Dubai: Fans who want to watch the widely anticipated fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in Las Vegas are still unsure when they can get their hands on a ticket.
With 16 days before the showdown, Gulf News has learned that tickets are still not on sale.
Tickets for the ?Fight of the Century? are expected to be released this week, according to the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, Leonard Ellerbe, but he didn’t specify a date.
It has also been reported that Team Pacquiao has not received their complimentary tickets.
?Actually, we don’t have control with the tickets,? Pacquiao said in one pre-fight interview. ?Even my family don’t have the tickets yet, but I’ve already requested Top Rank (for the tickets). I’m hoping that this week or next week tickets will be available to the public.?
During the Pacquiao’s media day on Wednesday night (US time), Top Rank promoter Bob Arum offered an old school solution to the delay of ticket sales.
“The idea that tickets aren’t on sale yet is ridiculous,” he said Arum.
“Remember how it was in the old days, when you went to a baseball game, people would line up to buy tickets at the box office the day of the game?”
The MGM Grand Garden Arena can accommodate 16,800 fans, but less than 1,000 seats are expected to go up for sale. The rest of the tickets are reserved for the casino, boxers, sponsors, promoters and HBO/Showtime. The ticket price ranges from $1,500 to $10,000.
Many Dubai fans, on the other hand, will have to make do with watching the fight in cafes and other entertainment venues.
Broadcast of the fight is expected to start around 5am UAE time.
Resident Danny Reyes, a manager in an engineering equipment company, said he and his housemates have already planned to watch the fight in a hotel near their home in Bur Dubai.
?The fight will be shown early here in Dubai so we prefer to watch it near our place. For sure it will finish quite late in the morning and will create problems for those who will be working that day,? said Reyes.
?For me, I own my time so I have nothing to worry. My housemate said he will just come in late for work.?
Pedia Nurse Dina Dominique Marasigan prefers to watch the fight on the big screen. ?We?ll be watching it in Novo cinema at Grand Hyatt. This is the closest thing we have to experiencing the epic fight of the century and supporting Manny.?
