LAS VEGAS (AP) — The richest fight in boxing history is getting even richer. And that's before the first ticket has even been sold.
New estimates show Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s payoff for fighting Manny Pacquiao could easily be $180 million, up substantially from earlier predictions of $120 million. Pacquiao gets the short end of the purse, but even that is expected to be well over $100 million by the time everything is tallied up.
The money is staggering, though not exactly unexpected. Five years of waiting seem to have only piqued the public's demand for the one fight even casual fans of the sport want to see.
Just what the two fighters earn won't be known until the pay-per-view is sold. But the May 2 fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is shaping up to be very lucrative.