them on at inflated prices. The MGM also has a commitment to their whales, the big spenders with credit lines in excess of $250,000.00 (£167,000), who will be “comped” for their loyalty.

However, not one ticket has yet gone on sale and there is a very real chance that not one single ticket will be available to the public at face value through the box office.

It was announced on 11 March that the official ticket prices would start at $1,500 and end at $7,500; it was also announced on that day, and several times since, that the tickets would, according to Mayweather’s business partner and CEO of Mayweather Promotions Leonard Ellerbe, “go on sale next week”. So far, not one ticket has emerged; there is not even so much as a picture of a ticket for a fight that is just two weeks away.

The fight was announced over two months ago and within hours tickets were being bought and sold for between $5,000 and $67,682 online. There were packages available to British fans, including a hotel stay at the Venetian and a ticket to the fight for £5,129, which sold out – they looked like a real bargain back in March when hotels on the Strip started asking for $3,173 for two nights over fight weekend.

Mayweather during his final open workout (GETTY IMAGES)

There are still ticket- brokers selling and trading thousands of different-priced tickets online in an increasingly murky world that polishes its presentation to appear legitimate. The detail is quite bewildering, with diagrams of the MGM’s arena and colour codes for you to see where your purchase will put you.

It seems that touts in Stockport, New York and Sydney know more about the pricing than the men who put the fight together. “I’m just hoping I get a ticket in the venue,” joked Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter. “I’ve not seen one yet.”

The MGM was forced to issue a statement, a disturbing disclaimer, this week: it warned people in stark language that if they had bought a ticket, or a package which included a ticket, they needed to be vigilant. Buyers, they said, “should use extra caution when purchasing alleged tickets from unofficial sources, for fraudulent or counterfeit tickets will not be accepted”.

It is simple and right now, as the statement made clear, there are “no tickets available for purchase”. Nobody from the MGM, Mayweather Promotions or Arum’s office had any further comment to make yesterday.

Ellerbe has claimed that the MGM took possession of the tickets 10 days ago; Pacquiao’s people insist the delay is because Mayweather’s adviser, the ghost-like music maverick Al Haymon, is trying to negotiate a new ticketing deal for his client. There remains, so Arum has claimed, an unsigned contract between the two fighters and the MGM.

The MGM Grand Garden Arena (Getty Images)

However, all involved in the mess insist that the fight is not in jeopardy.

The ticket business remains brisk online, even after the MGM’s warning, with a seemingly endless list of available tickets, all at grossly inflated prices, still up for sale.

There is a bewildering market within a market of people, having bought tickets in March, now selling them for a profit in April. There is a chance that more than 16,800 of the non-existent tickets have been sold, which is similar to a situation with former world heavyweight champion Tony Tucker back in the 1980s. Tucker was a nice guy, a gentle soul, and during his brief reign he met people who owned a combined total of 120 per cent of him. It ended in tears for poor Tucker.

The $150 tickets to watch the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight on a giant screen at one of the facilities owned by MGM Resorts International are also being sold for in excess of $800.

There was some good news yesterday when it emerged that Tecate, who paid $5.6m to sponsor the fight, is offering a deal to pay-per-view customers in America. The pay-per-view price is $89.95 – $99.95 with high definition – and Tecate, the Mexican brewery who traditionally sponsor Pacquiao, has a discount voucher that will get you $15 off with a pack of 18 beers, $30 off with two packs and $50 off with three packs.

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao go head-to-head (GETTY IMAGES)

It was also announced yesterday that the weigh-in for the fight, which is often a major event in itself, will only be available to attend if – I’m not inventing this – you buy a ticket for 10 bucks. All money will go to charity and the ticket price, the first of its kind, has been introduced to try to control the crowds. The weigh-in will be at the same venue as the boxing and presumably there will be in excess of 15,000 tickets available.

The ticketing chaos will not end with the weigh-in, the screenings and the first bell for the fight, and that is because the battle of the after-party has started. Tickets for the rapper Jay-Z’s little bash are selling for $50,000, which is three times that being asked for Snoop Dogg’s alternative post-fight celebration.

Mayweather, by the way, will not be at Jay-Z’s event and that is because Haymon once had an ugly dispute with Beyoncé, who will be at her husband’s party. The dispute? It involved tickets for a tour.