e-News® | The NEWS Company…Las Vegas, May 1, 2015 : Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao came face to face for the penultimate time at the final press conference before the most eagerly-anticipated clash in modern boxing history, Saturday night’s Fight of the Century in Las Vegas. The two will meet again at the weigh-in on Friday, but this was their final chance to speak before the action begins.
But “anyone hoping for fireworks or even the slightest trace of ill will from Saturday’s main players was bound to be disappointed”. Pacquiao was “humble and genial and God-fearing as ever” he says, and his Mayweather attempted to come across as a “self-assured all-time great who’s all but sworn off his trademark slander in an apparent effort to exit the sport gracefully”.
Neither fighter wanted to give an inch in the psychological battle, says Matt Fleming of the Daily Telegraph. “This was shown by the utter respect shown for each other,” he writes. Mayweather “did not utter a word of trash talk, and did his level best to come across as humble”. But is he worried? Kevin Mitchell of the Guardian believes he is. “In trying to affect nonchalance and a detached sense of superiority, Mayweather actually revealed nerves,” he claims.
That is certainly the view of Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach, who even suggested that Mayweather might not show up on Saturday. “I don’t think he wanted this fight. He was forced into a fight he didn’t want to take,” he said. “I just don’t know why Floyd has gone quiet for this fight. His speech is very subdued.”
Kind-hearted Manny Pacquiao will spend $4m (£2.6m) on tickets for his entourage for Saturday’s super-fight against Floyd Mayweather, even though he is one half of the main event. With tickets for the £300m showdown at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas at a premium and selling for hundreds of thousands in the resale market, Pacquiao has had to shell out millions of his own money for his 900-strong entourage.
Fewer than 1,000 tickets for the fight were made available for the general public and sold out within minutes of going on sale last week. Pacquiao will be defending his WBO welterweight title, and aiming to win Mayweather’s WBC and WBA welterweight titles. Pacquiao’s Bob Arum has even claimed that he paid $10,000 (£6,468) for his ringside seat and that the fighter will pay in the region of $3-4m for 900 tickets.
