Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Big fight, big crowd, big money: Mayweather-Pacquiao makes for vibrant night in Las Vegas

MayPac

L.E. Baskow

Life outside MGM Grand streams along Saturday, May 2, 2015, before the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight.

Updated Saturday, May 2, 2015 | 7:12 p.m.

Mayweather-Pacquiao Crowd on the Strip

Fans stand by a van selling merchandise outside MGM Grand on Saturday, May 2, 2015, before the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight. Launch slideshow »

As Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao prepared to face each other at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the mega-fight drew a mega-crowd on the south end of the Strip.

From the undercard bouts to the postfight parties, this was no garden-variety Saturday night in Las Vegas. The signs were everywhere.

In the MGM Grand casino, minimum bets at blackjack tables appeared to start at $50. One craps table boasted a minimum bet of $1,000 — and, yes, several gamblers were playing. Meanwhile, ESPN reported that it had confirmed at least one ticket to the fight sold for more than $100,000.

Elsewhere in the resort, people already were gearing up to capitalize on the fight’s aftermath. Red Grant, 38, arrived at the MGM Grand by 6 a.m. to start filming scenes for a show called "Outside the Fight," which he said will air on Showtime in a few weeks.

"It's wild out here," he said, as people jockeyed for space near the hotel valet.

The allure: the chance to spot a celebrity exiting a high-end vehicle or limousine.

It worked. The general hoopla turned to excited screams as someone shouted "Magic Johnson!" The former professional basketball player, flanked by police and hotel security, made a speedy entrance into the main lobby but nodded and smiled in the direction of fans. Dozens of celebrities were in town for the fight.

Grant said Floyd Mayweather Sr. arrived at the same entrance about 12:30 p.m.

"They were all around him and swarming," Grant said. "Security had to move him."

Inside the casino, MGM Grand security had restricted access by 4 p.m. to the hallway lined with restaurants leading to the arena. An MGM official said the restriction was based on fire marshal orders. The hallway is expected to reopen when the main event begins.

Casino operations otherwise seemed to be running smoothly, despite more congestion — and excited revelry — than normal.

A group of young men, clad in swim shorts, chanted "Manny! Manny! Manny!" as they made their way through the casino.

Demensceo Keyes, 42, traveled from Brooklyn, N.Y., to be here this week. He arrived Monday and planned to watch the fight in a Bellagio theater.

His prediction for the fight: "The hype is there, but I think it's going to be a draw," he said.

Willie Banks, 39, visited Las Vegas for the third time to catch a piece of the pre-fight energy.

Like thousands of other fans visiting Las Vegas this weekend, Banks knew he wouldn't catch a glimpse of the action in person. He'll be watching from a friend's house off the Strip instead.

But he wanted to feel the vibe of the fans gathered at the MGM Grand.

"The energy is just wild out here," Banks said as crowds whooped and cheered in front of the casino, where fans waited for celebrities to roll up to the casino's red carpet.

"I just had to be here in person," Banks said. "This is such a big fight."

The MGM sports book was overflowing, not only because of the fight but because of betting traffic related to the Kentucky Derby, which was run earlier today, and Game Seven of the NBA Playoff matchup between the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers.

Betting numbers clearly showed that Pacquiao was a crowd favorite. William Hill sports books reported that the Filipino fighter was favored on three of every four betting tickets.

Click to enlarge photo

Ebony Fuller of New Orleans is rooting for Manny Pacquiao on Saturday, May 2, 2015.

Ebony Fuller, a 40-year-old fan, made it clear she was rooting for Pacquiao.

Donning a headband, T-shirt, tote bag and necklace bearing the fighter's name, it was hard to miss the her, even among a crowd of boisterous fans gathered outside the MGM Grand.

"I just love him, he's my best friend," she said as she waited for a limousine to whisk her and her friends away to a fight watching party on the Strip. The group from New Orleans was in Las Vegas for the weekend to catch the fight on closed-circuit TV and soak up the energetic atmosphere surrounding the match. "I love his fighting style, his personality — he's so kind. I love everything about him."

