DAN RAFAEL: "Mayweather-Ortiz Will Be The Best-Selling PPV Fight This Year"

[Gino Ros]

Tickets are priced at $1,250, $1,000, $600, $300 and $150 (not including applicable service charges) and will go on sale Friday at 1 p.m. ET.

Tickets are limited to 12 per person, only two of which can be the $150 tickets. They can be purchased with a credit card by calling Ticketmaster (800-745-3000), in person at the MGM Grand Garden Arena box office or at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

It's a slam dunk that Mayweather-Ortiz will be a hot ticket. Mayweather's past four fights -- all of which have been staged at the MGM Grand -- rank among the top 23 boxing gates in Nevada history. With Mayweather ending a 16-month layoff, there figures to be pent-up demand.

Here is how Mayweather's past four fights did on Nevada's all-time list:

• No. 1: His May 2007 fight with Oscar De La Hoya not only drew a record Nevada boxing gate (and an all-time pay-per-view sales record of almost 2.5 million units), but netted the biggest gate in boxing history -- a monstrous $18,419,200 from a paid attendance of 17,078.

• No. 10: In May 2010, Mayweather's most recent fight, he beat Shane Mosley as the bout drew a paid crowd of 14,038 for a gate of $11,032,100.


• No. 12: Mayweather's memorable knockout of Ricky Hatton in December 2007 drew 15,488 fans (mostly Brits rooting for Hatton), which translated to $10,393,950.00.

• No. 23: In September 2009, Mayweather ended a 21-month retirement by facing Juan Manuel Marquez and drew a paid crowd of 12,009 for a gate of $6,865,250.

Besides projecting a big crowd at the MGM Grand, my prediction is that Mayweather-Ortiz, at $54.95, will be the best-selling pay-per-view fight of the year. HBO's four-part "24/7 Mayweather-Ortiz" reality series, which follows the fighters through their training camps, will debut Aug. 27 (10 p.m. ET/PT).

http://espn.go.com/sports/boxing/blo...dan/id/6742398

[Chups]

I admit, Mayweather is amazing when it comes to this. Ortiz will be even more popular/cashcow than ever after this, win or lose.

[Perfect Plex]

No dout. Mayweather is a amazing draw and huge $$$ maker........

[MindBat]

**Nobody paid to see Floyd. They all paid to see Oscar, Juan, and Shane.

[Gino Ros]

I admit, Mayweather is amazing when it comes to this. Ortiz will be even more popular/cashcow than ever after this, win or lose.

Interesting point, Chups.

Oscar was the guy who would "launch" careers: Floyd, Manny, and to a lesser extent, Hopkins.

It will be interesting to see how Floyd does in that role as the biggest name in the sport. Marquez certainly had good numbers post-Floyd. Ortiz SHOULD be able to use this opportunity to get his brand out there. Nice looking kid. Likeable. GREAT backstory.


If I were Floyd, i would be using my bully pulpit to keep hammering the "improved drug testing" campaign. Every time there was a microphone in my face.

Leading by example is great, and I commend him for that. But he should also put pressure on the commissions and promoters by exploiting the media.

[uoykcuf]

**Nobody paid to see Floyd. They all paid to see Oscar, Juan, and Shane.

Actually people must be paying to see Floyd fight seeing how Ortiz isn't that big of a name. I mean wasn't he fighting under several of Khan's undercards? So how well does Ortiz really sell? Or do you think Ortiz name has blown up now because of his win over Berto?

[lfc19titles]

amazing how you believe fat dan when it suits your agenda, him giving saying top rank contract was 20m despite nevada saying 6m as we discussed via pm. you ignored it total saying it was garbage, yet you now make this thread

you really are pathetic

[gzgz]

over 2 milion peeple will call ortiz a bum afta floid wrecks him on sep 17.......

[MindBat]

Actually people must be paying to see Floyd fight seeing how Ortiz isn't that big of a name. I mean wasn't he fighting under several of Khan's undercards? So how well does Ortiz really sell? Or do you think Ortiz name has blown up now because of his win over Berto?

It was a joke. I believe that what drives the interest of this fight are the hard core boxing fans and many mainstream fans who enjoyed the first 24/7 series and became hooked.

Ortiz will gain many more fans after the main stream audience gets a glimpse into the story of his struggles to get to the top. I have no doubt HBO will do him justice.

[Bushbaby]

Yup, I still think hbo shoulda stuck to their guns & not let Pacman back on the network until he fought someone with a chance of winning.