By Rick Reeno
About a month ago, BoxingScene.com spoke to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, and he was trying to work out the numbers in order to put together an event where Floyd Mayweather Jr., Amir Khan, and Adrien Broner would all be in action in separate fights.
For that to happen, a considerable amount of money would have to be invested in the undercard. How considerable? Schaefer told us back then - it would be the most expensive pay-per-view undercard to date.
The undercard is now finalized, for May 3rd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Showtime Pay-Per-View will carry. The card will be headlined by a welterweight unification between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Marcos Maidana.
With everything finalized, is the May 3rd undercard the most expensive, to date, for a pay-per-view event?
"There is no question about it [that it's the most expensive undercard]. Not by a little bit, but by far. I met up with Floyd about a month ago at a Lakers game. We had an in-depth conversation, where Floyd clearly stated that he wanted to put together a very strong undercard," Schaefer told BoxingScene.com.
"When me and you previously discussed the possibility of having Khan and Broner on this card, [and I said] it doesn't get any bigger than that, because these are well established stars who could have easily headlined their own Showtime cards. So for those guys to be appearing on the same card, it shows the [financial] commitment by Floyd Mayweather to boxing."
In the PPV co-feature, British superstar Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KOs) will officially move up to the welterweight ranks to face former welterweight titleholder Luis Collazo (35-5, 18 KOs). Former three division world champion Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KOs), returning from his first career defeat, will drop down to 140-pounds to face Carlos Molina (17-1-1, 7 KOs). Opening things up will be a super middleweight encounter between J'Leon Love (17-0, 10 KOs) against Marco Antonio Periban (20-1-1, 13 KOs).
"Floyd has a different philosophy than other promoters do. He understands what the responsibilities are when you're the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He knows that these cards are considered events by any standards in sports and outside of sports. He wants to make sure that fights fans are entertained and see a recognized card, [the kind] that's really going to elevate his pay-per-view. I think his average is a million and half for pay-per-view homes, per event. He could just take the attitude, like others have, and put the Butterbeans and Mia St. Johns on - but no, that's not Floyd Mayweather's style. He takes his money and commits his financial resources to put together these greats cards," Schaefer said.
