U.S.A.
Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
March 2, 2015
It’s on: Mayweather says he
and Pacquiao will fight May 2
SHOWDOWN SCHEDULED. Manny
Pacquiao attends the premiere of Manny at the
TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles in this Jan-
uary 20, 2015 file photo. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
will meet Pacquiao on May 2 in a welterweight
showdown that will be boxing’s richest fight
ever. (Photo/Todd Williamson/Invision/AP/File)
By Tim Dahlberg
AP Boxing Writer
AS VEGAS (AP) — “The
Fight” is finally on.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. will
meet Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in a
welterweight showdown that will be
boxing’s
richest
fight
ever.
Mayweather himself announced the
bout in February after months of
negotiations, posting a picture of the
signed contract online.
“I promised the fans we would get
this done and we did,” Mayweather
said.
The long anticipated bout at the
MGM Grand in Las Vegas will almost
surely break every financial record,
and make both boxers richer than
ever. Mayweather could earn $120
million or more, while Pacquiao’s
split of the purse will likely be around
$80 million.
The fight, which matches boxing’s
two biggest attractions of recent
years, has been in the making for five
years. It finally came together in
recent months with both fighters
putting aside past differences over
various issues — including drug
testing and television rights — to
reach an agreement.
Pacquiao was sleeping in the
Philippines when the fight was
announced, but his camp issued a
statement saying the fans deserve
the long awaited fight.
“It is an honor to be part of this
historic event,” Pacquiao said. “I
dedicate this fight to all the fans who
willed this fight to happen and, as
always, to bring glory to the
Philippines and my fellow Filipinos
around the world.”
While the fight rivals the 2002
heavyweight title bout between
Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson for
interest, it comes more than five
L
INCREASING DIVERSITY. Student Ben Li decorates a dragon
puppet for a Lunar New Year parade at the Mohegan Elementary School
in Montville, Connecticut. At casinos in the state, staff can speak in nearly
any Asian language. The diversity of the workforce at the casinos, which
cater heavily to Asian gamblers from New York, is changing the complex-
ion of nearby public schools that have been hiring more language special-
ists and adding new cultural traditions. (AP Photo/Michael Melia)
Children of Asian
casino workers reshape
Connecticut school
By Michael Melia
The Associated Press
ONTVILLE, Connecticut — At Connecticut’s
casinos, the staff can speak to you in nearly any
Asian language.
The diversity of the workforce at the casinos, which
cater heavily to Asian gamblers from New York, is
changing the complexion of nearby public schools that
have been hiring more language specialists and adding
new cultural traditions.
At the Mohegan Elementary School, down the road from
the Mohegan Sun casino, many of the casino workers’
children were last month preparing for a Lunar New Year
celebration. A dragon parade, with puppets drawn by
students in the English-learners program, marched
before the student body as Chinese music played over the
loudspeakers.
Chinese families account for about 20 percent of the
student body, according to educator Lisanne Kaplan, who
sees familiar faces among dealers and other workers when
she visits the casino.
“When I look around at the tables, I think, ‘Parent.
Continued on page 7
M
years after the first real effort to put
the fighters together in their prime.
Most boxing observers believe both
have lost some of their skills, though
Mayweather remains a master
defensive fighter and Pacquiao
showed in his last fight against Chris
Algieri that he still has tremendous
quickness in his hands.
Still, Pacquiao is 36 and has been
through many wars in the ring. And
while Mayweather has been largely
untouched in his career, he just
turned 38.
“I am the best ever, TBE, and this
fight will be another opportunity to
showcase my skills and do what I do
best, which is win,” Mayweather said
in his announcement. “Manny is
going to try to do what 47 before him
failed to do, but he won’t be
successful. He will be No. 48.”
Oddsmakers believe Mayweather
will do just that, making him a 2 1/2 to
1 favorite in the scheduled 12-round
bout. The fight is expected to do
record business in Nevada’s legal
sports books, with tens of millions
wagered on the outcome.
It will also do record business at the
box office — with the MGM expected
to be scaled far higher than the $20
million live gate for Mayweather’s
2013 fight with Canelo Alvarez. The
pay-per-view revenue also is expected
to be a record, though television
executives said they had yet to
actually fix a price for people to buy
the fight at home.
The fight will be televised as a joint
venture between competing networks
Showtime and HBO, which will share
announcers with Jim Lampley and Al
Bernstein reportedly handling the
task at ringside.
Pacquiao began pushing hard for
the fight after beating Algieri in No-
vember in Macau, and negotiations
picked up in January when the two
fighters met by chance at a Miami
Heat basketball game and later
talked with each other in Pacquiao’s
hotel room about making it happen.
“It’s one of those fortuitous circum-
stances we couldn’t have planned,”
Showtime boxing chief Stephen
Espinoza said. “But we were lucky
that it happened.”
As part of the agreement, May-
weather insisted on having the right
to announce the bout. He also won
concessions from the Pacquiao camp
on who enters the ring first, what
type of gloves are used, and a number
of other issues, including a reported
60-40 split of the purse.
Continued on page 5