RINGSIDE SEATS that sell for $ 600 may go as high as $ 4,000 for the rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.
This was predicted by Top Rank big boss Bob Arum after he revealed yesterday that the $ 600 ticket has been sold out as fans grabbed the premium item which they will use either to be part of the mega fight as witnesses — or for profit.
Arum said that “tickets are flying out like crazy.” Owing to the huge interest among fight fans, Arum said he is seriously considering putting up close circuit stations to accommodate those who would be unable to enter the venue.
“There are less than 2,000 left and all the floor seats have been sold,” said Arum from his Las Vegas office. “There would be lots of people in Vegas for this fight and not all of them would make it to the arena.”
The past weekend alone, Arum said “we sold 300 tickets.”
“The brokers who got the $ 600 tickets will sell it as high as $ 4,000,” said Arum, sounding as though it is King Kong going up against Godzilla on March 15 in Sin City.
“There’s a frenzy and this is unlike any other (high-profile) Manny Pacquiao fight said,” Arum said.
Apart from the choice ringside seats, most of them likely to be occupied by high profile personalities, there are also tickets pegged at $ 400, $ 300, $ 200 and $ 100. The Events Center inside Mandalay Bay can hold up to 12,000 people.
With 52 days remaining before the scheduled 12-rounder dubbed “Unfinished Business”, tickets would be hard to come by in the days and weeks before the bout.
The 76-year-old Arum plans to go all-out in the promotion sometime in February to lure more pay-per-view subscribers.
“I am staying away from him (Pacquiao) so he can train well and Freddie Roach tells me Manny’s doing very well but we’ll be pumping this all up soon.”
Top Rank publicist Lee Samuels said that while Marquez “is a real tough guy”, the company believes Pacquiao will get past him.
“What we told Manny is that Marquez will be in tremendous shape and that he needs to prepare hard,” said Samuels.
And with Pacquiao deciding to train with Roach at Wild Card in Hollywood for eight solid weeks “(Pacquiao) knows the seriousness of the fight,” added Samuels, who has been handling Top Rank’s public and press relations for the past 25 years.