As the undercard fights were beginning, the line to place a wager at the MGM Grand sports book snaked around the corner. Security chastised one man, with kids in tow, who was waiting in line. Even amid the crowds, no one younger than 21 was getting anywhere close to gambling action.

Patrick Gesik, of Honolulu, planned to place a $1,000 bet on Pacquiao, even though he wasn't too confident the Filipino boxer would emerge the victor. His betting rationale boiled down to this: "I like him a lot better."

Meanwhile, boxing fans were steadily rolling into the Ka Theater to watch the fights. MGM Resorts sold about 50,000 tickets to watch closed-circuit viewings of the fights at more than 15 locations across its Strip properties, said Stacy Hamilton, director of public relations for MGM Resorts. Tickets cost $150 each.

But some guests shelled out even more money for viewing-party tickets on the secondary market.

Chris and Sheree Holmes, of Dallas, said they paid $340 each for their tickets to the Ka Theater viewing party. But the couple got lucky with room rates.

Chris Holmes, 40, said he booked two nights at an off-Strip hotel for about $400 total in November when rumors began swirling about a Mayweather-Pacquiao agreement. He guessed the right weekend it would occur.

The viewing-party tickets wiped out his budget for gambling on the fight, but Holmes said he was rooting for Pacquiao.

"I like Pacquiao's charisma," he said. "He's a very humble guy."

Several rows down in Ka Theater, Bill Gemza, 35, and a friend were also rooting for Pacquiao. The Houston resident called the casino atmosphere "a little crazy."

Gemza said he planned to hit an MGM restaurant after the fights. His flight back to Houston leaves tomorrow.

"Everything seems to be going smoothly so far," Hamilton said.

For Michigan painter Antoine Pitts, the richest boxing match in history was a chance to earn a buck.

Pitts, 39, was among dozens of vendors lined along the Las Vegas Strip this weekend peddling fight-themed wares. The boxer-turned-artist from Flint, Mich., was selling paintings of Pacquiao and Mayweather, with whom he claims to have boxed in the Michigan National Boxing Team before the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

“I’ve known Floyd since he was 11 years old,” Pitts said, lamenting that the undefeated champ doesn’t remember him anymore. “We have a past friendship long (forgotten).”

Pitts said he was a fan of both fighters and was excited about the big match, but wouldn't watch it. He came to Las Vegas with just one purpose.

“It’s a chance to make money,” Pitts said.

Deon Brown only caught a glimpse of the action — a hefty punch from Pacquiao.

Brown, 28, was among a throng of boxing fans who briefly gathered around a laptop streaming the bout near the lobby of the MGM Grand, only to be quickly broken up by Metro Police.

“I just saw a couple of punches being thrown around,” Brown told his friend, Emilio Warner, before lamenting over the crowd’s breakup with his friends.

“This is some (expletive),” he said before the group walked off in pursuit of another impromptu watch party inside the casino.

Nearby, a Starbucks barista chatted with a customer about the group’s brazen effort.

“You’ve got security, you’ve got police and you’re still going to do that?” she said, shaking her head. “Come on.”

As the fight got underway, many parts of the Strip outside the MGM Grand were bustling with activity - namely, the closed-circuit viewing parties at various MGM Resorts properties. But in other places, like the near-empty Crystals mall, it was hard to tell the fight was even happening.

At the quiet Aria sports book, Sung Ho Choi, 39, had just placed three $20 wagers in favor of Pacquiao: one for him and one for two friends.

Choi wasn't even supposed to be in Las Vegas tonight. He and his wife arrived on Wednesday from Jacksonville, Fla., and should have left for a trip out of the country at 6 a.m. today. But they forgot their passports at home, so they extended their stay here. Choi said they come to Las Vegas regularly and he likes to play poker at the Aria, so that's why he chose it as the place to bet on the fight.

