Weeks into the protracted promotional hype for the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight, a major player in the Dec. 6 bout could not help but still express amazement over the tremendous reaction of boxing fans to the match-up even though the United States is in recession.
Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) Chief Executive Officer Richard Schaefer, who is De La Hoya?s right-hand man and the man responsible for forging a tie-up with Bob Arum of Top Rank, said signs are pointing towards a huge success.
“We knew this (fight) would be popular with the fans, but it?s even more popular than we imagined,” Schaefer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal over the weekend.
“Even with the economy, we?re getting a great response,” said Schaefer.
The response was overwhelming that two hours after tickets were made available to the public in late-September, not even one was left to be purchased even by those who were willing to buy it double or triple its actual price.
Tickets priced at $ 1,500, $ 1,000, $ 750, $ 500, $ 250 and $ 150 were immediately wiped out with the lion?s share going to Top Rank, GBP and MGM Grand, which plans to use the tickets as a lure to high-rollers and celebrities.
To make up for the dearth of seats at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, which has a capacity of close to 16,000, Top Rank and GBP will put up closed circuit stations in several MGM-owned hotels along the Strip as they anticipate a deluge of fight fans for 2008?s biggest fight.
As much as 40,000 seats for closed circuit viewing will be available for those who would still want to feel the electricity of a super fight without going to the venue.
While the promoters are doing their best to drum up more interest ? as if the event still needs to create more excitement ? the fighters themselves are deep in preparation in their respective training camps.
Pacquiao shows up six times a week (except Sunday) at the Wild Card Boxing Club starting at 1 p.m. in Hollywood, while De La Hoya holds his workout in a facility located in a rented house in Big Bear, a mountain resort two hours by land from Los Angeles, daily guided by Mexican strategist Nacho Beristain.
Pacquiao, 29, will remain there until Dec. 1, the day he goes to Las Vegas on board a 30-seater bus that will be adored with boxing decorations, according to Arum.
De La Hoya, 35, will likely lease a private plane that will take off from a small airport in Big Bear en route to Sin City on Dec. 2.
