Sky Wins Mayweather V Pacquiao Fight
The long-awaited world welterweight title fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will be shown on Sky Sports after securing the rights for Britain and Ireland.
The fight, taking place on 2nd May, will air exclusively live in the UK and Ireland on the pay-per-view Sky Sports Box Office platform, with The Telegraph reporting that Sky paid somewhere between £10 million and £12 million to see off the challenge of BT Sport and Frank Warren’s BoxNation subscription service.
The cost of the event will be £19.95 until midnight Friday 1st May, rising to £24.95 on the night of the fight, although the figure falls some way short of the $99.95 (£65) being charged for HD broadcast in the US.
Earlier reports had indicated that the fight could be expected to generate more than £30 million in revenue for its UK broadcaster.
Customers were charged £14.95 to watch Ricky Hatton fight Mayweather in 2007, a fight that currently holds the UK pay-per-view audience record with 1.2m viewers.
Sky Sports managing director Barney Francis, commented: “This fight has everything and is set to be one of the biggest sports events of the year. As the home of boxing in the UK and Republic of Ireland, we’re thrilled to be awarded the rights.
“We’ll provide Sky Sports viewers with the best possible build-up across our channels and outlets and the best coverage of the fight itself from our team in Las Vegas.”
In the US, the fight will be showcased in a joint pay-per-view broadcast between competing premium networks HBO, to which Pacquiao is tied, and Showtime, with which Mayweather signed a six-fight deal in 2013.
The undefeated Mayweather will be the slight favourite against Pacquiao, an eight-weight world titlist and Filipino congressman, when the two meet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Mayweather’s WBC and WBA welterweight titles and Pacquiao’s WBO belt will be on the line for the bout, which has been several years in the making, with Mayweather Promotions finally confirming a deal with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Boxing, Pacquiao’s promoter, last month.
