By T.K. Stewart

Tickets for the WBO welterweight title bout between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto don't go on sale until Monday, but the buzz is already beginning to build and rooms at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas are beginning to fill-up.

Ringside tickets for the biggest boxing match of 2009 are coming with a face value of $1,000 each with the nosebleed seats going for $150. Even in an economy that is reeling and on the ropes, the few available tickets for the general public are expected to be scooped up within hours of going on sale.

With over three months to go before the fight, most of the over 5,000 rooms at the MGM Grand have already been booked for the weekend of Nov. 14th. A visit to a travel agent today by this writer confirmed that only the high-end rooms at the MGM are still available for the weekend of the fight.

“There's must be something big going on for this happen,” said the agent. “The only thing I have open are the signature rooms. I don't think I've ever seen that happen three months in advance. Usually, and especially lately, I can get rooms at the MGM quite easily, they have five thousand of them, so I'm a little shocked to see that to be honest with you.”

When told that a big boxing match was taking place on that weekend, the agent nodded and raised her eyebrows.

“Well, that's still interesting because I've handled travel arrangements for people going to Vegas for New Years' Eve as well as UFC events and I don't think I've never known the MGM to be that full that far in advance.”

With Manny Pacquiao headlining his third straight fight at “the house that Tyson built” ticket brokers are salivating. A quick check today on one popular ticket seller shows the seats in the furthest reaches of the Grand Garden Arena, where the ring looks like a matchbook and the fighters look like ants - going for $338 a piece.

However, the most shocking price tag, is of course, reserved for ringside. In the area usually inhabited by the Nicholsons, the Stallones and the DiCaprios - two ringside tickets in Section A, Row A down on the floor are already selling for an astounding 22 times their face value and will set you back $22,536.

E-mail: tkstewartboxing@gmail.com