Pacquiao arrives in Las Vegas; Ready for Mayweather showdown
Floyd Mayweather Jr may live and train in Las Vegas, but Manny Pacquiao felt like the hometown fighter as he arrived at the Delano Las Vegas with a huge caravan last Monday evening, ahead of his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr on Saturday.
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Pacquiao and a caravan of his team and supporters made a six-hour, 275-mile long road trip from Los Angeles after a final training session at Wild Card Gym, keyed up for the $300million showdown.
The 36-year-old Filipino world champion broke camp early Monday morning at the Wild Card gym, five days ahead of the world’s most anticipated showdown at the MGM Grand Hotel
Four rounds of sparring capped close to seven weeks of training camp for the eight-time world division champion in preparation for his 12-round title fight against Mayweather.
Unlike Pacquiao, the 38-year-old Mayweather had his training camp set up under the bright lights of ‘Sin City’ where he has long been based.
Las Vegas ordinarily is no cheap city, but prices have hiked to unbelieveable levels as the city prepares to host the mega bout of the decade.
One night at the MGM Grand, the fight venue, is running $1,600 on Friday or Saturday night. That's more than 13 times the going rate on Sunday.
Or there's a $180 room on the California-Nevada state line at Whiskey Pete's hotel and casino just a 40-minute drive from the action.
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Las Vegas is filling up fast ahead of the much-anticipated May 2 megafight and the city is headed for a big payday from what might be the most lucrative boxing match ever held.
Airlines are swapping smaller planes for larger ones, readying for a busy weekend and altogether busier May at McCarran International Airport.
Cabbies are asking regulators for permission to dispatch more taxis to roam the roads.
VIP nightclub tables are going fast. Strip clubs are adding security. Ticket brokers expect to make a windfall.
There may just be 16,800 or so seats inside the arena, but there's been a frenzy to book all of Las Vegas' 150,544 rooms.
A week before the fight, only 20 hotels had rooms still available, according to booking engine Vegas.com - and they aren't coming cheap.
Even at the aging Riviera casino and hotel, the weekend before it closes for good, rates were $758 for next Friday and $798 for next Saturday for a standard room before it stopped offering rooms on the site, said Vanessa Doleshal, Vegas.com's development manager.
— PA