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Will Superfight be a super fight? Pacquiao – Mayweather set to go

The Fight of the Century?

Without reciting a lengthy list of negotiations, accusations, missed opportunities and accommodations that have at last lead to Saturday night, May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, suffice to say the fight that may, or may not, save boxing has been nearly 7 years in the making.

While Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach has been criticized, at least, by some for insisting the fight pits good guy vs. bad guy, there’s little question that it does indeed pit good guy vs. bad guy. His guy, Pacquiao, 36, with a record of 57-5-2, is a devoutly religious family man – five kids! – from the Philippines who is a congressman and a national hero in his country. His efforts for charity there, and disaster relief, are legendary.

In the other corner is American Floyd Mayweather, 38 and a record of 47-0, a man who has had a long list of charges of domestic abuse, a conviction for which he served two months. He also has questionable associations and is arrogant in the extreme, flaunting his immense wealth and even opining that he is a better fighter than Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali. He has been vilified in the press.

World to watch Superfight

Here’s this though: the entire boxing world, most all of the sporting world, the celebrity world, much of the world at large, is talking about this fight. The promoters, Bob Arum of Top Rank for Pacquiao, Lee Moonves of CBS for Mayweather, and the broadcasters, Showtime, who Mayweather is with, and HBO for Pacquiao, are brilliant.

They’ve managed to secure enough interest that the fight could bring boxing all the way back from a couple of decades of decline. It’s expected to generate north of 3 million pay-per-view buys and somewhere between $300 million and $400 million.

The fight is not without critics, who say, among other things, that the manner in which fans have been treated has been shoddy. Here’s a passage from New York Post writer George Willis’ column on the fight:

“As fight week arrives on Monday, a sport that was carried in recent years by hardcore fans and Internet bloggers has turned its back on those very supporters in the chase for every dollar,” Willis writes. “If waiting until the week before the fight to put 500 tickets for sale to the general public wasn’t insulting enough, hotel prices in Las Vegas are going for $400 to $900 a night and upward.

“Closed-circuit tickets, unless well connected through a hotel host, can cost $300 to $400. Try getting a last-minute flight, if you were lucky enough to get a fight ticket, and the cost from Newark is more than $900,” he added.

Stepping into ring

Problems? Controversy? Yes. But the fight is here. Mayweather the tactician, who bides his time and never fails, never, to win. He is a plus 24, hitting far more than he gets hit, his punches deadly accurate. For a man who lives his life without boundaries, he has them in the ring. He is patient, he pounces.

That against Pacquiao, the southpaw with a wallop to his punches like no other fighter today, good speed and he can keep moving for 12 rounds. He fights with his heart.

There are very few connected to this modern world who will not want to know the result, it is truly the superfight. If what happens in the ring is also a super fight, then expect boxing to benefit. If it’s a bad fight, if there is controversy in the decision, expect the reverse.

Superfight week is here.

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