LAS VEGAS- The crowds are smaller, the buzz is softer and plenty of tickets are still available.
If organizers pushed Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s bout with Manny Pacquiao in May as the “Fight of the Century” then Mayweather’s welterweight title fight on Saturday against lightly regarded Andre Berto might be called “The Farewell Fight That Time Forgot.”
Thousands of tickets remain untouched at Ticketmaster for what Mayweather (48-0) is saying is his final fight.
Sponsorships are down considerably.
The media turnout seems like it’s been cut in half compared to what showed up to watch Mayweather out-point Pacquiao on May 2.
Odds-makers have dismissed Berto (30-3) as a heavy underdog.
The fight is so under the radar that one prominent boxing insider admitted he had forgotten it was even taking place on Saturday.
He predicted the card would do a disappointing 500,000 pay-per-view buys with fans weary of spending $75 (HD) to order the fight on Showtime PPV after shelling out $100 for Mayweather-Pacquiao.
“This fight is just bathed in negativity,” he said over the phone. “First of all nobody believes it’s his last fight. But if it is- what a way to go out. It’s a real shame for the top fighter in the game, just so much negativity.”
Berto who is 3-3 in his last six fights, has born the brunt of that pessimism.
To Berto, the public is still seething from the disappointing aftermath of May when Pacquiao revealed he fought with a torn rotator cuff and consumers who thought they had been deceived sued.
“His fight with Manny left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth,” Berto said on Wednesday after the final press conference. “And it rolled right over here. I mean it was a fact that they predicted he would lose (to Pacquiao). And it crashed. And it just hurt a lot of people’s feelings. It hurt a lot of people’s pockets. And I’m next up. I already know what it is. I’m a very intelligent young man. I can put it together. The last situation wasn’t great. Now, you guys are taking it out on this situation.”
There’s a sense that Saturday’s fight is also crumpling under the insane expectations of what happened in May, when Mayweather-Pacquiao set records for PPV buys (4.6 million), PPV revenue (over $400 million) and worldwide receipts (over $500 million). Ethan Miller/Getty Images Floyd Mayweather’s farewell fight could be one of his worst ever.
“Regardless of the opponent, there’s never going to be something that feels as big,” Showtime boxing head Stephen Espinoza said. “You come off that high- there’s nothing we could have done to match it. That’s why I think when you heard the overly harsh criticism directed at Berto- it might have more to do with what happened in May than with Andre personally.”
Espinoza admitted the fight with Berto (30-3) would struggle to hit a million PPV buys.
“I don’t think so, to be honest,” he said.
To put that in context, Mayweather’s first five fights on his six-fight Showtime deal have generated a total of nearly ten million pay-per-view buys and roughly $750 million in PPV receipts, Espinoza said.
Espinoza claims that Berto was the best possible opponent available since others, such as Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia were busy with personal and health issues.
As for the lukewarm ticket sales, Espinoza said that Mayweather was judged against a harsher standard.
“It is somewhat relative because the promotion is on track to do roughly a $10 million gate,” Espinoza said. “Nobody else is doing $10 million gates. Is that the highest he’s ever done? Is it the biggest Mayweather fight ever? No. Is it bigger than virtually anything else in the sport? Absolutely.”
The final press conference on Wednesday was an exercise in persuasion.
Virgil Hunter, who trains Berto, suggested that personal animosity between the two fighters would produce fireworks in the ring. Berto hinted on Tuesday he and Mayweather may have dated the same woman.
“I’ve been around a long time and I know when something is personal,” Hunter said. “So you better tell your people to tune in for the fight.”
Hunter then went a step further, predicting the safety-first Mayweather could engage Berto in a brawl, an unlikely scenario. “No, he got hood steps in his walk,” Hunter said. “Trust me.”
