Details on Pacquiao-Clottey Emerge

Gil LeBreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram sheds light on March’s big boxing fight between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey that is now set to be held inside the new billion dollar Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Ticket prices for the March 13 fight will range from $700 down to $50. Arum is excited about being able to offer what he called “reasonable prices”’ for a world-class boxing show.

 

The stadium will use its basketball configuration for the bout. The uppermost deck will not be opened, and the video board, as it was Tuesday, will be lowered to 30 feet over the ring.

 

“Everyone gets a ringside seat,” as Arum put it.

 

The idea of putting big-time boxing inside of his new stadium was hatched a long time ago, Jones said. Before he bought the Cowboys, Jones once put on boxing matches in his native Arkansas.

 

Longtime Texas boxing promoter Lester Bedford began working with the Jones family to help make it happen. Their first idea was to have the stadium host Oscar De La Hoya’s final fight.

 

They thought they had the big one — the undefeated Mayweather against Pacquiao, the man considered to be “pound-for-pound, the world’s best fighter.” But even after the bidding escalated to $25 million, Mayweather wouldn’t agree to the fight.

 

“This is a very good consolation prize,” Bedford said. “This is what’s good for boxing — a stadium fight. This is what’s going to keep boxing going.”

 

With the gate reasonably priced, more people — with a younger demographic — will be exposed to big-time boxing. Cowboys Stadium could be the venue that hatches the next generation of boxing fans.

Payout Perspective:

In the wake of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight collapse, the general school of thought has been that it’s a bad thing for boxing, but from what I’ve seen of late I’m not so convinced. The anticipated negative reaction due to the broken negotiations has really yet to materialize in any meaningful way (although, to be fair, we’ll know for certain depending on the numbers each guy puts up in the next few months).

In fact, you might even go as far as to say that interest has increased in each fighter as the result of the negotiations. Both Arum and HBO did a pretty good job of delivering the message that their respective fighters are the two best in the world; any two fighters that could create that much hype for one fight ought to be seen regardless of whether they fight one another. It seems logical, given the coverage of the failed negotiations, that many non-boxing fans could now be more aware and interested in both fighters than they were prior to December.

There are skeptics out there who would contend that we’ll never see this fight, and based upon boxing’s history and what the boxing community has seen out of Arum and HBO, those skeptics are justified in their position. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see talks between these two camps renew for a Fall date if all goes according to plan. Two more wins, a few additional months worth of press, and a little walk to the balcony could bring a fresh perspective to this fight.

It’s not dead yet.