Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao will officially kick off the promotion for the mega fight that most believe will shatter every box office record in boxing history.
Mayweather and Pacquiao, who will meet to unify their welterweight world titles May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, will appear together for the only time until fight week on March 11.
They will meet at a news conference at a location to be determined in Los Angeles, organizers announced Monday.
The event is expected to draw fans and a large contingent of media.
The fight, five-plus years in the making, was finalized on February 20 when Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs) posted a photo of his signed contract to one of his social media platforms. It was last piece of the puzzle to getting the deal done.
Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs), who had already been doing light training in the Philippines, arrived in the United States for training camp Saturday night, a week earlier than originally planned.
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach will be back at his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California, early next week to begin training Pacquiao for the fight and to attend the news conference.
With the deal coming together later than usual for a major May pay-per-view and the fight having attracted much attention for years before it was even made, organizers did not feel it was necessary to launch a cross-country media tour to promote the bout, opting instead for the one media event in Los Angeles and one more news conference in Las Vegas a few days before the fight.
So detailed is the contract for the fight that it specifically spelled out that the boxers were obligated to only two news conferences leading up to the bout.
Credit: ESPN
