By James Slater: Not long to go now until the richest fight of the boxing calendar. Or at least Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer thinks the May 5th showdown between rival superstars Floyd Mayweather Junior and Miguel Cotto will be a cash bonanza of the highest order.
Schaefer, as has been reported by just about every boxing web site on the net, doesn’t just think the Mayweather-Cotto “Ring Kings” bout will become the highest grossing boxing match of the year – the former Swiss banker thinks it might become THE most-bought Pay-per-View boxing match ever!
The fight that currently holds that distinction is another bout involving “Box Office King,” Mayweather Junior: the May 2007 “World Awaits” (it didn’t really) Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather affair. That fight, fought at 154-pounds, drew an amazing 2.45 millions buys. An unbeatable record? Schaefer thinks the Cinco de Mayo card that will go down in 10 days from now might equal those numbers, perhaps even surpass them.
Mayweather, as we know, is capable of drawing over a million Pay-per-View buys even when he is not facing another legitimate superstar such as a Cotto, and with Mexican sensation Saul “Canelo” Alvarez – one of the hottest commodities in all of boxing today himself – also in action on the May 5th bill in Las Vegas (against “Sugar” Shane Mosley), Schaefer may just be about to be proven right.
Cotto is almost as big as Mayweather, and with Canelo also proving oh, so enticing to fight fans the world over, Mexico especially, the numbers could go through the roof on May 5th. Still, 2.45 million is some massive number to topple. We are, it must be remembered, in a recession. “Money” Mayweather may say he is “recession-proof,” but on this web site alone a number of fans have declared themselves unwilling to fork out a whopping $54.99 to see just two (possibly) good fights.
Mayweather-Cotto will likely top a million buys (in fact we’d all be shocked if it never secured that much business), maybe it will top a million-and-a-half – but equal or surpass 2.45 million? I don’t think so. Either way, though, Mayweather, Cotto, Schaefer, De La Hoya and all those at Golden Boy will have smiling bank managers come May 7th, when the smoke all clears.
As far as an in-the-ring prediction goes (the only thing fight fans are really interested in after all), Mayweather has vowed that the fight will not go the distance.
“Cotto’s coming for the kill, and I’m coming for the kill,” Mayweather said at yesterday’s media gathering. “The fight won’t go the distance.”
For what it’s worth, I think the 154-pound WBA title brouhaha will go the distance, with Floyd emerging as a clear winner on points. Schaefer and Mayweather to be proven wrong? What are the odds!