He could tell tonight was a different kind of crowd for the city.

"There's a lot of energy, but at the same time, I feel like I need to stay away from it," he said.

Around 9:30 p.m., a crowd of at least 100 people was listening intently to the announcers as the fight broadcast played inside the Double Barrel Roadhouse at Monte Carlo. The listeners couldn't see the screen.

At one point earlier, police and bystanders said, a group of people went to the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard South and attempted to watch the fight from there, realizing they could see over partitions from that vantage point. Police escorted them back to the sidewalk.

Across the boulevard, another crowd of similar size was trying to watch it on screens at Diablo's Cantina.

One woman who declined to be named said she had been listening to the fight all evening, and she was glad to because "you ain't gotta pay $600 for a barstool."

Sipping a beer at the Mirage, John Forbes seemed content with his decision to wager $500 on a Pacquiao victory at the sports book there. Forbes, who traveled to Las Vegas from Detroit for the fight, said he thought Pacquiao would win in a decision tonight, then Mayweather would triumph in a later rematch.

"I don't think Mayweather would be happy unless he can say, 'I won the fight, but the judges gave it to Pacquiao,'" Forbes said.

Patrons were steadily streaming in for closed-circuit viewing at the Mirage about an hour and a half before the fight. Some people were trying to resell their tickets for as much as $200.

Even casino floors relatively far from the action were enjoying a healthy amount of gamblers. And the limits weren't too bad: patrons could find $15 minimums for blackjack at the Mirage, Caesars Palace and the Bellagio.

Officials estimated that the fight would draw 150,000 to 200,000 visitors to Las Vegas, and air traffic was heavy. The three-day volume of commercial traffic to McCarran International Airport was the highest in years, and private traffic volume was so high that pilots were being sent to smaller airports in Henderson and North Las Vegas.

In preparation for the influx, Las Vegas Valley public safety officials took extraordinary security precautions, going so far as to work with authorities in the host cities of the Super Bowl and the NCAA football national semifinal to determine how to maintain safety at major sporting events.

The city’s history with such events is stained with violence. When Las Vegas played host to the NBA All-Star game in 2007, 400 people were arrested and at least four shootings occurred. After a Mike Tyson fight in 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting following a skirmish in the MGM Grand’s lobby.

MGM Grand also said it beefed up security following incidents inside the arena after recent Mayweather fights. In one, 60 injuries were reported from a crowd stampede that occurred when a falling partition made a sharp sound like a gunshot.

While his wife and daughter walked around heavy crowds at the MGM Grand's valet area, Walter Anderson sat parked in his wheelchair away from the action, soaking in the casino's energy from afar.

Anderson, who has used a wheelchair for years due to a spinal injury, said he was among those involved in the stampede, and this time he wasn't taking any chances.

"I managed to get out, but there was a quadriplegic man with me who got trampled," Anderson said. "I managed not to get hurt — well, maybe just my feelings. I'm afraid that after the fight something like that might happen today."

Anderson and his wife, Gillette Anderson, had tickets to watch the match in closed-circuit TV at the casino's Ka Theatre, and they planned to head straight to their rooms after the fight to avoid boisterous crowds.

"I was so terrified for him last year," his wife said. "He's not getting near the crowds this time."

But not everyone who came to the Strip went for the fight.

Amid all the people leaving the fight, teenagers in formal wear were streaming out of the Hard Rock Cafe. They were students from Northwest Career and Technical Academy, which had just held its prom there.

Riley Gray, 18, said the prom was planned long before the fight was set down the street. While the conflict was a little bit disappointing, she said it was an enjoyable evening regardless.

"We just kind of had to deal with it," she said, standing off to the side of the crowds a little bit north of the prom venue. "I still had a lot of fun."

Sun staffers Ana Ley, Jackie Valley, J.D. Morris, Ray Brewer, Case Keefer, John Katsilometes and Ric Anderson contributed to this story.

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