De la Hoya-Mayweather showdown sells out
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LAS VEGAS, United States (AFP) - Fight fans made the May showdown between Oscar de la Hoya and unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr a sellout, buying more than 5,400 tickets in three hours on Saturday, promoters announced.
The crowd is expected to set a record live gate of 19 million dollars on May 5 at the MGM Grand, surpassing the old mark of 16,860,300 dollars for the 1999 heavyweight unification showdown between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.
"This is a huge success right out of the gate, unparalleled in boxing," said Richard Schaefer, chief executive of de la Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.
De la Hoya has won world titles in six weight classes while Mayweather has won world titles in four weight classes.
World Boxing Council junior middleweight champion de la Hoya enters 38-4 with 30 knockouts while WBC welterweight champion Mayweather, 37-0 with 24 knockouts, moves up a weight class in the showdown of superstar US fighters.
This is a good thing for boxing in the short term, but its a one hit deal. Boxing doesn't have any big money matchups to follow this one, so it will probably be another 8 years before they get to this level again.
