Only 2,000 to 3,000 tickets for the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton clash set for May 2 in Las Vegas will be made available to the public starting Friday (Jan. 30), Top Rank chief Bob Arum disclosed yesterday.
Arum said the MGM Grand Garden Arena can accommodate more than 17,000 but it will be reconfigured to 16,000-plus and the Hall of Fame promoter is more than confident that there'll be a mad rush to purchase the limited number of seats since Pacquiao and Hatton are both crowd-drawers.
When Pacquiao fought Oscar De La Hoya last year, there were only about 500 tickets that were sold to the public as the event organizers anticipated bulk orders. In two hours, not one ticket was left and when Pacquiao and De La Hoya answered the bell for the first round, it was announced that 15,001 were in attendance.
Demand for ticket for the Pacquiao-Hatton brawl is high, according to Arum.
The MGM/Mirage has already purchased $ 2 million worth of tickets, while Top Rank - this early - has been given an allotment of $ 500,000 worth of tickets in anticipation of a sellout come fight night.
Arum said Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions (GBP), which are co-promoting the bout but with the Las Vegas-based Top Rank as lead organizer, have agreed that the most expensive tickets be priced at $ 1,000 each, while the remaining will be retailed at $ 750, $ 500, $ 300 and $ 150.
As in his last four appearances in Sin City, Arum said Pacquiao will stay at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay, which the New York-bred lawyer labeled as "the Philippine headquarters" during fight week. Hatton and his party and his supporters from England will stay at the MGM Grand.
The MGM/Mirage group also owns Mandalay Bay.
To kick off the hype, Arum, Pacquiao and Freddie Roach will travel to London and then to Manchester in the third week of February to be with Hatton and then onwards to America for the US end of the press tour with New York as kick-off point.
Following the tour, Pacquiao will show up at the doorsteps of the Wild Card Boxing Club to start two months of hard training under Roach's watchful eyes.
"I need at least eight weeks to prepare for Hatton, who is a tough guy and extremely dangerous," said Pacquiao on Friday night when he dropped by the Wild Card Gym in Paranaque to fulfill a promise he made to former chief handler Rod Nazario and long-time pals Moy Lainez, Gerry Garcia and Lito Mondejar.
The 30-year-old Pacquiao said he will get a guarantee of $ 13 million plus a 52-48 cut in the pay-per-view buys and ringsiders expect the Filipino pound-for-pound king to earn the biggest paycheck in his storied career in this fight.
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