LOS ANGELES?The Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales duel on March 19 at the MGM Grand is expected to rank as one of the biggest non-heavyweight fights in boxing history despite it being a non-title bout.
With two of the most gallant little men in boxing battling it out for sheer bragging rights and machismo alone, the mega-fight featuring the top two boxers of the Philippines and Mexico have generated tremendous response from media, the box-office, ticket sales and pay-per-view subscriptions worldwide.
This early, statistical data indicate that the Pacquiao-Morales superfight has gotten enough interest in test sites located in Southern California.
?Preliminary numbers show we have sold a few hundred fights but these are fights bought through the call center staff. This is not taking into account impulse (digital) buys done directly from customers’ homes,? said Mauricio Real, Director of the Contact Center of Charter Communication.
This was the same HBO office Manny Pacquiao visited last Wednesday where call centers are set up to receive and market the event to fight fans.
In comparison to the (Marco Antonio) Barrera-Morales fight late last year, the pace in sales for the Pacquiao-Morales fight seemed to be a little faster, added Real.
?As I said yesterday, the Los Angeles area that we service has a very high Hispanic community and generally speaking, fights featuring two Latinos do well in Los Angeles,? said Real. ?Also, keep in mind that 90 percent of our PPV purchases are done 24 hours prior to the event.?
The Morales-Barrera III fight generated 325,000 pay-per-view buys and has since been one of the biggest super-featherweight duel in history, in terms of sales.
?I think 500,000 buys is a modest figure,? said Fred Sternburg, publicist for the fight. That easily translates to around $23 million in sales, which is comparable to the Oscar De La Hoya-Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar De La Hoya-Sugar Shane Mosley I fights.
Other non-heavyweight fights in history which generated huge paychecks to the two protagonists included De La Hoya-Fernando Vargas and De La Hoya-Mosley II, among others.
Ticket sales at the MGM Grand and Ticketmaster outlets have reportedly sold more than 11,500 tickets out of the 14,500 seats available and with the spring break and March Madness happening during the March 19 weekend, the MGM Grand is expected to get filled up to the rafters.
