Just a little over 300 seats at press row will be approved for deadline writers for the May 2 super fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.
The MGM Grand Garden Arena, which can accommodate 16,200, is expected to be filled to the brim and Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum said yesterday that “every newspaper in the country (US) will be sending reporters to cover the fight.”
Aside from the American media, which will be made up not only of print reporters but TV crew and Internet writers, “the whole world will also be sending media representatives.”
The fight is so huge that writers from other beats assigned to cover it have begun sending out their applications.
Magna Media is handling the screening of credentials and it has sent notice to those who have sent their applications that slots are extremely limited owing to the magnitude of the event.
Arum said those who won’t make the grade to cover it live at press row will get the opportunity to watch the fight love at the media center.
“We’ll be putting up a large screen at the media center,” said Arum, whose Top Rank Inc. is working closely with lead promoter Mayweather Promotions in staging the unification welterweight match.
“We’ll do the best we can (to accommodate),” added the 83-year-old Arum.
The Philippines alone is dispatching at least three TV crews and newspapers and their online sections have drawn out the gameplan for the coverage.
Regarded as the richest fight in history as Mayweather is guaranteed $120 million and Pacquiao $80 million, the much-awaited bout is expected to surpass all PPV and attendance records.
Pacquiao is in the thick of training at the Wild Card in Hollywood, while Mayweather is doing the same thing in Sin City where he reportedly mauled former foe Zab Judah, a tricky lefty like Pacquiao.