Boxing: Fight of the century, 'Live'

Boxing: Fight of the century, 'Live'

It is a fight that has been five years in the making and, on May 3 (Singapore time), two of the world's biggest names in boxing will finally lock horns in what has been billed as the "Fight of the Century".

Undefeated five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr and record eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao will meet at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and StarHub TV announced yesterday that they will broadcast the fight "live" on SuperSports pay-per-view high definition Channel 218, at a cost of $39.90.

Singapore's top boxer Ridhwan Ahmad is not put off by the price.

Speaking to The New Paper, the 27-year-old bantamweight, who is Singapore's gold-medal hope at June's South-east Asia (SEA) Games, said: "That price ($39.90) is super cheap. I honestly thought it was going to cost much more.

"It's value for money because it's not just going to be Mayweather versus Pacquiao. There's going to be a few other skilled boxers fighting on the undercard.

"I'll get the subscription immediately, no doubt about it."

Ridhwan says the fight will be close, but he thinks the American will prevail in the end.

"My heart says Pacquiao, but my head says Mayweather," he said. "Pacquiao has the heart, but Mayweather has got more ring smarts and skills as a boxer. I think he'll come out on top in the end."

Boxing fan Mohamed Suhail agreed that the price would not be a factor for such a historic occasion.

"Look at the World Cup. It gets more and more expensive at every edition, but people still pay for the broadcast," said the 19-year-old.

"Same goes for this boxing match. It's two of the world's best boxers, and in HD. I wouldn't mind paying, so that one day, when I have kids, I can tell them that I watched the 'Fight of the Century'."

The price, inclusive of GST, is a one-time charge that gives subscribers the Add-On channel 218.

The channel will broadcast three episodes of "Inside Mayweather v Pacquiao", and one of "Mayweather v Pacquiao NOW" and "Mayweather v Pacquiao At Last", from May 2 onwards.

Meanwhle, Pacquiao's teleconference call on Monday was abruptly halted just minutes after it began with promoter Bob Arum delivering an obscenity before telling organisers to shut it down.

"Oh (expletive)," Arum said after the moderator said the first question would come from Michael Marley of Examiner.com. "Do this call some other time. Let's reorganise and do this call some other time, please."

Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach commented briefly before the call was taken over by Arum who had said earlier he wasn't happy with the idea of it.

"We are ready to go. We had a great training camp and good sparring partners," Roach said of the mega showdown with Mayweather.

Asked how his training was going, Pacquiao simply said, "very good".

Note that SuperSports PPV Channel 218 will only be in High Definition, which means that only customers with HD set-top boxes can view the channel. The channel will be available for purchase from April 28 onwards.

For more information, please visit www.starhub.com/supersports-ppv

haiqals@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on Apr 22, 2015.
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