Here’s the obvious: The superfight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao can’t live up to the hype.
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao
- Who wins the fight?
- Manny Pacquiao — 65.7%
- Floyd Mayweather — 34.3%
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Note: This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.
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Short of the action resembling one of the Rocky movies with multiple knockdowns and nonstop action, there’s a good chance you’ll be disappointed come Saturday night. The promotion machine has been in overdrive for weeks getting us excited for the fight of the century — their words, not mine — and even the non-sports fan is searching for a place to watch the fight.
“This is a fight that the whole world is waiting to see,” said Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions and Mayweather’s longtime confidant.
All those eyes are on Las Vegas, which is a good thing for our town. Las Vegas, not Mayweather or Pacquiao, will be the winner this weekend. We’ll deliver on the hype by hosting the party of the century.
But, please Vegas, let’s not ruin it.
Let’s show we have the capacity to handle an event of this magnitude and prove we can be a major sports city. The hockey puck is dropping soon, right?
Let’s get fans in and out of town, and the MGM, safely. Let’s confirm what locals already know in that there is no better city to host an event, athletic or entertainment. We have it all.
Want a five-star meal or a quality meal on a budget? You’ll find it here. Want to wager on the fight legally? What about table games? We’ve got you covered. Want to socialize in exclusive night clubs with attractive people? Yep, right here in Las Vegas. It’s the total package.
The Dallas area has a larger venue. We have a better city. Same for New York.
I wouldn’t have written this a few years ago, especially with how we mismanaged the 2007 NBA All-Star weekend. There were hundreds of arrests, gang violence, shootings, traffic was impossible to navigate on the Strip and some patrons didn’t pay their bills at restaurants. It was a complete disaster.
“Vegas police were simply overwhelmed along The Strip. They were there solely for decoration and to discourage major crimes. Beyond that, they minded their own business,” national columnist Jason Whitlock wrote at the time. “I was there. Walking The Strip this weekend must be what it feels like to walk the yard at a maximum security prison. You couldn’t relax. You avoided eye contact. The heavy police presence only reminded you of the danger.”
Sure, some of the mess was the clientele in town for the all-star weekend. But a majority of the blame falls on Las Vegas.
We weren’t ready to police the masses and we didn’t have adequate transportation plans, showing the area wasn’t ready for a professional sports team. The NBA went from warming up to the idea of being in Las Vegas to wanting nothing to do with us.
That’s why this weekend is important. We’ve graduated from the city that suffered a few bad nights eight years ago to one that’s better prepared to handle the masses. There will be upward of 200,000 visitors in town for fight week, and the boxing crowd is easily overcome with emotion if the fight doesn't yield a favorable outcome.
Law enforcement and casino security have been a constant at the MGM all week, even using dogs from Metro's K-9 unit to sniff out the media tent one morning. You get the sense they are prepared to keep chaos from erupting.
That chaos is frequent on fight night, whether it was rapper Tupac Shakur being gunned down on the night of a Mike Tyson fight or disarray in the hotel lobby after the Tyson-Evander Holyfield bite-night fight in the late 1990s, or fans treated for minor injuries from a stampede in the MGM food court following Mayweather's fight in September.
Officials at Metro and MGM promise they will be ready. I hope they are right.
"The overall goal is to maintain the integrity of the event," said Francisco Aguilar, the Nevada Athletic Commission chief. "Las Vegas is a brand. To protect the brand, you have to protect the event."
That’s what Vegas should hope for. That’s how we can live up to the hype.
Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21
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