"I sit ringside with my wife," Arum says. "The scalpers are already
asking for $90,000 for seats like mine. Can you imagine? I've set the
target at $200,000 a seat now. For that, I'll go watch anywhere else."
Then there is the ever-present boxing intrigue.
We ask about the rumor, surfacing a few days ago, that the venue for the site, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, is still without a signed contract with the main promoter, Mayweather's Al Haymon.
Arum shrugs and says nothing, a rare moment.
So
we call Richard Sturm, president of entertainment and sports at the MGM
Grand. Sturm answers, we identify ourselves and Sturm becomes about as
chatty as a mime. He says all such inquiries need to go through his
public relations staff. Hours later, we get the non-answer answer, in a
statement from Sturm read by a PR person:
"The terms of our Mayweather-Pacquiao site agreement have been fully negotiated and are in place."
Nothing there about signatures and paper. Could be a huge story. Could be nothing. Time will tell, since Sturm won't.
Before he spars, Pacquiao is calm, almost spiritual. Recently, he told Katie Couric in an interview: "God will deliver him to my hand so I can beat him."
For Pacquiao, in English, that's a filibuster.
Thursday, he smiles, wraps his hands and answers in a series of one-word responses.
Is he tired of all this training and does he wish the fight were tomorrow? "Yes."
Is he nervous? "No."
Did his meeting with Mayweather in the hotel room in Miami confirm what his impressions had been about Mayweather? "Yes."
Would he say what those impressions are? "No."
The fight is May 2. Talk has already become cheap. Too bad the tickets aren't.
Then there is the ever-present boxing intrigue.
We ask about the rumor, surfacing a few days ago, that the venue for the site, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, is still without a signed contract with the main promoter, Mayweather's Al Haymon.
Arum shrugs and says nothing, a rare moment.
 |
| Manny Pacquiao calms the chaos as Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout approaches |
"The terms of our Mayweather-Pacquiao site agreement have been fully negotiated and are in place."
Nothing there about signatures and paper. Could be a huge story. Could be nothing. Time will tell, since Sturm won't.
Before he spars, Pacquiao is calm, almost spiritual. Recently, he told Katie Couric in an interview: "God will deliver him to my hand so I can beat him."
For Pacquiao, in English, that's a filibuster.
Thursday, he smiles, wraps his hands and answers in a series of one-word responses.
Is he tired of all this training and does he wish the fight were tomorrow? "Yes."
Is he nervous? "No."
Did his meeting with Mayweather in the hotel room in Miami confirm what his impressions had been about Mayweather? "Yes."
Would he say what those impressions are? "No."
The fight is May 2. Talk has already become cheap. Too bad the tickets aren't.
