By James Slater – As fight fans almost certainly know, tickets have just recently gone on sale for the May 5th Mayweather-Cotto showdown in Las Vegas. A whopping $1,500 will get you a ringside ticket, while the not inconsiderable sum of $200 will get you a “cheap” seat.
The power of superstardom Mayweather (and, to a lesser extent, Cotto) currently hold allows the promoters to charge such massive prices – that and the fact that the show at The MGM Grand will have a quality under-card; topped by “Canelo” Alvarez-“Sugar” Shane Mosley. And all up-and-coming fighters with real talent are hoping that they too will one day be able to command as many dollars as the master known as “Money” is currently able to do..
But three weeks before the Mayweather-Cotto deal, there will take place another potentially great fight which, though not as big as Mayweather-Cotto, is not all that far behind and could prove to be a far better, more evenly matched, exciting thriller of a fight – and one day, the winner of the April 14th shootout may be as big as Mayweather and Cotto.
Lightweights Brandon Rios and Yuriorkis Gamboa (who will move up from 126-pounds) will clash for the vacant WBA 135-pound belt. And this potential classic can be seen, right up close and in living colour at ringside for the amazing bang-for-your-buck bargain price of just $250! A cheap set can be yours for just $25. Any way you look at it (and I know neither guy has much than a hard-core following at the moment) that’s value for money. Added to the value is the fact that the card at The Mandalay Bay will also have a stacked under-card: with Boxrec reporting how former middleweight king Kelly Pavlik will return against Scott Sigmon and exciting 140-pound contender Mike Alvarado will face the durable Mauricio Herrera.
Make no mistake, fans who are lucky enough to be in attendance on April 14th will be in for some great night. Again, neither Gamboa, 21-0(16) nor Rios, 29-0-1(22) have Mayweather’s star power (yet), but no finer match-up has been announced so far this year in my opinion. And, unlike Mayweather-Cotto, the lightweight battle has a genuine potential to be The FOTY.
My advice, for what it’s worth, is this: enjoy future superstars Gamboa and Rios for such a bargain price while you can!
As far as a pre-fight prediction goes, I see Gamboa picking himself off the floor (maybe more than once) and using a combination of his sheer class and his heart and toughness to grind out an oh-so-close points victory. The fight will deliver as advertised, and they will be talking about this one for a long time to come.